It was the best individual performance of her Matildas career, and probably the greatest one-off show by any Australian player.
Never mind the brouhaha over "suck on that": Sam Kerr is the darling of the nation, and after banging in four goals against Jamaica to steer her side into the knockout phase of the Women's World Cup, she will stay that way for some time.
Super Sam: Kerr scored all four of Austyralia's goals against Jamaica.Credit:AP
She has become the first Australian player, male or female, to score a hat-trick or better at a World Cup.
Her coach, Ante Milicic, says, quite simply, that she is an inspirational leader with whom it is a pleasure to work.
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Kerr herself simply shrugs and smiles, declaring that she loves scoring goals and just wants to keep on doing so, citing Tim Cahill as her inspiration.
Like Cahill has been for the Socceroos, Kerr was the difference for Australia in this game, as she has been so often in the past.
Australia could have won their group, finished second, third or even been eliminated depending on results, so her stellar performance played a massive role in determining the Matildas' immediate future.
Her first two goals were trademark headers, the second two all about hard work and opportunism.
Kerr simply said: "It feels good, any time I score it feels good. The most important thing is the victory and we got second place. Without even knowing the score [in the other games] tonight I knew that every goal would count.
"And I actually wanted more than that after myself, being my selfish self. I knew every goal would count and Im just happy we could get that second spot
"I'm obviously pretty excited I could score and help the team out. I feel relieved.
"Something like that, breaking records is something Ill look back at on the end of my career. It's an amazing feeling, I feel pretty honoured just to score at a World Cup.
"To do three or four is an amazing feeling and I guess that's something I will tell my kids when I get older.
"But right now, were focused on Norway straight away."
How on earth did she get to be so good in the air, she was asked. Where did that hang time come from given her lack of inches compared to most of the defenders who mark her?
"Im just naturally gifted," she joked.
"Im not a religious person but if I was Id say Im blessed with it. I grew up watching Timmy Cahill
"I practice them a lot but Im also gifted. Theyre are my favourite goals so Im pretty stoked with those two."
Only two players in the history of the women's game have scored more goals in a single match, Americans Alex Morgan and Michelle Akers, who notched five in one game, so Kerr is in rare air indeed.
Not that she was that bothered – she didn't even produce any of her trademark back flip celebrations.
"The most important thing like I always say is the team. I actually wanted more, I was trying to get them to cross it in more, play quicker, I just wanted to get more goals because we didn't know what was going on in the other game. so it was just get as many as we could. I felt that there were more goals in it and I wanted to score more."
She is a hard taskmaster, particulaRead More – Source
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