Chelsea FC Women striker Sam Kerr predicted she would score a ‘worldie’ ahead of the Blues’ title-deciding clash with Manchester United on Sunday afternoon and she did not disappoint!
Kerr scored two of our four goals as Emma Hayes’ side beat Manchester United 4-2 to claim a third consecutive Barclays FA Women’s Super League title.
Our no.20’s brace took her WSL tally up to 20 for the season as the Matildas striker scooped a second consecutive Golden Boot.
The 28-year-old scored her goals in spectacular fashion, hitting a volley on her weaker left foot to make it 2-2 and netting an audacious 30-yard volley to wrap up the title for the Blues.
On her goals yesterday afternoon, Kerr said: ‘The first one popped up and, honestly, I saw the Tottenham goal that they called offside two or three weeks ago - the same thing, just up in the air, I had time to watch it come down and just thought I’ve got to hit it.
‘You’ve got to take chances in those moments and the girls give me stick because I never hit anything with my left foot but you’ve just got to take the chances. The second goal, it sounds crazy but I try that type of stuff at training all the time, I think one of my strengths as a player is I try things that maybe other players wouldn’t try.
‘When Guro [Reiten] headed it to me I thought this is going to pop up perfectly for a volley and I just thought I’m going to hit it.
‘I do visualise a lot. Everyone thinks I was surprised I scored that goal but I told Erin Cuthbert I’m going to score a worldie. I’m going to chest it down and volley the ball.
‘I visualise and I actually thought on Sunday it worked in my favour and not in my favour because I visualised too much in the first half. I envisioned things and it wasn’t going our way and I felt tired, I felt nervous.
‘You have to envision yourself in those big moments and I loved it. I’ve always done it because I think if you can’t see yourself in those pressure moments then when you get there you will bottle it.
‘I do it before games where I don’t do anything, sometimes it comes off, sometimes it doesn’t, but a really big part of my game is seeing myself in moments before it actually gets there so when it comes I feel super calm.’
The forward reflected on her early days with the Blues, when she initially struggled to find consistent goalscoring form.
‘I wanted to come here and make an immediate impact but sometimes it doesn’t go that way but the same thing happened to me at Chicago; I didn’t score for the first six games I was there.
‘Once I settled into the team off the pitch that’s when I started to play well on the pitch. Of course, it’s nice to start scoring but I don’t think about anything anyone said about me because one day they hate you and one day they love you - that’s life I just keep going and try to win these things.’