“There aren’t many things that bother Sam Kerr”

Sam Kerr will miss another international window as he recovers from a serious knee injury sustained in January this year, but interim coach Australia, Tom Sermannihope the Chelsea forward will join the team on stage in Europe to inspire his teammates. Kerr was sidelined at the Paris Olympics, where the Matildas were eliminated at the group stage, and was not in Sermanni’s initial list announced on Friday for this month’s friendlies against Switzerland and Germany.

Sermanni said he was in talks with Kerr to convince him to join the Australian expedition. “She is still recovering from her injury and is rightly taking time to recover. It’s really important that she doesn’t try to take shortcuts and come back too fast,” Sermanni told Australian media. “What happens is that some players play with fire to get to training camps regardless of their condition. Some injured people often don’t want to be in the team environment, so we’re having a discussion now with him.”

Kerr, one of the world’s most famous soccer players and a sporting idol in his home country, will go on trial next year after being accused of racially aggravated harassment of a London police officer in an incident nearly two years ago. However, Sermanni said the 31-year-old is in good mental health. “I saw her well. There are not many things that depress Sam. She is a very optimistic person, very positive. And she was in a good state of mind.”