Sam Kerr has been labeled the complete center forward by the Chelsea manager, Emma Hayes, after the Australia captain netted another double to help her side to a second piece of silverware in the space of a week.
Having scored two sensational volleys last weekend to help secure the Women’s Super League title with a victory over Manchester United, Kerr was again on the scoresheet twice on Sunday as Chelsea won the Women’s FA Cup final against Manchester City.
Kerr hit the game’s opener in the first half, and a 99th-minute winner – her seventh and eighth goals in four consecutive domestic cup finals – after Hayley Raso’s late equalizer for City leveled the score and sent the game into extra-time.
Kerr’s latest brace in front of a record crowd of 49,094 at Wembley completed a second extraordinary season in England for the Matildas captain and left her manager in raptures.
“She is ridiculous,” Hayes said. “She’s got the lot. She’s got character; she’s got charisma, charm, she’s got courage in her play. We’ve got an amazing center forward.
“There was a moment in the game when I thought, ‘she looks knackered,’ but she just digs and digs and digs and digs and digs.”
Hayes added of Sunday’s extra-time period, “I always felt, ‘give Sam one chance, just give her one chance’.”
Kerr won a second successive WSL golden boot this season, scoring 20 goals in 20 games, six clear of her nearest rival. She was voted Football Writers’ Association women’s footballer of the year and is the favorite to win the goal of the season for her title-clinching volley against United.
She added another seven goals in cup competitions, including three in finals, to make it eight in four English domestic deciders, three of whom won.
“WE DID THAT!!,” Kerr posted on Instagram after the dramatic contest at Wembley Stadium.
Hayes also praised Kerr for preventing defense, including Australia’s Alanna Kennedy, from playing the ball out from the bac: it was international Izzy Christiansen, a former FA Cup winner with Manchester City.
“The noted it athleticism and hunger and desire, the desire to put yourself on the line and do anything you can for your team,” the BBC television match pundit said. “Sam Kerr’s job off the ball for the team is remarkable. To have someone like that in your team is amazing.”
