BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — This is Australia’s Matildas in opposition to England’s Lionesses. The Women’s World Cup semifinals. The right here and the now.
Both groups wish to be clear, it’s not a kind of clashes for the Ashes which have come to signify an intense worldwide sporting rivalry courting again to the 1800s.
That started with the burning of some bails — small picket pegs that sit atop cricket stumps — after a group of English gentry misplaced to a squad of colonial upstarts from Australia.
This is about an Australia group led by celebrity striker Sam Kerr — who has been injured for many of the match however will play some half within the recreation — in opposition to England defender Millie Bright and her European champions.
Kerr and Bright are teammates at Chelsea and have mixed to win titles for the London-based membership, however they’re enjoying off right here for a spot within the World Cup ultimate in opposition to Spain.
England misplaced semifinals on the 2015 and 2019 Women’s World Cups. Australia is into the ultimate 4 for the primary time, and aiming to be simply the second host to win the title on house soil.
Women’s soccer has been making its personal historical past in England, the place the Lionesses’ run to the European Championship title in 2022 captured the nation’s consideration. And it’s making historical past in Australia, the place the Matildas have twice attracted crowds exceeding 75,000 on this match and can once more on Wednesday night time.
The 7-6 penalty shootout win over fifth-ranked France final Saturday in Brisbane was the highest-rating program on Australian tv in 2023. Local media reported that the shootout pulled the most important home viewers for a sports occasion for the reason that 2000 Sydney Olympics.
As a lot as followers and the media have tried to border it a recent chapter within the Ashes, an England squad with a Dutch head coach and a Matildas roster with a Swedish head coach have repeatedly mentioned their largest rivalries in girls’s soccer prolong effectively past these two nations.
As quickly as England had clinched a 2-1 comeback win over Colombia within the quarterfinals to make sure a match in opposition to Australia, coach Sarina Wiegman was requested what she knew concerning the Ashes rivalry. She mentioned she’d test with the group and workers.
On Tuesday, at a pre-match information convention in Sydney that bumped into the twenty first minute of Spain’s 2-1 semifinal win over Sweden in New Zealand, Wiegman mentioned the suggestions associated to cricket and rugby and netball, and “we didn’t feel that rivalry that much.”
Bright mentioned she couldn’t consider a earlier England vs. Australia encounter, in any sport, sticking in her reminiscence. What she’s wanting ahead to is enjoying in entrance of a capability crowd at Stadium Australia, regardless of understanding her opposition can have overwhelming assist.
“As an England team there’s always pressure and it’s something you embrace,” she mentioned. “We’ve experienced moments like this, tense environments, big stadium, big crowd. We do thrive in those moments.”
Bright recalled the additional elevate huge crowds gave England within the European Championship.
“It’s the semifinal. It’s the World Cup,” she mentioned. “You want that environment, you want it to be intense, you want it to be noisy.”
England’s solely loss underneath Wiegman, who guided the Netherlands to the ultimate in 2019, was in opposition to Australia in a pleasant in April.
For Tenth-ranked Australia, that 2-0 away win was a part of a sequence that additionally included wins over Spain and France that boosted confidence.
While England went by means of the group stage with wins over Haiti, Denmark and China, after which beat Nigeria in a penalty shootout, the Australians needed to rebound after dropping 3-2 within the group stage after which having to beat Olympic champion Canada for a spot within the knockout rounds.
The Matildas beat Canada 4-0, after which Denmark and France.
Tony Gustavsson, who was an assistant coach with the title-winning United States group in 2019, mentioned No. 4-ranked England would in all probability begin as the favourite with the bookmakers.
“If you look at rankings, they’re favorites. If you look at where their players play, they have starting players in top clubs and top leagues all over the world – not just 11, they have like 15, 16,” Gustavsson mentioned. “If you have a look at assets financially, clearly they’re an enormous favourite going into this recreation.
“One thing that we have that they don’t have is the support and the belief from the fans,” he mentioned, “and that itself is going to be massive tomorrow.”
What Australia additionally has is an energized Kerr, who missed the group stage due to calf muscle damage she sustained on the eve of the match, and a group that has grown in stature due to her absence.
“The way she pushed through was fantastic and impressive both from a mental and physical aspect,” Gustavsson mentioned of Kerr’s position as a second-half substitute in opposition to France. “She trained today, so she’s available.”
The Matildas have additionally performed down the Ashes context of the showdown, however goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold, the star of the shootout win over France, ultimately responded after a repeated line of questioning about the way it would possibly really feel being knocked out by England.
“Being knocked out by anyone is kind of unthinkable,” Arnold mentioned. “There’s probably a lot of English people that would love to see us knocked out by England, but I think there’s more Australians that would love to see England knocked out by us.”
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