Australia announced shortly before their opening game against Ireland that star striker Sam Kerr would miss the first two games through injury.

Though they won the game 1-0, the loss of Kerr is a major blow for the co-hosts, as Michael Cox explains...

"Without her, Australia only really had two plans with possession.

"The first was bringing the full-backs, Catley and Ellie Carpenter, inside and getting them to play one-twos, which worked reasonably well at times, but also resulted in misplaced passes, turnovers, and allowed Ireland to break.

"The second involved the centre-backs and central midfielders hitting long, hopeful balls for the two wingers. This was less effective.

"But the question wasn’t about whether Australia won this game. The question is about whether they can win the tournament, and without Kerr the probability of a home success is significantly reduced."

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