BRISBANE — When Sam Kerr stepped out onto the training track on Friday morning, she couldn’t help but feel a tinge of sadness. Not because a third-place playoff against Sweden instead of a final awaited, although that can’t have helped, but because it represented their final session of a magical home World Cup that has seen the country fall in love with the Matildas.

Defeated 3-1 by England in their semifinal at Stadium Australia, Kerr and company face a “bronze medal” playoff with the Blågult on Saturday evening, with a bumper crowd expected to be on hand to see the team play one last time in what has been a momentous month of football.

“For us, this has all probably been the most amazing four weeks of our careers,” Kerr said. “Not only what has happened on the pitch, but what has happened on the pitch has been amazing.

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“When we first started at this World Cup, we could have never dreamed that this would happen.

“It’s been an amazing journey to be a part of.

“I think in five, ten years we’ll look back on this and be like this was the most amazing four weeks of our lives.

“It feels a bit sad that it’s over. But we have one more game, we can end on a high. Third place for us would be an amazing thing and an amazing thing for this country.”

Though a disappointment on the pitch, Wednesday evening’s defeat to England was watched by a peak of 11.15 million according to free-to-air broadcaster Channel Seven, with an average audience of 7.13 million.

That figure smashed previous ratings set by events such as the 2003 Rugby World Cup final, Ash Barty’s Australian Open win in 2022, and Lleyton Hewitt’s loss in the 2005 Australian Open final.

When accounting for Channel Seven’s figures not including those watching on streaming service Optus Sport, who on-sold the rights of Matildas games to Channel Seven, or at pubs, clubs, and live sites across the country, it’s likely that the total viewing audience either came close to or broke the long-standing ratings record held by Cathy Freeman’s gold-medal winning run at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

“I think Australia has caught on to the down-to-earth nature that the team shows, where no one’s too big for their boots,” Kerr said. “We all just work hard. We work for each other.

“We represent what I think Australians, when they think of Australian sport — hard-working, never give up — that’s what all the girls show. I think people can get on board with that.

“Whenever I think of the great Australian athletes, that’s what I think of. I think of those nights when I used to stay up and watch Lleyton Hewitt at Wimbledon, never giving up and playing every point and I think that’s what Australians love.

“I think we just have that Aussie spirit that you can’t tell people about unless you see it, then you know what it is -I think Lleyton Hewitt, Cathy Freeman, all those athletes that you just want to get behind because of what they do and what they give to the country.”

How much of this newly beloved squad will return for the next World Cup in 2027, though, remains unknown.

“Everyone’s gonna be hurting; I think the veterans probably more — we don’t really have another World Cup in us,” Katrina Gorry said after the loss to England. “So it’s a tough one to swallow at the moment.”

On the one side, youngbloods such as Clare Hunt (24), Alex Chidiac (24), Kyra Cooney-Cross (21), Ellie Carpenter (23) and Mary Fowler (20) all represent a contingent that shapes a potential core of the side for years to come.

Conversely, Gorry (31), Lydia Williams (34), Aivi Luik (38), Clare Polkinghorne (34), Tameka Yallop (32) Emily van Egmond (30), and Kyah Simon (32) are all members of the squad aged 30 and over.

“We’ve got lots of young players in our team,” Kerr, 29, said. “You look at the young ones, Mary, Ellie, and you think ‘Oh, God, we’re in a really good place here’ and then you look at the other end and you think we could lose a few and it’s sad.

“That’s sport and I think that’s why [investment is]so important. Because there are probably ten or twelve players out there that we’ve never heard of that will be at the next World Cup and that’s exciting.

“This is why this tournament is so special because it only comes every four years and the teams are forever changing and women’s football is changing quicker than people could have ever imagined.

“I think most of us will still be here if we have the opportunity to be. We have to play at our clubs, we have to play well, stay injury free. There might be a few more babies maybe, I don’t know, four years, it’s a long time.

“As long as there are 23 spots, everyone here will be fighting for them for years to come.”