Sam Kerr saga takes big twist as Matildas handshake drama comes to light

Vision has emerged of the moment Caitlin Foord was snubbed by Irish opponent Ruesha Littlejohn before the Matildas' win at the Women's World Cup on Thursday night, amid an unexpected twist in the controversy surrounding Sam Kerr. Social media sleuths have highlighted the moment Littlejohn pulled her hand away from Foord's as players from Australia and Ireland were greeting each other pre-game.

Littlejohn can be seen high-fiving every Matildas player except Foord, in a seemingly blatant snub. The Irish player was then spotted in an angry exchange with Foord at full-time of the Matildas' 1-0 win, before she was pulled away by teammate Denise O'Sullivan.

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Speculation is rife that the drama could surround Foord's friendship with Ireland captain Katie McCabe, who was formerly in a romantic relationship with Littlejohn. McCabe appeared to announce the split this week when she referred to Littlejohn as “my partner at the time”.

McCabe and Foord both play for Arsenal in the Women’s Super League and are said to be good friends. They recently holidayed together in Ibiza with a large group of pals, however there is no suggestion the Matildas player has anything to do with the split.

Trent Robinson supports secrecy over Sam Kerr injury

Meanwhile, Tony Gustavsson has found an unlikely ally in Roosters NRL coach Trent Robinson, who went in to bat for the under-fire Matildas manager on Friday. Gustavsson was accused of treating fans poorly by not revealing that Kerr wouldn't be playing the first two matches of the Matildas' captain until an hour before the Ireland game.

Gustavsson admitted he wasn't truthful when downplaying concerns over Kerr's fitness in the days before the opening match, but said he didn't want to give away the information to Ireland and allow them to change their game plan. Gustavsson made no apology for failing to disclose the issue earlier, and Robinson praised the Matildas manager's ability to maintain a straight face.

"The objective of a coach is to win the game, other people might have different opinions," Robinson told reporters on Friday. The Roosters coach agreed that declaring Kerr's unavailability would have handed Ireland the chance to change their approach.

"Our job is to create intrigue and guessing in the opposition and showing your cards in the days and weeks before a game, that's giving a tip sheet to the opposition," Robinson said. "People wouldn't have turned up if they found out? People wouldn't have watched?

"The coach's job for Australia is to win the game, and if that was a tactical advantage so Australia could win the game then I think we're happy with that as Australians rather than having the knowledge hours before that Sam wasn't playing."

Sam Kerr insists she's good to go for Canada clash

Kerr, who is Australia's greatest player and the face of the World Cup, will also miss Thursday's clash with Nigeria in Brisbane. But the striker is confident she will be back in action against Olympic champions Canada at AAMI Park in Melbourne just four days later.

On arrival in Brisbane on Friday, Kerr was asked whether her World Cup was over. "Definitely not," she told Channel 10. Kerr was then asked whether she would be seen at the Canada game. "Of course, I'll be there," she said.

According to Anthony Blazevich, a Professor of Biomechanics at Edith Cowan University, Kerr's injury might actually have a silver lining. "The good news is that despite the fact that there's limited public knowledge of the severity of the injury, she was walking and she was standing," Professor Blazevich told AAP.

"If a calf injury is too painful, you're often limping. The fact that she appears to be walking normally and standing suggests it might be at the lower end (of severity). It's only guesswork, you can only guess that there's a chance that she'll still play in the tournament."

with AAP

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