Australia star Sam Kerr hits back at online trolls after England Women's World Cup defeat
Australia striker Sam Kerr has defended Ellie Carpenter following England Women's World Cup defeat
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Australia star Sam Kerr has defended team-mate Ellie Carpenter following the Matildas' 3-1 defeat to England on Wednesday.
The 29-year-old scored a stunning goal for her side during the Women's World Cup clash but it wasn't enough, with the Lionesses going through following goals from Ella Toone, Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo.
Carpenter has faced criticism for her display in the wake of Australia's exit - and has even been forced to limit replies on her social media accounts.
Online trolls have hounded the 23-year-old, ridiculing her in the wake of England's win.
Ellie Carpenter has been trolled online after Australia's defeat to England
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And Kerr has now hit back, with the Australia star defending her team-mate.
“People probably see how physically strong she is. But she’s mentally one of the toughest kids I’ve ever met in my life,” Kerr said.
“She’s an amazing part of this team, and the good thing about playing a team sport is it’s never one person’s fault, or it’s never one person that made the team win.
“Without Ellie - I mean, Tony [Gustavsson] will probably tell you - our whole team plan probably changes.
"She’s such an amazing player for us. And no one in our team for one second has ever thought anything was Ellie’s fault.
“I don’t think Ellie thinks that, and I don’t think anyone should think that, because there’s 90 minutes in a football match.
"If we talked about all the mistakes, we could go for days. That’s football.
“But Ellie’s a strong kid, she’s an amazing person, she’s an amazing human.
"On and off the park, she’s a big part for us. She bounced back and the team got around her.”
Carpenter only returned to football following a serious ACL injury earlier this year.
And despite her young age, she's already made more than 60 appearances for her side.
After the defeat to England, the Australia star admitted she was hurt by the loss.
“I’m obviously heartbroken. There’s not much more to say," she stated.
“We wanted to do the job tonight and go to the final...that didn't happen."
Meanwhile, Kerr also called on the Australian FA to pump more money into the team - insisting it'll be vital if they're to go all the way at the next major tournament.
“I can only speak for the Matildas [but], you know, we need funding in our development, we need funding in our grassroots," said the Chelsea striker.
"We need funding, you know, we need funding everywhere.
“You know, comparison to other sports isn’t really good enough and hopefully this tournament kind of changes that because that’s the legacy you leave, not what you do on the pitch.
“The legacy is what you do off the pitch.
"Hopefully. I mean, it’s hard to talk about now, but hopefully that this is the start of something new.”
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Sam Kerr scored a stunner as England beat Australia at the Women's World Cup
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She continued: “That’s kind of the only thing that’s keeping me smiling right now is the way that we’ve kind of inspired the nation.
“Everyone’s got behind us. The tournament’s been amazing. Every single team and player and person that’s visited has said how beautiful our country is.
“So, I think for us, it’s been hopefully life-changing for women’s football in Australia.”
Kerr could feature when Australia face off with Sweden in the third-place play-off on Saturday morning (9am).
Sweden lost to Spain in the semis after a dramatic late winner from Olga Carmona.
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