Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson explodes over secret training footage that sparked fears about Sam Kerr’s condition ahead of Denmark’s World Cup match: ‘Show some respect’

Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson has found classified footage casting doubt on Sam Kerr’s fitness to play against Denmark on Monday night.

Kerr has promised to play for the first time in the Women’s World Championship in Australia’s round of 16 against Denmark, but how much she will actually play remains a mystery.

The Matildas captain posted photos to Instagram on Saturday showing her clearly ramping up her training, then gave her strongest comment yet about her fitness when she was briefly interviewed at Sydney Airport.

“I’m really excited,” Kerr told Channel Nine. “I’ll play, yes.”

Kerr was pictured spending most of her time on the sidelines during Sunday’s session

But Kerr was confined to the stationary bike during the 15-minute training session open to the media on Sunday, which a Football Australia spokesman insisted was a planned ‘off feet’ session as part of its return-to-play program .

News Corp used a helicopter to get footage of Kerr spending most of the time on the sidelines during Sunday’s session as the rest of the Matildas prepared for Monday night’s game.

When asked about the helicopter footage from their training run, Gustavsson took a shot at the organization for going to great lengths to get the footage, indicating that Kerr having a light session was all part of the plan.

“You have to respect that there are people who are trying to be creative and want to get an insight into things and follow the team in every way they can,” he said.

“I also hope that the people who may be documenting something show respect for the team and the fans, because I think our fans probably don’t want anything revealed that could hurt our performance for tomorrow.

“Whoever recorded that, I hope (they) will respect our will and the will of the fans in that sense.”

When asked directly about Kerr’s fitness and chances of returning to action, Gustavsson sounded optimistic.

“We had a great moment as a team yesterday to see her back with the boots on and touching the ball and being with the team during training,” he said.

Gustavsson hopes Kerr’s training footage (pictured at training on Sunday) doesn’t hurt the team’s chances against Denmark

“It was a really good feeling for her and a really good feeling for the players and the teammates and a really good feeling for me. Today she was on her feet… she’s also a player we’ll talk about tonight, about how many minutes is appropriate.’

The Matildas take on Denmark at 8:30pm AEST on Monday, with a place in the quarter-finals of the Women’s World Cup up for grabs.