A Women’s World Cup semi-final meeting between Australia versus England is, considering the sporting rivalry between the two nations, as good as it gets.
Ultimately, the history in other sports won’t play any role this week, so England fans can forget about Ian Botham’s heroics in 1981, Jonny Wilkinson’s drop-goal in 2003, England’s double Ashes disappointment this summer or the Netball World Cup final defeat less than a fortnight ago. But there are two very relevant things about the identity of England’s opponents in Sydney on Wednesday.
The first is that Australia will have home advantage. That is obvious, but the scale of that home advantage might prove overwhelming for England.
It’s difficult to convey precisely how much Australia has suddenly taken to this World Cup. At the start of the tournament, it felt most people here weren’t aware a tournament was even happening. Now, it’s become almost impossible to avoid World Cup fever. Every conversation, in bars and cafes and on public transport seems to be about the World Cup. This is perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Australia to host a global football event.
There’s an intensity about the support that is slightly different from what happened in England last summer. That was purely warm, supportive and encouraging. But when Australia flirted with group-stage elimination, there was an undercurrent of fury towards manager Tony Gustavsson. Now, complete failure is no longer on the cards. Gustavsson is hardly a popular figure even now, but the energy has been channelled towards supporting the team. That should make for a brilliant atmosphere at Stadium Australia on Wednesday night and England are unlikely to have faced anything like that before.
In their post-match interviews after the 2-1 win over Colombia on Saturday, both winning goalscorer Alessia Russo and manager Sarina Wiegman expressed their surprise at the level of noise for their opponents.
“First and foremost, the Colombians were incredible tonight — not just the players but the fans,” said Russo. “That’s what the World Cup is all about, seeing the top teams on the biggest stage with all their fans around them. We’ve had a taste of (what it will be like against Australia) tonight because their fans were incredible.”
“It was a home game for Colombia,” suggested Wiegman. “So we expect a similar crowd for Australia. I think that’s incredible and we’re really looking forward to it.”
But while the Colombians made a tremendous noise, their fans comprised perhaps 10 per cent of the stadium. This week, it will probably be 90 per cent Australians. England are relishing the task but it might be something even more hostile than they expect.
Part of the difficulty is that England are entirely unaccustomed to playing against strong sides away from home. Since Wiegman’s first match nearly two years ago — and ignoring qualifiers against sides outside the top 50 in the FIFA Rankings — England have played 28 matches. Seven of those – five at this tournament and two friendlies in Spain last year – have been at neutral venues. Two other games, against Switzerland and Austria, have been played away from home.
But 19 of those 28 games have been on home soil.
Date| Opponent| Rank| Venue| Result
—|—|—|—|—
Nov 2022
Austria
18
Sunderland
1-0
Feb 2022
Canada
7
Middlesbrough
1-1
Feb 2022
Spain
6
Norwich
0-0
Feb 2022
Germany
2
Wolverhampton
3-1
Jun 2022
Netherlands
8
Leeds
5-1
Jun 2022
Switzerland
20
Zurich
4-0
Jul 2022
Austria
18
Manchester
1-0
Jul 2022
Norway
12
Brighton
8-0
Jul 2022
N Ireland
45
Southampton
5-0
Jul 2022
Spain
6
Brighton
2-1*
Jul 2022
Sweden
3
Sheffield
4-0
Jul 2022
Germany
2
London
2-1*
Sep 2022
Austria
18
Vienna
2-0
Oct 2022
USA
1
London
2-1
Oct 2022
Czech Rep
27
Brighton
0-0
Nov 2022
Japan
16
Murcia
4-0
Nov 2022
Norway
12
Murcia
1-1
Feb 2023
South Korea
17
Milton Keynes
4-0
Feb 2023
Italy
16
Coventry
2-1
Feb 2023
Belgium
19
Bristol
6-1
Apr 2023
Brazil
8
London
1-1**
Apr 2023
Australia
10
London
0-2
Jul 2023
Portugal
21
Milton Keynes
0-0
Jul 2023
Haiti
53
Brisbane
1-0
Jul 2023
Denmark
13
Sydney
1-0
Jul 2023
China
14
Adelaide
6-1
Jul 2023
Nigeria
40
Brisbane
0-0**
Jul 2023
Colombia
25
Sydney
2-1
The formation of the Arnold Clark Cup means the Lionesses now welcome three opponents to England early in the year, whereas, in the previous five years, they played in the SheBelieves Cup, getting experience of playing the USWNT away from home and playing other strong nations at a neutral venue.
England’s hosting of the Euros not only meant six games at home, but strong attendances meant other sides saw financial benefits in coming to England. Both USA and Brazil played semi-competitive one-off matches at Wembley in front of sellout crowds. England are accustomed to having the crowd on their side; they’re not used to being up against it.
And it’s worth pointing out that huge crowds like this are a relatively new phenomenon in women’s football. In 2019, when Chelsea drew Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League quarter-final, Emma Hayes was concerned about the prospect of playing in front of a raucous crowd away in Paris so conducted a couple of training sessions with speakers blasting out crowd noise to get her players accustomed to the challenge. That said, her players enjoyed the experience — Millie Bright said she quite enjoyed the rhythm of the drums.
The other significant thing about Australia is that they are the only side to have defeated Wiegman’s England, winning 2-0 on a horribly wet evening at Brentford earlier this year.
It should be noted that England were coming off the back of their Finalissima success against Brazil four days beforehand, an achievement they celebrated like a major trophy, and perhaps took their eye off the ball against Australia.
That shouldn’t take anything away from the fact England were thoroughly outplayed, however.
There were two main tenets of Australia’s approach. First, they used both Sam Kerr and Mary Fowler in deep positions without possession, keeping the side compact and, in particular, ensuring Keira Walsh couldn’t receive easy passes. They weren’t the first side and won’t be the last to focus on shutting down Walsh, but England struggled to play through Australia and instead resorted to getting it wide and sending in hopeful crosses.
The other key feature was Kerr’s runs into the channels. This was Australia’s default gameplan, obvious from an early stage when Fowler sent this long ball in behind for her strike partner. Kerr had come short on this occasion, but the intention from Australia was clear.
It eventually brought two goals: the first when Australia sent a long diagonal into the left channel for Kerr. Leah Williamson misjudged a header and Kerr pounced.
The second came when Kerr offered great movement to briefly occupy both England centre-backs, then sprinted into the right channel and crossed deep for Charlotte Grant, whose header deflected in off the unfortunate Williamson.
The good news for England is that they might be better prepared for stopping Kerr, without Wiegman having to change anything, for five reasons.
First, Kerr is still yet to start a match at this tournament. Gustavsson keeps his cards close to his chest, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if Kerr was again on the bench.
Second, Williamson is out. And while she’s a major absence in terms of leadership and ball-playing skills, she’s not England’s most solid defender. Her struggles at Brentford were not her first against Kerr.
Third, the back three might allow England to progress the ball from defence more easily, working the ball around Australia’s front two and coping with Walsh’s lack of availability. Left-sided centre-back Alex Greenwood, in particular, is very important in this respect.
Fourth, that back three means space is less likely to open up in the channels. There will be more space out wide, perhaps, but that doesn’t suit Kerr, who likes finding the gaps between centre-backs and full-backs in a back four.
Fifth, England are now fielding both Bright and Jess Carter, two of Kerr’s Chelsea team-mates, in defence. You can look at this either way: you could suggest Kerr knows their weaknesses, but in those situations, you tend to think the defenders gain more advantage from knowing their opponents.
Still, this is a serious challenge for England, against a team with momentum and a significant home advantage. England have played and beaten better opposition than Australia under Wiegman, but this might be their biggest test yet.
(Top photos: Getty Images)
