Matildas star Sam Kerr lauds coach Tony Gustavsson for the 'belief' built during the Tokyo Olympics

Kieran Francis

Matildas star Sam Kerr lauds coach Tony Gustavsson for the 'belief' built during the Tokyo Olympics image

Matildas superstar Sam Kerr has praised coach Tony Gustavsson for the 'belief' he has brought to the team during their run to the Tokyo Olympics semi-final.

The green and gold reached the last four to book a date with Sweden after an incredible 4-3 victory against Great Britain on Saturday night, with Kerr scoring a crucial last-minute equaliser to send the game into extra time, before scoring the sealing fourth goal.

With Australia making the semi-finals of a major tournament for the first time, Kerr was asked what Gustavsson had added to the group since took over from Ante Milicic in September last year.

The 27-year-old spoke of the impact the Swedish tactician has had on the players - particularly with their mental psyche heading into matches.

"Just belief, I think you can see his personality is very upbeat, but the biggest thing is belief," Kerr said in her post-match press conference.

"We've always got to this point and fallen at the last hurdle and when he first joined, that's what a lot of us said, that we just want to get there and get through and give ourselves an opportunity to win a medal because we really believe that we can, but we've just not been able to get over that hurdle.

"He's really instilled that belief that we can do it and we can beat any team and play the way we want to play and I think you've seen that we've played every game, how we play, we haven't changed for anyone and that gives us massive belief when we beat teams like GB."

The Matildas will face their coach's homeland Sweden in the semi-final - a team who beat them 4-2 in the group stage in a relatively even encounter that was decided by Australian defensive errors and clinical Swedish finishing.

Kerr said she wasn't worrying about the semi just yet, and admitted to wanting to enjoy the moment of having the opportunity to compete for an Olympic medal.

"I mean, we've never qualified for a semi-final in a major tournament, but like Tony said, I can't think of anything else right now. I'm just trying to enjoy this moment," she said.

"I feel like we've done so much work to get here that we should enjoy it. We should take it and we should be proud of what we've achieved."

Gustavsson also echoed Kerr's sentiments, insisiting he would celebrate the team's achievement before focusing on the tactical battle against Sweden.

"I'm going to start looking at that tomorrow and enjoy this quarterfinal," Gustavsson said.

"Now, the one thing I can say is that we're going to play a great team. [The last match we played] was a great game and it's going to be inspiring and exciting, that semi-final."

Kieran Francis

Kieran Francis Photo

Kieran Francis is a senior editor at The Sporting News based in Melbourne, Australia. He started at Sportal.com.au before being a part of the transition to Sporting News in 2015. Just prior to the 2018 World Cup, he was appointed chief editor of Goal.com in Australia. He has now returned to The Sporting News where his passions lay in football, AFL, poker and cricket - when he is not on holiday.