{"id":580253,"date":"2026-04-02T07:22:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T07:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/580253\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T07:22:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T07:22:09","slug":"sam-kerr-in-mary-fowler-not-part-of-matildas-squad-for-fifa-series-in-kenya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/580253\/","title":{"rendered":"Sam Kerr in, Mary Fowler not part of Matildas squad for FIFA Series in Kenya"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sam Kerr has been named, but the Matildas will be missing a number of their other big guns when they travel to Kenya for the team’s maiden FIFA Series in April.<\/p>\n

Australia will take on world number 153 Malawi on April 11 in Nairobi, before facing either world number 134 Kenya or world number 67 India in their second and final game of the four-nation friendly series.<\/p>\n

Football Australia explains why Matildas’ next games are against low-ranked teams<\/a><\/p>\n

After the highs of their run to the Asian Cup final, in just over two weeks the Matildas travel to Kenya to face teams ranked outside the top 100.<\/p>\n

It will be the Matildas’ first matches since losing the Women’s Asian Cup final 1-0 to Japan in Sydney on March 21.<\/p>\n

The 22-player squad picked for the FIFA Series includes stars like Kerr, Caitlin Foord, Mackenzie Arnold, Steph Catley, Alanna Kennedy, Hayley Raso and Clare Wheeler.<\/p>\n

But there are some notable absentees.<\/p>\n

Mary Fowler headlines that list, with Ellie Carpenter, Kyra Cooney-Cross<\/a> and Katrina Gorry among others who have been allowed to skip the tournament.<\/p>\n

\"Ellie<\/p>\n

Ellie Carpenter is one of several Australian stars who will not play for the Matildas in Kenya. (AAP: Richard Wainwright)<\/p>\n

Defender Clare Hunt will also miss after undergoing surgery on her right knee following an injury during the Asian Cup.<\/p>\n

Fowler made it through the Asian Cup unscathed in what was her first tournament since recovering from an ACL tear.<\/p>\n

The FIFA Series will give Matildas coach Joe Montemurro, who has only been in the role for a tad over 10 months, further time to develop his squad and playing style ahead of next year’s Women’s World Cup in Brazil.<\/p>\n

Leticia McKenna (Melbourne City) makes her Matildas squad debut, with Jessika Nash (US Sassuolo) and Isabel Gomez (Central Coast Mariners) returning to international duty.<\/p>\n

Kerr, who scored four goals during the Asian Cup, will captain the side with Steph Catley her deputy.<\/p>\n

“This window gives us a valuable opportunity to reflect on the Women’s Asian Cup and continue building consistency that will underpin the team over the next 16 months,” Montemurro said in a statement.<\/p>\n

“The FIFA Series in Kenya will offer unique challenges and a test against diverse opposition.<\/p>\n

“As we build toward the FIFA Women’s World Cup, it’s essential we expose ourselves to the styles and environments we’ll encounter on the global stage.”<\/p>\n

Matildas squad: Morgan Aquino, Mackenzie Arnold, Steph Catley, Alex Chidiac, Caitlin Foord, Isabel Gomez, Winonah Heatley, Alanna Kennedy, Sam Kerr, Chloe Lincoln, Leticia McKenna, Holly McNamara, Jessika Nash, Courtney Nevin, Jamilla Rankin, Hayley Raso, Charlize Rule, Amy Sayer, Remy Siemsen, Kaitlyn Torpey, Emily van Egmond, Clare Wheeler<\/p>\n

AAP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sam Kerr has been named, but the Matildas will be missing a number of their other big guns…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":580254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[5844,64,63,277115,28533,44964,44965,13198,588,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-580253","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-abc-sport","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-fifa-series","12":"tag-mary-fowler","13":"tag-matildas","14":"tag-sam-kerr","15":"tag-soccer","16":"tag-sport","17":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=580253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/580254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=580253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=580253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=580253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}