Indonesia would have been sick of the sight of Sam Kerr in their opening Asian Cup match.Credit:Getty
“We put our foot on the gas from the first minute until the last minute,” Kerr said. “I think today was a good start but I think we still have a long way to go until we are at our best.”
As far as competitive matches go,this was barely even useful for a warm-up. The best the Matildas got out of their romp over Indonesia was little more than shooting practice as they sealed their record win in Asia. Nevertheless,it will be remembered as the game Kerr made history for Australia.
The Matildas captain opened her account in the ninth minute,latching on to a through ball from Emily van Egmond to slot past Indonesia goalkeeper Fani Supriyanto from close range. Three minutes later,that combination doubled Australia’s tally. Van Egmond spotted Kerr unmarked at the far post,found her captain with a pinpoint cross to allow Kerr to break Australia’s goalscoring record with a simple tap-in.
Two minutes later,Kerr turned provider. A well-weighted cross picked the run of Caitlin Foord who steered a header past Supriyanto to make it 3-0. The Indonesians were simply shell-shocked with the Australian onslaught and whatever hopes they had of an unlikely result were dashed by the 17th minute. Youngster Mary Fowler beat Supriyanto with a one-on-one before Hayley Raso made it 5-0 with a header midway through the first half.
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Having already netted twice,Kerr was gifted the chance of a hat-trick from the spot and made no mistake with a powerful penalty delivered into the bottom corner. The Matildas’ best move of the first half lead to a rare goal for fullback Ellie Carpenter. A slick play down the left was pulled back into the middle where Clare Wheeler slipped a clever ball into the path of Carpenter who rattled the top corner of the net with a vicious shot.
Kerr made it 8-0 with a clever tap-in set up by van Egmond before van Egmond scored a deserved goal from the penalty spot.