Sam Kerr’s five-word reaction to her stunning World Cup goal shows just how deeply England loss has cut the Matildas superstar

Sam Kerr’s superb second-half goal will go down in Australian sporting folklore, but the striker had a revealing take on goal after the crushing disappointment of the Matildas’ 3-1 defeat to England.

The Matildas skipper made her first start of the tournament after overcoming a calf injury that limited her to just 75 minutes of football at the World Cup when her country needed her most.

With just over an hour played and Australia trailing 1-0 to Ella Toone’s brilliant first-half goal, Kerr seized the moment with a long shot to tie the game in front of 75,000 screaming fans.

‘Unreal. The best in the world,” tweeted former Arsenal and England striker Ian Wright in response to Kerr’s stunning finish.

But the fairytale soon fell apart, with Lauren Hemp putting England back ahead before Alessia Russo finished things off to shatter the Aussies’ dreams of winning their own World Cup.

After the game, a reporter spoke to an emotional Kerr about the miracle goal.

“It was a great goal,” he said.

Kerr, however, was not interested in taking credit.

“Yes, I think,” she replied.

“It really doesn’t matter now. All I can think about now is disappointment.’

Coach Tony Gustavsson admitted after the game that his side had some chances late in the game that they should have missed – two of which were missed by the captain.

“I know she’s angry that she missed the two chances at the end of the game,” Gustavsson said.

“That’s why she’s worried, she always wants to score, she sees herself as a goalscorer, a match winner. That will upset her.

Kerr said after the thrilling semi-final that all she could think of was disappointment

Tony Gustavsson said Kerr would be angry about the chances she missed late in the game

“We have to support her, she did everything she could to dig deep and the fact that she could play for 90 minutes (was huge).

“Who knows what it would have been like if she had been healthy?”

Gustavsson’s decision to select Kerr as a starting player was made with the knowledge that his side had managed to rise to the occasion without her in their opening three games of the tournament.

The Chelsea striker missed the group stage with a calf injury before re-entering the quarter-final with 10 minutes against Denmark and then an hour or so against France.

Socceroos legend John Aloisi said the striker missed her later shots on target because she had done too little.

“I’ll attribute that to fatigue with Sam,” he said in Channel Seven’s coverage.

“She came into the last game and played longer than she expected. Her legs were probably a little off.

“Then you start grabbing things. She took the two chances she had.’

Kerr’s first goal of the tournament was her sixth score in a World Cup and her 64th overall for the Matildas.