WAIS-AIS football scholarship holder Sam Kerr has been ruled out of the 2012 London Olympic Games Asian qualification tournament after sustaining a serious knee injury in training.
Australia coach Tom Sermanni confirmed that Matildas striker Sam Kerr had been ruled out after the young star damaged her ACL, the same injury that kept fellow WAIS athlete Katie Gill out of the FIFA women’s World Cup earlier in 2011.
Sermanni said he was disappointed to see Kerr exit the tournament under such circumstances but is confident that she will make a full recovery.
“Sam’s injury occurred during a fairly innocuous challenge at training,” he said.
“Unfortunately, this sort of thing happens in sport, but importantly Sam is in as good spirits as you can expect at this time.”
“Sam is such a lively, popular member of the squad and creates such a vibrancy about the place that her presence will be sorely missed.”
“All our thoughts are with Sam at the moment and we’re all sure she’ll bounce back.”
Kerr will return to Australia immediately for treatment. A possible replacement player will be announced in the coming days.
The Matildas will open their qualification campaign against DPR Korea on September 1.
-FFA
