Perth Glory Women’s captain Samantha Kerr has warned former teammate and Matilda star Caitlin Foord looms as the danger-player ahead of this weekend’s home semi-final clash against Sydney FC at nib Stadium.
Glory secured the home final with a dramatic last-gasp win over Western Sydney courtesy of Caitlin Doeglas’s stoppage-time winner, without the influential skipper, who served a one-week suspension for her sending off against Adelaide United.
The skipper believes the match-up, which will be played before the men’s game against Newcastle Jets, is a “huge event” for not only the club, but the younger players within the squad.
“It’s lovely playing at nib [Stadium], it’s like playing on carpet,” Kerr said.
“Hopefully a lot of people get down and support us because it’s such a big game and a lot of the girls on our team haven’t played in the semi’s,” she added.
The striker is not surprised by the team’s success in Season 9 of the Westfield W-League, despite a new look squad.
“We lost nine players [over the off-season], so it’s always tough to bounce back,
“But I knew from the start we had a good squad, as the pre-season was more intense than ever this year, so I knew we would be up there, but to finish tied first is something else,” Kerr said.
The Matildas star has enjoyed a prolific season spearheading the Perth attack, having narrowly missed out on the Golden Boot with 10 goals to her name.
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“I’ve had a little bit of success scoring goals, but really the team has been awesome this year,
“We’ve all come together and gelled well. I think as a club we’ve had a great year,” Kerr stated.
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Glory’s talisman is wary of their semi-final opponents Sydney, who have enjoyed another high-flying season, having led the league for a majority of the campaign, only to lose top spot on the last day of the season to Canberra United.
“I think Sydney are going to come out firing,” the local Perth product said.
“We beat them last time in Perth, so I think the ball’s in our court, we play well and we’ll win this game,”
“They’ve got six or seven Matildas, so there’s a few [to look out for]…I think the main one is probably Caitlin Foord, she played here last year and she’s one of the best footballer’s in the world,
“But I think we have the players to match her, so I think they will be just as worried about our players, our Americans and Kim Carroll at the back…we have a lot of solid players,”
Kerr says she is full of confidence with the squad and said “the home final is a bonus, it’s every footballer’s dream to play in a semi at home.”
Glory take on Sydney FC at 3:30PM (AWST) at nib Stadium.
Tickets are FREE to registered Football West players and W-League members.
Anyone wanting to puchase a ticket to the match must purchase an A-League ticket to men’s game which allows free entry to the Women’s game.
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