Coach Tony Gustavsson has foreshadowed heavy squad rotation in Perth, starting with Thursday night’s match against Iran at HBF Park.
Sam Kerr appears unlikely to start against Iran and will not play a full 90 minutes in Australia’s three Olympic qualifiers in Perth, with coach Tony Gustavsson citing load management as his captain continues her comeback from the calf injury that cruelled much of her World Cup campaign.
“I think all of us would love to play Sam Kerr for 90 minutes every game,” Gustavsson said at a pre-tournament press conference on Wednesday, alongside the coaches of group opponents Iran, the Philippines and Taiwan. “But we always said we want to have a healthy high-performance culture in here with a player-centric approach. Considering she’s coming back from injury very recently – she hasn’t played 90 minutes in a very, very, very long time. Not for club either, with that calf issue coming back, and we really need to be extremely mindful.
Gustavsson said he would take a similar approach with other players and “rotate a lot in the roster”, in a departure from his modus operandi at the World Cup, when he was criticised for a lack of rotation.
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