Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson answers Sam Kerr injury questions after Ireland win in World Cup opener

The tension was clear as journalists and fans were blindsided by the teamsheet an hour before kick-off that revealed the Matildas' skipper and superstar striker would not play the much-anticipated opening Cup match in front of a record 75,784-strong crowd at Homebush.

Kerr had suffered a calf injury a day earlier during training, and the news was kept completely under wraps until the latest possible moment - or as Gustavsson put it post-game to Seven, they "weren't honest".

Even if his reasoning made perfect sense not to give Ireland a sniff of intel when they would have centred their game-planning around Kerr, it felt like the coach knew he'd have some explaining to do.

After all, only a day earlier Kerr and Gustavsson were joking with media about whether she'd be doing a backflip and if the iconic celebration made the coach nervous.

"Both of you had a poker face about that," a journalist challenged Gustavsson at the press conference.

"Yep," he replied with a wry smile, before seeking empathy.

"I want to say, I hope you respect and understand that when I sat here [on Wednesday] that I couldn't speak openly about it.

"At that point in time we didn't know 100 percent what it was - we were waiting for the result of the scans.

"We had a meeting at 9.30 [Wednesday] and that's when I got the exact news of what it was.

"Sam is a massive part of Ireland's game plan, and we didn't want to give that away in advance. But once we came to the stadium, we didn't play any type of mind games.

"We were honest with the team sheet... we said she was injured and can't play, but we wanted to wait until the last second."

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While Gustavsson had to own up to Kerr's injury, cards are still being held close.

The severity of the calf complaint or exactly what happened in warm-ups to cause the injury has not been disclosed out of "respect" for Kerr, which adds more doubt about the diagnosis she will miss two games.

That timeline, Gustavsson said, will be reassessed after their next Group B match against Nigeria next Thursday in Brisbane, which is followed by a match against Olympic champions Canada four days later in Melbourne.

The disappointment of Kerr's setback was not lost on the coach, who said it was "devastating" for the entire squad, especially their captain.

He had actually never managed a victorious Matildas game without Kerr playing until Thursday night.

Gustavsson credited the way the team pulled together through that ill-timed "curve ball" and found a way to win, which he believes is the main key to success in tournaments.

It wasn't pretty against an Ireland team that were extremely physical and difficult to break down, frustrating the Matildas with only two shots on target.

They tried to get under the skin of Matildas players, and succeeded.

Gustavsson admitted that technically the Matildas were rusty and they nervous in periods too, but they still managed to get the job done through Steph Catley's penalty and defending Ireland's dangerous set pieces, with Kerr leading from the sidelines.

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Catley said post-game Kerr's omission was one of the most difficult things that could happen to a player and a team a day out from a World Cup match.

Kerr still gave the team speech pre-game, and focused the team on their singular goal - just win.

"She does a lot for us emotionally and spiritually," Gustavsson said.

"What I can say is that Sam was very clear early on when she brought the team together and said this is not about me, this is about us, it's about the team playing.

"To be able to do that in that in a devastating moment for her personally, it says a lot of about her as a captain of this team."

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