
Sam Kerr's tank is nearing empty, but the star striker will be digging deep and tapping into her "naive" teenage self in Saturday night's Women's Asian Cup final.
The Matildas secured their path to the decider against either Japan or South Korea with a 2-1 semi-final win over China in front of 35,170 fans at Optus Stadium on Tuesday night.
Caitlin Foord scored the 17th-minute opener before Kerr nailed what turned out to be the winner in the 58th minute after China had equalised.
Kerr has started every game in the tournament so far, meaning by the time Saturday rolls around, she will have played six matches in 21 days.
That's a hell of a lot for a player who only returned to playing duties in September after spending 20 months on the sidelines following a knee reconstruction.
"I've played a lot of minutes in the last two weeks, and I looked up after the 62nd minute, and I was literally dark," Kerr said after the win over China.
"I was, 'I don't know how I'm going to make it to the 90th'."
Kerr thought she was in for a reprieve as coach Joe Montemurro started turning to his bench late in the match, but the Matildas captain was forced to see the game out.
"I went over to Joe and I said, 'Joe, I'm done'," Kerr said.
"Literally, if there was one more minute, I think I would have fallen over. I couldn't even celebrate, I was so tired."
Kerr has scored four goals so far this tournament, with her moment of magic against China arguably the best of the lot.
After being played into the box by Foord, Kerr rounded the goalkeeper but only had a slight angle to work with.
Kerr threaded the needle to send the stadium into meltdown.
"I just watched it while back in the ice bath - not really sure how I got it in, honestly," Kerr said.
Kerr was just 16 years old and scored in the final when the Matildas won the Asian Cup in 2010 with a win over North Korea on penalties.
Now aged 32, Kerr reflected on that special moment in Matildas history.
"I had no idea what I was in for," Kerr said.
"I think that worked in my favour. I went out there and just played and just had fun and didn't realise how big a deal it was.
"And it was probably only until three Asian Cups later that we hadn't won anything that I was, 'Oh, that was actually a big moment'."
Kerr was part of the Matildas sides that lost the 2014 and 2018 Asian Cup deciders, as well as being bundled out in the quarter-finals in 2022.
But in 2010, she was able to nail her moment, and she hopes history repeats itself on Saturday.
"I think I was just a young kid, and that's the beauty of being a kid, is you have no pressure," Kerr said.
"You don't think of those things. For me, I thought it would happen every other Asian Cup I ever went to. So it was just a little naive young kid.
"But hopefully on the weekend, I have that mentality in my brain to just go out there, enjoy it, and hopefully score."