Australia star Sam Kerr will miss Australia’s first two matches at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Kerr sustained a calf injury yesterday at training and was not listed for the game against Republic of Ireland (tonight), and will miss the second Group B clash with Nigeria on July 27.

The Matildas also announced that the attacker will meet the medical team again for another test to see, if she can recover quickly for last game against Canada on 31 July.​

The 29-year-old, Australia’s all-time record scorer, posted on Instagram: “Unfortunately I sustained a calf injury yesterday in training. 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 a part of this amazing journey which starts now.”

A statement posted to the Australia team’s Twitter account read: “Sam Kerr is unavailable tonight after she picked up a calf injury at training on matchday minus-one.

“Sam will be unavailable for the next two matches with the Matildas medical team to re-assess her following our second group-stage match.”