Why The FIFA Women’s World Cup’s Best Player May Never Actually See The Field

Australian forward Sam Kerr has a solid argument to be the best women’s soccer play in the world and, thus, the best player at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

And yet there’s an increasingly real chance that Kerr may never get a chance to step onto the field during the tournament that her home country is hosting for the first time.

Kerr is reportedly the highest-paid women’s soccer player on the planet after joining English club Chelsea FC in late 2019.

But she’s more than repaid than amount with big goals for the club. Kerr has scored a jaw-dropping 54 goals in 67 appearances for the Blues. Chelsea has also won the FA Women’s Super League all four seasons since Kerr joined the club.

The superstar striker led to the UEFA Women’s Champions League final in 2022 where they fell to FC Barcelona, and was named the FA WSL player of the season in 2022.

Safe to say, she’s the real deal.

The Matildas entered the 2023 World Cup as the No. 10 team in the FIFA world rankings. With a national behind them, they were hoping to lift the World Cup for the first time after quarterfinal appearances in 2007, 2011, and 2015.

But they need a fit and firing Kerr to do so.

Sadly, that appears to not be the case.

Australia originally ruled Kerr out of its first two matches following a calf strain in the days leading up to the tournament. But now it seems the injury could be worse than initially believed.

Australian midfielder Kyra Cooney-Cross recently fielded a question about Kerr and states that “it’s unfortunate that Sam tore her calf before the game.”

That, of course, set off alarm bells with the word “tore.”

Technically, a strain of any degree is a small tear. But that didn’t stop fans from worrying.

Hopefully this was just a case of Cooney-Cross misspeaking. Otherwise, Kerr and the soccer world look deprived of what was set to an incredible moment.