Sam Kerr to play for Matildas for the first time in two years

After two long and trying years, Sam Kerr will finally return to the pitch for the Matildas, for this month's friendlies against Wales and England in the UK.

Matildas coach Joe Montemurro has all but confirmed she will be included in the squad, which will be named on Friday.

Kerr's comeback from the ACL injury she sustained in January 2024 kicked off three weeks ago for her club side Chelsea.

She's played limited minutes in her four consecutive WSL matches off the bench, and Montemurro said she will be eased back into international football.

"It's great to see her back. I've had a few discussions with her and I think the great thing is that she's really got an enthusiasm and a real passion back for the game," he said.

"We'll definitely do the right thing by her in terms of integrating her.

"She hasn't played 90 minutes yet. So we'll just see getting closer to camp what sort of minutes we believe is gonna be the best for her so that we make this return perfect both from a football and a mental perspective."

The 32-year-old's last appearance for the Matildas was in November 2023, and it has been an eventful period for the team and her personally since then.

She missed the Australians' underwhelming Paris Olympics campaign that ended at the group stage, was found not guilty of racially harassing a police officer, and welcomed a baby with partner Kristie Mewis.

The West Australian trained with the squad during the last two camps at home, but is yet to play under Montemurro, who started his tenure in June.

And he has not decided whether she will reclaim the captaincy from Steph Catley.

"Integrating her is the first and foremost thing and to be honest I haven't had a discussion about it," he said.

"The focus has been getting the squad to a point where we want and everyone's on board with that. The captaincy will be assessed once we get closer to the first game."

Mary Fowler on track

Mary Fowler's recovery from her own ACL injury, sustained in April, continues to take massive strides.

While Kerr was sidelined for 20 months, the 22-year-old Manchester City forward is targeting a return in less than half that time, with March's Asian Cup in Australia the firm focus.

"Hopefully at the end of the year we'll see her getting some game time at City," Montemurro said.

"They're at that crucial point now where they're probably starting to push her a little bit more [in her recovery], which is great.

"I'll be going to visit actually next week. But she's travelling really well and fingers crossed the Asian Cup is looking really, really positive from that perspective."

Time for stabilising

Montemurro is using the UK games as an "identification camp", aiming to virtually finalise his Asian Cup squad ahead of the last international window of the year in November.

"I still wanna have a look at whether they fit the way we wanna play and how we're gonna approach the Asian Cup," he said.

"But I will be stabilising a lot of the the ideas in terms of in terms of patterns, the way we want to play."

While most of the Matildas' top talent is based overseas and the A-League women's season kicking off at the end of October, Montemurro has assured that domestic players will be given due consideration.

"I don't want to punish anyone because they've decided to stay in the A-League and the national team is far away," he said.

"I don't wanna take that attitude. The attitude is what's best for the Matildas to go forward and obviously what's best for the athlete to be at their best.

"And whether it's staying in the A-League or going overseas, I just say be in the best high performance situation that you could be."

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