Australia and England are set to continue their many-year-old rivalry when they meet in the second semi-final of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Sydney.
Co-host Australia will have the whole country behind them for the second semi-final of the tournament with an expected crowd of 80,000 fans.
Their heart-stopping penalty shootout win over France in the quarterfinals on Saturday was one of the most-seen TV games in Australia in right around 20 years.
Be that as it may, England is the European Champions and will be the favourite to reach the final for the first time in front of a hostile crowd.
It was put to England’s Dutch coach Sarina Wiegman that she probably did not fully appreciate the enormity of a match between Australia and England.
“It’s going be really big,” she said.
“But now I’ve had a couple of questions about that so it’s probably going to be bigger than I imagined now. I’ll talk to my players and staff and see what that rivalry is.”
England captain Millie Bright understands how much it means to fans of both countries.
“I don’t think you can’t look forward to that game,” she told reporters after England came back from a goal down to defeat Colombia 2-1 in the quarterfinals.
Teammate Lauren Hemp, who scored the equalizer against Colombia, said: “Australia, bring it on. It’s going to be a packed stadium with so many Australian fans, but we know if we play at our best we are unstoppable.”
England will again be without the banned Lauren James, but they did not miss her against Colombia in front of a crowd roaring on the South Americans.
Australia has used the support to lift them in difficult moments and will be banking on more of the same at the imposing Stadium Australia.
