Sam Kerr and Kristie Mewis first sparked dating rumors in 2021 at the Tokyo Olympics, when Mewis consoled Kerr after the U.S. women’s national team defeated Australia in the bronze-medal match.

A photo of the opposing players — Mewis, a USWNT forward, and Kerr, an Australian forward — embracing went viral. Soon after, the players revealed they were a couple. These days, Kerr and Mewis are hardly reluctant to share their romance, and after Kerr helped Australia defeat France in the World Cup quarterfinal Saturday, the couple shared a romantic kiss.

Kerr suffered a calf injury before the World Cup and had played limited minutes entering the France match. She entered in the 55th minute and provided an immediate boost for her side.

The teams remained knotted at 0 through overtime, sending the game to penalty kicks. Kerr converted her attempt, and Australia won 7-6 in front of its home fans in Suncorp Stadium. She then gifted her jersey to an excited young fan.

Mewis, meanwhile, has remained at the World Cup as a spectator despite USWNT’s exit in the Round of 16. She did not play in the group stage, but entered late in the team’s final game against Sweden. Mewis converted her penalty kick attempt, but it wasn’t enough for the USWNT in the shootout loss.

Now she remains at the tournament to cheer on Kerr, along with the rest of the host country’s fan base.

“I tried to bring energy when I came on, I tried to lift the girls,” Kerr said afterwards. “I kind of think the momentum swung a bit in our favor and that’s what you have to do as a sub.”

When Sam Kerr, the legendary Australian forward, entered her team’s quarter matchup against France in the 55th minute Saturday, Suncorp Stadium came unglued.

So after Australia’s emotional 7-6 penalty kicks victory, Kerr went into the crowd herself, peeling off her jersey and delivering it to a young fan, creating one of the more memorable moments of the World Cup so far.

Kerr, the Australian captain, is the all-time leading goal scorer in Australian international history and a national icon. “Sam is the best striker in the world,” teammate Emily van Egmond said in advance of the match. “There’s no other way to look at it other than that.”

Kerr suffered a calf injury before the World Cup, though, and had been limited entering the France game. She had only played 10 minutes in the tournament, entering in the 79th minute of the team’s 2-0 win over Denmark in the Round of 16.

Australian coach Tony Gustavsson decided to once again bench Kerr for the France match, a decision that elicited some criticism. When she finally entered the game, early in the first half, it was a cathartic moment for fans.

In the 61st minute, Kerr attempted a left-footed shot from the box, but it was saved. The teams were scoreless at the end of overtime, triggering penalty kicks. Kerr converted her penalty, and then Cortnee Vine did the same to seal the victory and send Australia to its first World Cup semifinal.

Kerr handed the young fan her jersey and gave her a hug, and the fan beamed, her mouth agape. It was a fitting end to an evening no Australia fan will soon forget.

Sam Kerr made her return to the pitch Monday in Australia’s 2-0 win over Denmark.

After missing the entirety of the group stage with a calf injury, Kerr came on as a substitute in the 80th minute of the the World Cup host’s Round of 16 match to a roaring crowd in Sydney.

The Matildas were already up 2-0 thanks to Caitlin Foord and Hayley Raso, so Kerr didn’t have to face much pressure in her first minutes of the 2023 tournament.

“We just ran our arse off and gave it everything,” Foord told Optus Sport postgame. “We knew if we defended well there were going to come chances and we were going to score and that’s what we did tonight.”

Still, even with a two-goal lead in hand, Kerr made an impact in her 10 minutes. She even nearly had a scoring chance in the 87th minute, looking healthy despite not warming up before the match. And after the game, she met up with girlfriend Kristie Mewis in the stands. While Mewis was eliminated from the World Cup with the U.S. women’s national team’s shootout loss Sunday, she was on hand to celebrate Kerr’s success.

“The players once again managed to play the game in front of us,” Australia head coach Tony Gustavsson told Optus Sport. “Right in that moment, the composure, we were under a lot of pressure, that first half. We didn’t get rattled. The team is very mature and playing tournament football and just finding a way to win.”

Kristie Mewis might be dating the opposition, but that doesn’t mean she is letting out state secrets.

The U.S. women’s national team midfielder spoke with Just Women’s Sports about how she is navigating the 2023 World Cup, including in her relationship with Australia star Sam Kerr.

While Kerr and Mewis sit on opposite sides of the bracket at the tournament in Australia and New Zealand, the couple faced off against one another in the bronze-medal match at the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo.

“Do you remember at the Olympics when I went up to you and I was like, ‘Kristie, I know it goes without saying but: You can’t talk to Sam about anything we’re talking about. You know that, right?” USWNT teammate Kelley O’Hara asked Mewis.

“I couldn’t even believe you would ask me that,” Mewis said, in shock that a few of her teammates even felt that they had to ask. “I would literally never. … When she asked me that, I was horrified. Literally horrified.”

The 32-year-old then shared that she and Kerr don’t get into the “nitty-gritty” of their shared sport when they are together. She pointed to an international friendly as an example of how they set their relationship aside when they are on the pitch.

“There is this one moment — it wasn’t in the Olympics, but we always talk about this because I had subbed on and she was on and there was a 50/50 ball in front of us,” Mewis said. “It was like the last probably like 15 minutes of the game. And we both went in so hard. I don’t even know where the ball went. … It was a 50/50 ball, we rammed into each other.

“I think we would just kill each other to win. But it doesn’t change anything with us. Like, I’m obsessed with her. And I love her so much. And she’s the best. But I think when it comes to soccer and national teams, it’s just like the relationship doesn’t exist.”

Heading into the World Cup year Kerr and Mewis were prepared their support for each other with their focus on the tournament, as they shared with soccer lifestyle magazine Gaffer in January. And when Mewis found out in June she had made the USWNT roster, Kerr was her first call.

Kerr has extra pressure as the face of the home team, even as she deals with an injury that has sidelined her for the first two games of the group stage. She became the country’s all-time leader in international goals in 2022, surpassing Tim Cahill’s previous record (49).

Still, as the couple said in January, they are proud to share their journey.

“I think just being out and being two girls in love, I think if we can change one or two people’s lives and the way that they feel about each other and how comfortable they feel, then that means a lot to me,” Mewis said.

The extent of Sam Kerr’s injury drew renewed concerns on Monday after conflicting messages from the Australian women’s national team at the World Cup. Kerr, Australia’s superstar forward, is currently sidelined with a calf injury sustained in training last week.

Asked about Kerr during a press conference with local media, Australian midfielder Kyra Cooney-Cross suggested the 29-year-old suffered a more serious injury than had previously been reported.

“It’s unfortunate that Sam tore her calf before the game,” Cooney-Cross said, according to a local ABC broadcast.

An Australia team spokesperson later clarified to ABC reporter Jessica Stewart that Cooney-Cross’ description of Kerr’s injury was incorrect. An edited video of Cooney-Cross’ press conference published on the Matildas’ website also removed the comment in question.

Kerr was originally ruled out of Australia’s first two World Cup group stage games for what she and Football Australia referred to as a “calf injury.”

“Unfortunately I sustained a calf injury yesterday in training,” she wrote in a statement on Instagram. “I wanted to share this with everyone so there is no distraction from us doing what we came here to achieve. Of course, I would have loved to have been out there tonight but I can’t wait to be apart of this amazing journey which starts now.”

Football Australia said the team’s medical staff would reassess Kerr after the second group stage game against Nigeria on Thursday. Australia won their World Cup opener 1-0 over Ireland on Thursday.

Kerr watched Matildas training on Monday while wearing a compression wrap around her left calf. Australia’s all-time leading international scorer was expected to play a key role for the host country at the 2023 World Cup, and her status for the rest of the tournament remains unclear.

Just Women’s Sports is here with your daily World Cup Digest, breaking down all of the biggest storylines from the first day of action in Australia and New Zealand.

Today’s top news: Sam Kerr misses Australia opener

Sam Kerr missed Australia’s World Cup opener Thursday after picking up a calf injury during training Wednesday. While the Matildas still secured a 1-0 win against Ireland, their all-time leading scorer will be out for at least the next game. The team will “re-assess her following our second group-stage match,” so she could return for July 31 match against Canada.

“Unfortunately I sustained a calf injury yesterday in training,” Kerr said in a statement. “I wanted to share this with everyone so there is no distraction from what we came here to achieve. Of course I would have loved to have been out there tonight, but I can’t wait to be a part of this amazing journey which starts now.”

Australia head coach Tony Gustavsson called the injury “devastating” and said after the win that the team did not know the extent of Kerr’s injury until 9:30 p.m. local time Wednesday. He asked for understanding on the decision to not reveal that information sooner, explaining that the team didn’t give “too much” away to Ireland.

“Once we came to the stadium, we didn’t play any type of mind games, we just were honest with the team sheet,” he said. “She wasn’t in the starting lineup. We went out with the news saying she’s injured, she couldn’t play. But we wanted to wait until the last second when we come to the stadium to not give away too much in tournament football.”

He also noted he was proud of the way that his team responded to Kerr’s absence, particularly once she stepped away during training Wednesday.

Kerr undeniably was missed in the Matildas’ opening game, but the team still prevailed thanks to a penalty kick from defender Steph Catley that put the home side up 1-0 – which remained the final score despite a number of late challenges by Ireland.

“My heart really breaks for Sammy. I know she wants to be out there, I know she wants to be a part of these two games,” Australia’s Elise Kellond-Knight said. “Luckily there’s another 22 players on this team. The team isn’t just Sam Kerr. … We’ve got so much depth. If anything, it’s kind of great that we can rest Sam and afford to put her on the sidelines and then look at our other players and create our attacks through those players.”

Today’s top highlight: Ali Riley’s reaction to New Zealand’s first WC win

New Zealand got the upset party going Thursday with its 1-0 victory over Norway – the first World Cup win for a New Zealand team, men’s or women’s. Hannah Wilkinson provided the lone goal of the match, a beautiful strike that electrified the crowd of 42,137 fans in attendance.

Following the win, captain Ali Riley gave an emotional interview, noting that she thought the Football Ferns “deserved” the win.

“I’m so, so proud. We’ve been fighting for this for so long and we had a clear goal, that we wanted to inspire young girls, young people around this country and around the world,” she said. “And I really think we did that tonight. Anything is possible.”

Today’s results:

So far, so good for the host countries, as both New Zealand and Australia prevailed in their opening matches.

  • New Zealand 1 — Norway 0
  • Australia 1 — Ireland 0

More World Cup news to know:

Kristie Mewis is headed to her first World Cup with the U.S. women’s national team. But the wait for the call from head coach Vlatko Andonovski was “very painful,” she shared Wednesday.

After a morning of training for Gotham FC, the 32-year-old midfielder waited alone in her apartment until the call came at 4 p.m.

“So it was a very draining, emotional, wait-around day,” she told reporters Wednesday.

When she answered the FaceTime from Andonovski, who told her she would join the USWNT’s 23-player roster for the tournament in Australia and New Zealand, the emotions hit her.

“I think I started crying before I even saw Vlatko’s face on the FaceTime, just because everything was coming into that moment,” Mewis said. “I feel like I’ve been waiting my whole life to hear those words.”

The countdown to the World Cup roster drop officially started after the USWNT’s April training camp. But for Mewis, the wait seemed much longer.

While she made her debut for the senior national team in 2013, she spent five years off the team and missed out on the 2015 and 2019 World Cups. On Wednesday, she described herself as a “bubble player,” though she has made every USWNT camp since before the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

Of the 14 players making their World Cup debuts for the USWNT in 2023, Mewis is the oldest.

Her parents, her sister — injured USWNT star Sam Mewis — and her girlfriend — Australia star Sam Kerr — served as her “absolute rocks” through the grueling process. She called all of them in turn as soon as she hung up with Andonovski.

“I called my girlfriend immediately. I called my parents. I called my sister,” she said. “They all have been such huge, huge people in my life through this process, because I’m sure I’ve been such a pain in the ass because I’ve been so stressed for so long.”

After the USWNT roster was revealed Wednesday, Kerr congratulated Mewis on Instagram. But she also noted: “Last time I’ll cheer for you is today.”

Kerr is the top player for the Matildas in their home World Cup, which kicks off on July 20. She and Mewis started dating during the COVID-19 pandemic, but they did not go public with their relationship until they made headlines at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. And they’re both ready to give everything they have this summer.

“We’re just raging for the next six months to the World Cup, doing whatever we can,” Kerr told soccer lifestyle magazine Gaffer in an interview with Mewis earlier this year. “We both feel like we’ve been gunning for this World Cup for so long now that it’s kind of going to be like we’re just giving everything for the next six months and then it’s gonna be like a breath of fresh air.”

The Equalizer’s Jeff Kassouf shared Mewis’ full comments on her World Cup call from Wednesday’s Gotham FC news conference.

A number of women’s soccer stars will now have their own Legos after the company released a 2023 Women’s World Cup set this month.

The players featured are U.S. women’s national team forward Megan Rapinoe, Australia’s Sam Kerr, Japan’s Yuki Nagasato and Nigeria’s Asisat Oshoala. The set comes as part of Lego’s Play Unstoppable campaign that “aims to challenge stereotypes around play and creative building, and encourage girls to unlock the freedom they need to play without boundaries.”

The Women’s World Cup kicks off on July 20 in Australia and New Zealand, where the USWNT will aim to defend its title from 2019.

“Play, both on and off the pitch, helps children explore who they are, build confidence and feel like part of a team. It’s one of the reasons why women’s football is one of the fastest growing sports globally, with crowd attendance records being shattered regularly and over 30 million girls now playing the game worldwide,” said Kerr. “But despite the talent of female players and the excitement of the game finally being recognized on the global stage, there are still many stereotypes that surround girls, their hobbies and the way they play that we need to break down.

“I hope that seeing women like me achieve their dreams inspires girls to believe they are unstoppable when they get to do the things they love.”

“Anything is possible. I think so much of what girls hear often is in a very tight little box with so many limitations,” Rapinoe said about the project. “I think play is so important. It’s where our creativity comes out. It’s where we learn new things about ourselves and other people.

“It’s where we can really shed barriers and sort of shed the constraints around us.”

Rapinoe said that she’s tried to break those barriers during her own career, which has led her to be unapologetic about who she is.

“My mantra for play is just to be myself and try new things and to use that creativity. I feel like there’s never really any mistakes, it’s just something that you learn from,” she said.

“I think the world would be much better if girls lived without limits. It’s like half the population is being limited and put into a little box. Like, we can only get better if we’re allowed to be our full selves.”

Rapinoe has played in five matches for OL Reign since returning from an ankle injury and is expected to be named to the USWNT’s 23-player roster for the World Cup this month. The 37-year-old forward has previously won two World Cup titles with the U.S. in 2015 and ’19.

Kerr, meanwhile, is set to captain Australia at the World Cup. The 29-year-old recently scored the game-winner in Chelsea’s 1-0 win over Manchester United to claim the FA Cup title.

Competing in front of a record crowd of 77,390 fans at Wembley Stadium, Sam Kerr propelled Chelsea to the 2023 Women’s FA Cup title, scoring the eventual game winner in the 68th minute.

Kerr then propelled herself into the air, celebrating with a high-flying backflip (video below).

Chelsea defeated Manchester United, 1-0, to win its third straight FA Cup final title.

The 29-year-old Kerr said multiple people have been asking when she was going to whip out the backflip again, including Chelsea teammate Millie Bright, who is currently sidelined with a knee injury.

“I texted (Millie) and said, ‘backflip incoming,’ so I knew it was coming today,'” Kerr said in her postgame interview.

Kerr has scored the game winner in each of Chelsea’s three straight FA Cup Final wins.

In 2021, Kerr scored the first two goals in Chelsea’s 3-0 win over Arsenal. During the 2022 Women’s FA Cup Final vs. Manchester City, Kerr opened the scoring and then notched the game winner in extra time, leading Chelsea to a 3-2 win. (Video of all five of Kerr’s FA Cup final goals are embedded below.)

Sam Kerr’s goals in the 2021 Women’s FA Cup Final

Sam Kerr’s goals in the 2022 Women’s FA Cup Final

Sam Kerr’s game winner in the 2023 Women’s FA Cup Final

Lynn Williams has brought life and scoring back to NJ/NY Gotham FC, with six goals across the regular season and Challenge Cup in 2023.

In doing so, she has surpassed Sam Kerr for the most goal contributions (goals and assists) across all competitions in NWSL history, with 103 to Kerr’s 102. She also sits in second place in all-time regular-season goals, her 61 trailing Kerr’s record 77.

Her most recent goal, which broke the goal contributions record, came in Sunday’s 2-1 win against the Chicago Red Stars.

“Everybody kept being like, congrats on this record. And I was like, what are you guys talking about?” Williams said on the latest episode of Snacks.

When she realized she had broken Kerr’s record, she told her USWNT and Gotham FC teammate Kristie Mewis to pass along a message to Kerr. Mewis is dating the Australian star.

“I beat Sam Kerr. And so I told Kristie that she has to tell Sam she’s a peasant to me now,” she joked.

Traded to Gotham in the offseason, Williams hasn’t missed a beat joining her new squad. And teammate Ali Krieger, who joined the latest episode of Snacks, called Williams’ addition to the club “amazing.”

“She’s like scoring all the goals, carrying the team on her back,” Krieger said. “It’s like, it’s insane. Now I don’t have to defend her, which is really nice. I can breathe a little. … It’s exciting also playing in the back and just watching you play too. Creating chances and we didn’t necessarily have that last year. You’ve just elevated the front line completely.”

For Snacks co-host Sam Mewis, Williams’ scoring was the “biggest story of the weekend.”

“Lynn can’t stop scoring. That was the headline,” she said, before addressing Williams: “Lynn, people do desperate things to try to stop you sometimes.”

With six goals through eight games for Gotham in 2023, she has more goals than Gotham scored during the 2022 season. But if you ask Williams, she’s not even playing some of the best soccer of her career.

While she’s scoring at a higher percentage, “which is great,” she still feels like she has room to grow.

“In the NWSL I’ve only played kind of one system, which is the two front in North Carolina,” she said. “And then obviously in Kansas City I played one game, so that doesn’t really count. I feel like right now my defensive pressure has been pretty good.

“I feel like I am just continuing to get better and better. I feel like I’m getting back to myself, but I’m not there yet. So I feel like every game I’m like, okay, my fitness is getting a little bit better. Taking on people is getting a little bit better. My shot’s better. But it’s been like a year.”

Williams is focused on “grinding” right now and taking baby steps as she continues to recover from the hamstring injury that kept her out for almost all of 2022.

“I feel like when you get too high, it’s like it can fall off at any moment. And when you get too low, you’re like, you can’t get out of it,” she continued. “So, yeah, I think it’s awesome. I’m scoring goals, but I just think I need to stay here and what I’ve already done is in the past. And so I just have to keep doing it every time.”