Matildas interim coach to connect with Kerr
Injured superstar captain Sam Kerr is top of Tom Sermanni’s list of people to call as the Matildas’ interim coach reconnects with players he first dealt with as teenagers.
While Football Australia searches for Tony Gustavsson’s permanent successor, Sermanni will attempt to pick up his charges from their failed Olympics campaign and start preparation for the 2026 Asian Cup.
That includes reaching out to Chelsea dynamo Kerr, who made her debut under Sermanni in 2009 and is currently on the road to recovery from her ACL tear.
“I haven’t had a chance to catch up with any of the players, I was just information-gathering all of last week, but Sam is my first player on the list to have a chat to find out where she’s at,” Sermanni said.
“But I think the key thing for Sam is that at this particular moment in time, is to take as much time as necessary to get herself fit and healthy again.
“It’s not like there’s something that urgently needs to be done in the next month or six weeks or two months.
“So the real key thing for Sam is to take whatever time she needs and come back completely healthy.”
Sermanni expected his familiarity with the likes of Caitlin Foord, Steph Catley, Emily van Egmond and Tameka Yallop to help smooth the transition.
“Having those previous relationships should be an advantage to get things back on an even keel, back settled again,” he said.
Sermanni is also determined to embolden younger talents, like Mary Fowler, to make the team their own.
“She has to play a critical role in the team, as opposed to a peripheral role in the team,” he said of Fowler, 21.
On Tuesday, Football Australia announced friendlies against Brazil in Brisbane on November 28 and the Gold Coast on December 1, ahead of matches against Taiwan in Melbourne and Geelong.
With no end date on his tenure for now, Sermanni – who doesn’t want the full-time gig – is starting preparations for the 2026 Asian Cup – a tournament he won in 2010.
“It’s my job to then start that process and for however long I’m here to continue that process, so that when the new coach comes in, he or she is not having to scramble and start from scratch,” he said.
Sermanni wanted to help pick up the Matildas after their Olympics disappointment, while helping them get back on track amid a booming profile and expectations at home.
“The team has to get a bit of love. But then they’ve also got to refocus on football,” he said.
“Football is the thing that makes this team, football is the thing that excites people, and football is the thing that determines the success.
“And I think that’s what we’ve got to get back to, back to shutting out all the noise and all the other stuff around the team and really getting back to what defines this team.”
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