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In arguably the biggest match of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ so far, co-hosts Australia face England in Sydney, with a final date against Spain at stake for the winners.
Australia are riding on an incredible wave of public excitement in their bid to make their first ever World Cup Final – securing their place in today’s semi-final with a thrilling penalty shoot-out victory over France in Brisbane at the weekend.
European champions England also have their own history to make, with the semi-final stage being their best ever finish to date in a Women’s World Cup. Their path at the tournament having seen them overcome Nigeria and Colombia in their two knockout stage ties.
For the co-hosts, the chance to play in a World Cup Final on home soil is a once in a lifetime occurrence and goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold is looking forward to the opportunity.
“I’m quite excited to be honest. It’s our first semi-final, so it’s our first build up to a game like this.
“We’ve been really focused on recovery these last couple of days and focused on England and we’re all really excited,” she said.
The Matildas’ Head Coach Tony Gustavsson is confident in his side’s preparation ahead of what should be an emotionally-charged evening at Stadium Australia
“The players have done a phenomenal job to come down from the emotional high of the quarter-final. The key words were ‘reset’ and ‘recover’, I think they’ve done that well.
“We’ve looked at a lot of details in terms of prepping for England. We know it’s going to be an extremely tough semi-final but with the amazing support from our amazing fans I think it’s going to be a fantastic game, so I’m also very very excited,” he said.
England are the reigning European champions and have been at this stage of a World Cup before. Head Coach Sarina Wiegman however doesn’t see her side as favourites to make Sunday’s final.
“I don’t think they’re the underdog. They play at home, the stadium will be really full, so there’s two teams who are very good, very strong and have grown into the tournament. I think it’s going to be very tight and very competitive.
“We approach the game as any other game. We prepare how we want to play and we analyse our opponent really well so we hope we can take away their strengths and exploit some weaknesses and we’ll take it from there,” Wiegman said.
Regardless of the result, a new finalist is guaranteed and with Spain also newcomers to this level of the world stage, a first-time winner of the FIFA Women’s World Cup™ is a certainty.
FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™
Semi-Final
Australia v England
10pm
Stadium Australia