Kerr responds to explosive report about new club

As we mentioned at the top, Sam Kerr has pushed back on a surprise report claiming to know which club she’ll be playing for next season.

With her contract at Chelsea due to expire at the end of this season, there had long been rumours that the Matildas icon would be looking for a fresh start in a few months’ time, but until now there had been no firm reports on where that would be.

That changed last night when Channel 10 reported that Kerr is headed to the USA - and more specifically, to new NWSL club Denver Summit.

If true, the signing would be a massive coup for the fledgling outfit that only played its first game a couple of weeks ago, with Kerr still one of the most recognisable female footballers on the planet.

However the 32-year-old has pushed back on the report, and just as she did during the Women’s Asian Cup when there were fears she would miss the final through injury, she did so by responding to a question from a fan on Snapchat.

While it’s not exactly a firm denial, it does at least suggest there could be another twist in this story.

You can read our full report here.

Meanwhile Kerr will be back in action for the Matildas less than a month after the full-time whistle blew in the Women’s Asian Cup Final, as she was included in Joe Montemurro’s squad for upcoming friendlies in Kenya.

Contrary to what many assumed, Montemurro hasn’t rested all of his big-name stars, with Kerr joined in the group by the likes of Steph Catley, Alanna Kennedy and Mackenzie Arnold, although he didn’t include Ellie Carpenter, Caitlin Foord or Mary Fowler.

That means there are a few fresh faces in the squad, including Leticia McKenna (Melbourne City), Jessika Nash (US Sassuolo) and Isabel Gomez (Central Coast Mariners).

Check out the full squad, and see what Montemurro had to say when he announced it, at the link below.

Queens Park Rangers are a mid-table English Championship club who apparently lose $38 million per year.

So when reports emerged claiming QPR are on the cusp of taking over Central Coast Mariners, one of the first questions that came to mind was: why?

It’s a question Rangers fans are asking themselves, as they struggle to get their heads around the motivation behind taking over a club that, despite the Mariners’ impressive efforts on the field of late, is struggling just to keep its head above water.

“We’re a bit perplexed,” is how Clive Whittingham explained it.

Whittingham heads up QPR’s longest-running fan site and he had a chat to our man on the ground in England, Simon Hill, to explain how supporters are feeling about the prospective Mariners acquisition.

And in a word, they are uneasy about it.

“…it seems bizarre – we have joked that instead of one poorly run club we could have two, which is exciting!”

That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement, nor does it provide much comfort for Mariners fans who just want clarity over who exactly will be running their club when it is inevitably taken off the plate of the A-League itself, which is currently in charge.

Whittingham provided some fascinating insights not just about QPR, but about how those who follow the English Championship closely view the A-League and the many players that have headed their way over the last few years.

You can read the full article here.

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Clearly QPR aren’t the only British club enticed by the lure of of A-League talent.

Their Championship rivals Portsmouth currently have four Australians on their books - we’re still counting Adrian Segecic in that list - while the Scottish Premiership has become a very popular first stop on many Aussie players’ European adventures over the past few years.

Chief among them now is Dundee United, who have gone one better than Portsmouth by not only signing up four Australians, but also a Kiwi!

Scottish journalist Barry Anderson has written a really interesting piece explaining the thinking behind the Aussie influx at Dundee United, and in the Scottish Premiership more broadly. Have a read of it below.

The A-League Men returned last night after the international break, but the World Cup theme continued thanks to a double from Mitch Duke.

The veteran striker was left out of the latest Socceroos squad but he sent a timely reminder of how handy he could be at the tournament later this year, bagging two goals and an assist against the ladder-leading Newcastle Jets in his most dominant performance since returning to the A-League at the start of the year.

“The way he’s performing, if he finishes off the season like this, if I was a Socceroos coach, I would be choosing him,” was how Duke’s coach at Macarthur, Mile Sterjovksi, put it.

Duke’s goals helped sixth-placed Macarthur keep their finals hopes alive with a surprise 3-2 win over the high-flying Jets. You can read the match report and watch the pick of the goals here.

Brisbane Roar and Sydney FC were also in action last night, the latter in their first match under interim boss Patrick Kisnorbo.

Kisnorbo caused a stir earlier in the week with his first press conference as Sky Blues boss, but he didn’t quite have the same impact on the field as Sydney’s attacking struggles continued in a scoreless draw in Brisbane.

Michael Valkanis pulled out another classic line in his post-match interview, but one gets the feeling he was clinging on to the positives after the result left his side in 10th place on the ladder, having played more games than the teams immediately above and below them.

“I think we’ve been like a bear, sleeping in the cave, hibernating, waiting — and, finally, we brought the roar back,” Valkanis said.

Veteran rugby league coach Wayne Bennett doesn’t show much emotion in public, but his affection for Graham Arnold was on full display yesterday when asked about the former Socceroos coach.

“I was so proud of him, I really was,” Bennett said to ABC’s Daniel Garb, who asked about Arnold following the incredible scenes in Mexico after he helped Iraq qualify for the World Cup for the first time in 40 years.

“I was pleased to see him so happy… he took a huge risk to go over there, thought he could make a difference, he wanted to get them to the World Cup. He’s achieved that.

“He’s coming home in a few weeks – he said he’s come and look us all up.

“He did a lot of good work with Latrell last year on his kicking – Latrell keeps asking when he’s coming back!”

Arnold’s relationship with Bennett, one of the most successful coaches in all of Australian sport, dates back more than 20 years, and Arnold revealed last year that he consulted Bennett when he was deciding whether or not to resign as Socceroos boss.

That decision triggered one of the most dramatic periods of Arnold’s professional life, as he took over as Iraq coach and led them to the promised land of the World Cup thanks to Wednesday’s dramatic win over Bolivia in their qualification playoff.

Now he has the small matter of trying to help Iraq get something out of a group that includes world No.1 France, and a Norway side featuring Erling Haaland.

“Can I get over this first, before I think about France,” he quipped, when asked about the first game of the tournament.

“We have nothing to lose…

“Let’s go there and give it everything we’ve got and shock the world with a crazy result and performance.”

Arnold referenced his experience of leading Australia against France at the last World Cup, and had this advice for his players as they start to come to grips with the fact they’re soon going to be sharing a field with the likes of Haaland and Kylian Mbappe.

“To be on the same football pitch as them and in a World Cup game is an honour,” Arnold said. “You have respect for those players and what they do but at the same time we go out there and try and win.”

But right now Arnie and his team, and seemingly all of Iraq, are just soaking up this feeling - check out the amazing scenes from Baghdad in the video below.