Sam Kerr congratulated her girlfriend Kristie Mewis on making the U.S. women’s national team World Cup roster — and then warned her it would be the last time for a while that she’d be cheering her on.
Mewis was named to the 23-player squad on Wednesday, marking the first time in the midfielder’s career she has reached a World Cup roster.
Australia superstar Kerr and Mewis are one of the sport’s power couples, having gone public with their relationship in 2021 after Mewis was seen consoling Kerr on the pitch following the USWNT’s win over Australia in the Olympic bronze medal match.
Kerr, who will be the biggest scoring threat for co-host Australia at the World Cup, posted a message on her Instagram story that read: “Soo proud of you” before adding at the bottom of the screen: “& last time I”ll cheer for you is today.”
this is how you know it’s real pic.twitter.com/kwn5NgEksP
— ugh (@838_carlisle) June 21, 2023
In an interview with Gaffer last year, Kerr spoke about the awkward nature of playing in a game against her significant other.
I think there’s this part of us where we’re both separate athletes and when we compete against each other there’s this worry that people don’t think we take it seriously because you’re playing your girlfriend.
That’s what I worry about most out of anything is that our coaches or teammates don’t think that we can separate the two. Whereas the fans just support us. I hope people know that when it’s training time or play time, it doesn’t come into it. I remember one time in Newcastle (Australia) she came on, we were playing against each other, and we went in on each other. We’d kill each other. But I worry that people think that we’re not serious about our careers. At the Olympics we were so excited to see each other but I didn’t want people to think that we were just at the Olympics to see each other. I know that people don’t think that but that’s the worry.
Australia has been drawn into Group B of the World Cup, with the USWNT in Group E. With those two groups going to opposite sides of the knockout bracket, the only way Kerr could face Mewis at the World Cup would be in the final.
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