Forward goes up against the outstanding Maya Le Tissier but the Manchester United defender is left licking her wounds
am Kerr waits. Maya Le Tissier waits. There is a throw-in to be taken and a Chelsea player down injured on the turf and everyone else is just sort of milling about trying to look busy. Le Tissier puts a hand on Kerr’s shoulder to let her know she’s there. Kerr shuffles her feet and feints both ways to let Le Tissier know she could disappear at any moment. But mostly, they wait.
And when you think about it, waiting is perhaps the defining sensation of this job. Waiting on the back row of the bus before it leaves. Waiting for the team meeting to begin. Waiting in hotel rooms and dressing rooms and airport departure lounges and passport control. Kerr is 29 years old, and has been around this sport long enough to know that the vast majority of the moments that make up her day do not matter.
Up close, you can see why. There is a class and composure that is well beyond her years. Clean short passes into midfield, clean long passes over the top for the wingers to chase. In between times she directs play, shouts at her teammates, sets the tone and tempo. Meanwhile, she has the world’s best striker zipped in her kit bag. As United swarm and scuttle all over Chelsea territory, Kerr has just nine touches in the first half. A job well done. But a job half‑done.
But in a strange way, this is exactly how Kerr wants it. She wants the game turned up to its hardest setting. She wants a puzzle to solve. A Wembley final, with the game taut and shuttered, with the best centre-half pairing in English football intent on stopping her: this is where she comes to eat. And so she perches on the shoulder of Le Tissier, waiting for the throw-in to be taken. Waiting for the space to open up. Waiting for the explosion.
The throw finds its way to Guro Reiten, and in that very instant Le Tissier and Kerr are standing on each other’s toes. But Le Tissier has already seen what is coming next. Reiten is unchallenged, Pernille Harder is bursting into the right channel, and her defensive instincts tell her to take a step towards that flank. This is good defending, or at the very least logical defending: glimpsing the danger and trying to anticipate it. But this is the step that finishes her.
Philippines Latest News, Philippines Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Chelsea claim FA Cup hat-trick after Sam Kerr sees off Manchester UnitedSam Kerr scored the goal that beat Manchester United 1-0 for Chelsea’s third successive FA Cup victory and kept hopes of the Double alive
Read more »
Sam Kerr has just won a prestigious football award for a second consecutive yearSam Kerr has scored 26 goals in 34 club appearances this season for Chelsea but says she 'is still getting better.'
Read more »
Kerr fires Chelsea to Cup win in front of record crowdAussie superstar scores only goal
Read more »
Haaland and Kerr win Football Writers’ Association player of the year awardsErling Haaland is only the fourth player to win the award in a debut season, while Sam Kerr has taken the accolade for a second successive campaign
Read more »
Leicester’s relegation battle is a harsh maths lesson for all mid-table clubs | Jonathan WilsonThe short-term reasons for the former champions’ decline are various but their season of famine shouldn’t be a surprise
Read more »
‘You can’t think about losing, ever’: Driven Kerr claims another accolade ahead of FA Cup finalSam Kerr, who has been named as the Football Writers Association’s Women’s Footballer of the Year for 2023, has won seven out of a possible 10 pieces of silverware at Chelsea. Sunday night brings the chance to add No.8.
Read more »