On the eve of the most important match the Matildas have ever played in Perth, their hometown hero Sam Kerr’s thoughts revolve only around victory.

The Australian captain and proud West Aussie is hoping for the happiest of homecomings on Friday night when the Matildas’ Women’s Asian Cup campaign continues in Perth with a do-or-die quarterfinal against North Korea at HBF Park.

The Matildas were not planning to return to Perth but after finishing in second position of Group A during the opening round of the tournament, it is WA fans who are reaping the rewards.

Despite the absence of star players Steph Catley and Hayley Raso, the squad were in high spirits at their final hit-out before the knock-out clash at Sam Kerr Football Centre — the state-of-the-art training facility named after the Matildas captain — on Thursday.

The Tillies’ opening game of the tournament — a 1-0 win against The Philippines at Optus Stadium — easily outsells Friday’s game at the much smaller rectangular stadium. But the stakes are much higher for the Australians.

With the round-robin format now out of the way, every game the Matildas play leads them closer to the final in Sydney on Saturday week. However, if there’s any more slip-ups like their 3-3 draw with South Korea, their tournament will be over.

Should they beat North Korea, the Australians will remain in Perth for a semifinal at Optus Stadium on Tuesday and victory would also qualify them for the 2027 Women’s World Cup, to be played in Brazil.

Kerr told reporters at a pre-match press conference the team was not thinking too far ahead, but was simply focused on what it needed to do to win the knock-out game.

“If we’re not ready for the battle, it’ll be a loss for us. We have to be ready. They’re always a team we know will fight to the very end, and that’s probably one of their strengths, so we have to be ready to fight from the first minute,” she said.

“As a group, we’ve just focused on each game, and we know the further we go, there’s a World Cup qualification there — but for Friday, it’s just about winning at all costs and we will get the rewards when we win.

“We know there’s two things at stake tomorrow, but the most important thing is just to win.”

Kerr is looking forward to once more lacing up the boots in front of her home crowd and continuing her scoring run in Perth, where she has scored in her last four matches in WA.

“It’s been nice to be back in Perth with the nice weather, but especially after a good couple of days training,” she said.

Tickets to the blockbuster match have sold well, particularly in the vast eastern grandstand, but there were still plenty of seats behind both goals available on Ticketmaster on Thursday afternoon.