{"id":322397,"date":"2023-08-09T09:39:48","date_gmt":"2023-08-09T09:39:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=322397"},"modified":"2023-08-09T09:58:38","modified_gmt":"2023-08-09T09:58:38","slug":"how-fa-boss-responded-to-gut-wrenching-kerr-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=322397","title":{"rendered":"How FA boss responded to 'gut-wrenching' Kerr news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Football Australia<\/a> CEO James Johnson has lifted the lid on how the governing body reacted to superstar striker Sam Kerr<\/a>'s injury on the eve of the Matildas' FIFA Women's World Cup<\/a><\/p>\n

Kerr sat out Australia's three group games after suffering a calf injury in training<\/a> the day before the team's opening match against the Republic of Ireland on July 20.<\/p>\n

Despite uncertainty surrounding Kerr's availability for the rest of the home tournament, she was brought on as a second-half substitute<\/a> during Australia's dominant 2-0 round of 16 win over Denmark.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Absurd injustice exposed by Matildas' payday<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Head lifts lid on post-Ashes 'dogging' beers drama<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Cambage fight video leaked after fresh Nigeria claims<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Speaking on Nine's TODAY<\/em>, Johnson described the initial reaction to Kerr's injury as "gut-wrenching".<\/p>\n

"She is the best player in the world, so to get that call on the eve of the first match, was a difficult call to take," he said.<\/p>\n

\"MELBOURNE,<\/p>\n

"But, she is a great person, she's a great leader and she's a great player. So, she's led from the locker room and now that she's back in the fold \u2014 we saw what it did the other night when (her return) brought the whole country together. The energy in the stadium when she came on was fantastic.<\/p>\n

"The Matildas' biggest nightmare is now the biggest opportunity for them."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

With record-breaking local crowds and unparalleled engagement, the tournament has been a huge success as it heads towards the business end.<\/p>\n

"To see the competition pan out the way it has as the co-hosts and to also see the way the Matildas have played throughout the competition has been fantastic," Johnson said.<\/p>\n

"That's what we're measured by. We're measured by the performance of the tournament and the performance by the Matildas, and they've both been good.<\/p>\n

"For us, bidding for the Women's World Cup, it wasn't just about a month of great football, it was about transforming the sport.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

"I'm aware of what these big tournaments can do for local football having come from FIFA myself and I had a feeling that if we could bring the Women's World Cup back to Australia, that this would really trigger transformation not only for football but also sport here in Australia, and I think that's what we're seeing."<\/p>\n

Asked \ufeffif Australia has the capacity to host a men's World Cup, Johnson assured that anything is possible, despite the time zone being sub-optimal for Europe.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffWe absolutely can win the hosting rights for the men's World Cup," he said.<\/p>\n

"I think we're in a great time zone\ufeff because football is the biggest sport in the world but it's not the biggest sport in some of the biggest markets \u2014 markets like India, China and the United States.<\/p>\n

"These markets are \ufeffin our time zone and I think there is an opportunity for FIFA to bring a men's World Cup here because of the time zone that we're in."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Football Australia CEO James Johnson has lifted the lid on how the governing body reacted to superstar striker Sam Kerr's injury on the eve of […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":320316,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322397"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=322397"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":322400,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322397\/revisions\/322400"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/320316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=322397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=322397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=322397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}