Sam Kerr is confronted with a race by time to appear in Chelsea's End season push four titles with the English champions that have been removed from the wounded Matildas' Captain 'for a few weeks'.
With the blues that go to a punishing schedule, while they want to add the ladies Super League, FA Cup and Champions League crowns to the League Cup they have already picked, manager Sonia Bompastor had frustrating news for fans who were desperate to see their star striker.
Bompastor thought it was an important step for the 31-year-old to participate in her Matildas teammates in Australia during the international break after what was a difficult time for Kerr, who was acquitted in a controversial court case to cause racially worsened intimidation of a police officer.
“It was really important to her,” said Bompastor.
“First of all, because she had the chance to be near the national team, which is really important to her, and she could also see her family, which is really nice to have the chance.”
But as for the return from Kerr to action, it is now 14 months since she sustained her ACL injury at a training camp and Bompastor admitted: “We are still a few weeks away from Sam who completely returns to the field, so it's hard to put a timetable on it.”
That prediction suggests that it might not be before the end of April that Kerr could return, by that time there would only be three weeks of the domestic season, with the last day of the WSL on 10 May and the FA Cup final should get there the following weekend.
Chelsea will play their FA Cup-Halve final with Liverpool on Saturday, before the two legs of their Champions League semi-final against champions Barcelona on 20 and 27 April, of which it would be a piece to think that Kerr would be ready for such an extensive break.
Chelsea's dream is to end their push with four trophy with a Champions League final on Saturday 24 May in Lisbon, so that the question was left behind whether after 15 months she could fight her back in a team that only lost one game throughout the season.
While she continues to recover, Bompastor says that Chelsea is ready for their big final push, but notes that they need a 'ruthless mentality' after a recent slip in standards.
'In March we dropped four points against Brighton at the start of the block and the last match against West Ham that we attracted. As a team we cannot drop our standards as we did and it is up to us to ensure that we have this ruthless mentality as a team.
“Tomorrow for the game I just want to see the best version of Chelsea on the field.”
The other FA Cup Semi-Final on Sunday contains a Manchester derby between United and City, which is expected to hit Mary Fowler back in the team after they have an impression on the Matildas.
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