Australia's star striker Sam Kerr will miss the first two games of their Women's World Cup campaign with a calf injury.
Kerr is the face of the tournament being hosted Down Under and her absence comes as a blow to the Matildas' chances of progressing on home soil.
Tony Gustavsson's side begin their campaign against the Republic of Ireland in Sydney this morning, with their captain expected to miss both that game and next Thursday's match against Nigeria in Brisbane.
A team statement read: "Sam Kerr is unavailable tonight after she picked up a calf injury at training on MD-1.
"Sam will be unavailable for the next two matches with the Matildas medical team to re-assess her following our second group stage match."
The Chelsea forward added on Instagram: "Unfortunately I sustained a calf injury yesterday in training.
"I wanted to share this with everyone so there is no distraction from us doing what we came here to achieve.
"Of course I would have loved to have been out there tonight but I can't wait to be a part of this amazing journey which starts now."
Kerr is Australia's all-time leading goalscorer with 63 strikes in 120 caps.
She faces a race against time to lead her side out in their third Group B match against Canada on July 31.
At club level, Kerr has won three successive domestic doubles with Chelsea and has been named the Football Writers' Association Women's Footballer of the Year for the last two seasons.
Last October, the Western Australian ended behind only Spain midfielder Alexia Putellas and England forward Beth Mead in the voting for the 2022 Ballon d'Or Feminin.
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