SYDNEY (Reuters) – Chelsea manager Emma Hayes has moved to ease Australian fears over the fitness of Sam Kerr ahead of the Women’s World Cup after the Matildas striker was withdrawn after half an hour of the London club’s Women’s Super League match on Sunday.
Kerr is crucial to Australia’s hopes of going deep in the tournament, which the country is co-hosting with New Zealand from July 20 to Aug. 20 this year.
“Sam was sick last night,” Hayes said after the 7-0 win over Everton that moved Chelsea into second place in the league.
“She decided to play but her calf was cramping up so we decided to take her out.”
Kerr, who scored Chelsea’s second goal with a header before being withdrawn, had spent Saturday at the coronation of Britain’s King Charles III in London, carrying the Australian flag in the procession into Westminster Abbey.
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Peter Rutherford)
