>>> import re
>>> re.match('str', 'str').group()
'str'
>>> match 'str':
...     case 'str':
...         print('match!')
...
match!
>>> from re import match
>>> match
<function re.match ...>

As the above example demonstrates, while re.match doesn't raise an error despite having a keyword name, importing re.match directly into __main__ replaces the keyword with the function. The obvious solution is to rename re.match, but this would break many, many pieces of code.

`match` is a soft keyword. Which means that the interpreter should still recognise `match 'str': ...` even if the *name* "match" is defined.

I don't understand this example. 

> importing re.match directly into __main__ replaces the keyword with the function. 

It has not replaced anything, if you do a match statement it works and doesn't call your function. For example:

>>> x = [1,2]
>>>
>>> def match(*args):
...    print("Oh no")
...
>>> match x:
...    case [y,z]:
...       print(y,z)
...
1 2

Here "match" when used as a statement has not been replaced by the function that prints "oh no" so the match statement works as expected and so does the function:

>>> match
<function match at 0x7f7c173c5ff0>

As Steven mentions, match is a soft keyword:

>>> import keyword
>>> keyword.softkwlist
['_', 'case', 'match']

And they don't follow the same rules as keywords. Check the pattern matching PEPs for more info.