BY JOHN PYE
Sam Kerr looked up at the Stadium Australia crowd for the last time at this Women’s World Cup, and it just compounded the gnawing disappointment that she and her Matildas had fallen one game before the final.
In what has been an immense shift in the Australian public’s sporting consciousness, nine out of 10 people who watched commercial television on Wednesday night tuned in to see the national women’s soccer team’s 3-1 loss to England in the semifinals.
That figure — an audience reach of 11.5 million and an average audience of 7.13 million reported by the free-to-air host broadcaster — excludes paid streaming, and those who gathered at dedicated fan zones, where some over-exuberant revelers let off flares, and in pubs and clubs around the country.
“We’ve kind of captured the nation,” a visibly dejected Kerr said after walking off the pitch. “The support we’ve had
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