{"id":343092,"date":"2023-10-31T09:08:45","date_gmt":"2023-10-31T10:08:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=343092"},"modified":"2023-10-31T20:02:13","modified_gmt":"2023-10-31T20:02:13","slug":"catley-open-up-on-kerrs-tough-ballon-dor-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=343092","title":{"rendered":"Catley open up on Kerr's 'tough' Ballon d'Or loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

Matildas<\/a> defender Steph Catley has opened up on Sam Kerr<\/a> narrowly missing out on the women's Ballon d'Or<\/a>, with the Australian captain and Chelsea star coming second to Spain<\/a> and Barcelona<\/a> hero Aitana Bonmati.<\/a><\/p>\n

Catley – speaking ahead of the the Matildas' Olympic qualifier against Chinese Taipei in Perth on Wednesday night – said the Ballon d'Or result was "tough to watch"\ufeff, labelling Kerr the "most consistent" and "best" player in the world right now.<\/p>\n

"It's been tough to watch, because I think she's probably been the most consistent, best player in the world over the last however many years," Catley said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> The gun NRL players your club could lose tomorrow<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Grim pay accusations rock team's World Cup campaign<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Axed club launches audacious bid to re-enter NRL<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

"I really hope she does (win one), because god she deserves one.<\/p>\n

"She just hasn't got over the line to actually get one. But I'm sure she will."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kerr finished second in the voting, making it her highest ever placing after two years finishing third.<\/p>\n

The next highest result for the Matildas was Hayley Raso, who finished 17th.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"If you think about the top three over the last however many years, she's (Kerr) always up there," Catley said.<\/p>\n

"She's not slowing down. She gets better every time she plays. So I'm sure she'll nab one soon."<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheMatildas\/status\/1719131180652761363<\/a><\/p>\n

Catley, who plays for Arsenal in the EPL, was also quick to highlight another key Matildas star who didn't even make the shortlist, Caitlin Foord.<\/p>\n

Foord starred during the Women's World Cup held on home soil earlier in the year, leading the Matildas attack as Kerr managed her calf injury.<\/p>\n

"I think there were a few oversights, to be honest. I think (England star) Keira Walsh wasn't in there. I don't want to open up a can of worms, but Caitlin (Foord) should have been in there, 100 per cent. I think everyone knows that," Catley said.<\/p>\n

"The simple answer is yes, that's a huge oversight."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Spain's Bonmati claimed the prize after leading her country to victory at the Women's World Cup<\/a> in August.<\/p>\n

She also helped Barcelona win its second Champions League title and the Spanish league.<\/p>\n

The Matildas' clash with Chinese Taipei on Wednesday night is the last of three Olympic qualifiers.<\/p>\n

Their last match saw them defeat the Philpines 8-0.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Matildas defender Steph Catley has opened up on Sam Kerr narrowly missing out on the women's Ballon d'Or, with the Australian captain and Chelsea star […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":343094,"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\/343092"}],"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=343092"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343092\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":343097,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343092\/revisions\/343097"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/343094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=343092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=343092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=343092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}