“I can’t at this time give away too much – I keep it close to my chest.” With those words on Wednesday evening, barely 24 hours before Australia began their Women’s World Cup campaign with a narrow win over Ireland, Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson did nothing to hint at the bombshell he would later drop.
The question had not been intended to elicit anything of the magnitude of the news that would break the following day, that Sam Kerr would miss at least the first two matches of the tournament. It was an innocuous query, a request for a fitness update with two players – Tameka Yallop and Kyah Simon – known to be nursing injuries.
