Poms undeterred: Lionesses don’t fear Women’s World Cup semi, says Walsh
England midfielder Keira Walsh insists the Lionesses are ready to face a hostile crowd when they take on co-hosts Australia for a place in the Women’s World Cup final on Wednesday.
The Matildas’ run to the last four has captured the hearts of the Australian public, with their quarter-final win over France on Saturday attracting the biggest domestic TV audience for a sporting event since Cathy Freeman sprinted to gold at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.
Home fans are set to form the vast majority of the 81,500 crowd at Sydney’s Stadium Stadium, while Australian media have talked up another clash with the Poms hot on the heels of this summer’s Ashes series.
“We are just fully focused on trying to reach a World Cup final, regardless of who we are playing,” said Walsh.
“With the support from Australia, it is going to be a little bit different for them. I think we have seen that the [England] girls are ready to fight.
“The girls are very aware of what the game is going to be like, what the stadium is going to be like. We are more than ready for it.”
England benefited from home support when they won the European Championship last summer, but Walsh warned it could also place an extra burden on the Matildas.
“That is a different thing to cope with,” she added. “But they are a great team, whether they feel the pressure or not. The way they play, they don’t look like they feel it.
“They are very physical and we have to be ready for that. It’s just about going in confident and playing on the front foot.”
Australia have never got this far at a Women’s World Cup but have grown into the tournament and taken notable scalps in Canada, Denmark and, most recently, France.
The Lionesses, by contrast, are preparing for their third consecutive World Cup semi-final, having narrowly failed to progress in both 2013 and 2017.
Spain meet Sweden in the other semi-final on Tuesday in New Zealand, at Auckland’s Eden Park.