“She’s going to be out for two games,and then we’ll reassess afterwards,” he said.
“That tells you a little bit about what grade it is,but we don’t want to go into more details on that at this point.
“It’s obviously devastating for me,for Sam,for the players ... I know we have a lot of questions on Sam here,but I always want to respect Sam and the team to not go in too many details of that at this point.
“What I can say is that Sam was very clear,early on,when she brought the team together and said,‘This is not about me. This is about you. This is about the team playing tomorrow.’ She said the same thing today,she wanted the focus to be on the team and the players,and to be able to do that in that devastating moment for her personally,it says a lot about her as a captain.”
Gustavsson’s manner suggested that the Chelsea superstar is facing an uphill battle to be involved at all at the World Cup. Having come into the tournament with genuine hopes of being able to go all the way,Kerr’s prolonged absence would be a crippling blow to the Matildas’ broader ambitions,and would rob the event of one of its biggest individual drawcards.
There is only a four-day gap between Australia’s second and final Group B fixtures – the latter being the earliest Kerr could return based on Football Australia’s public timelines – and then another week’s break until a prospective round of 16 tie on August 7.
While there were some admirable elements about Australia’s victory on Thursday night,in particular their herculean defensive efforts in the second half,Gustavsson conceded that the Matildas struggled to generate clear-cut chances.
But he said that had less to do with Kerr’s injury and more a factor of how well Ireland’s low defensive block had functioned,noting that Sweden and the United States also had troubles overcoming them in recent friendlies.
Ireland coach Vera Pauw said her tactical game plan had “worked perfectly” to blunt Australia’s attack,forcing them to resort to hopeful crosses and long balls from wide areas,with their only goal coming from the penalty spot via Steph Catley after a clumsy challenge by Marissa Sheva.
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In any case,Gustavsson expects to confront an altogether different challenge against Nigeria,who face Canada on Friday in Melbourne,and do not play the same way as Ireland.
“We know we can do better in attack ... I hope that playing the first game in the World Cup now,we’ve ticked that box hopefully mentally as well,[so that in] the second game it can help the attack a bit more,” he said.
“But there’s going to be very little football tactics to take away from this game that’s going to mimic the Nigeria game,so it’s kind of park this one,and then straightaway jump into the Nigeria game plan as soon as possible.”