Australia vs England: Can Matildas use home-pitch advantage to clinch finals berth?
Australia will be hoping that their home pitch advantage will give them the added edge when they face England in the semi-finals on Wednesday. To date, the Matildas have never gotten to a semi-final at a World Cup prior to this year, and now, are just one match away from making what would be their first ever final.
As co-hosts along with New Zealand, Australia have had the added boost of playing on familiar turf. However, it has not been the easiest journey to this juncture for the home side. The Matildas were dealt a huge blow with an injury to star striker Sam Kerr just before the tournament, which forced the Chelsea ace to have to remain on the sidelines in the earlier part of this competition. After picking up a 1-0 win over debutants Ireland, Australia were knocked down a peg following a 3-2 loss to Nigeria in a game that was best described as a tale of two halves. In the first 45, Australia did appear to be the better side, but were unable to take advantage as the two teams headed into the break having scored a goal each.
The Super Falcons came roaring back in the second half, and Australia had little to offer as the match went from tied at 1-1 to Nigeria leading 3-1. Despite grabbing a late goal, it wasn’t enough to avoid slipping to a deflating defeat on matchday two. Still, Australia showed their grit and determination to bounce back in a 4-0 thrashing of Canada to regain control of Group B and head into the knockout rounds as winners following Nigeria’s dull 0-0 draw with an already eliminated Ireland.
After beating Denmark 2-0 in a relatively comfortable win, Australia then faced France in the quarter-finals. After 120 minutes of both sides being unable to find a breakthrough, the Matildas and Les Bleues faced off in what turned out to be a record-breaking penalty shoot-out. 10 penalties were taken by each side, during which Australia won, 7-6 to secure their place in the semi-finals for the first time in team history.
Their upcoming opponents, England, who won their first major title last summer in the 2022 UEFA Women’s EURO competition, are hoping to follow that up with a victory at this year’s World Cup. The Lionesses started off slowly, struggling to break down debutants Haiti, but were able to see off their opponents via a re-taken penalty to win that match 1-0. Although they received criticism for their inefficiency as they barely scraped past Denmark on matchday two, Sarina Wiegman’s side nonetheless were also able to grind out a gritty 1-0 victory to ensure that they had secured a round of 16 berth with a game to spare.
England were clearly leaving the best for last, as they crushed China 6-1 to make it three wins out of three and set up a meeting with Nigeria, who had finished as Group B’s runners-up, in the round of 16. The Super Falcons, however, made things a lot more difficult for England than anticipated, but despite having a player advantage following Lauren James’s dismissal, Nigeria were unable to make that count and were eventually beaten 4-2 by England on spot-kicks.
In the quarter-finals, England faced Colombia, who have impressed so far in this competition, but eventually, the Lionesses were able to get the better of their spirited opponents with Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo grabbing a goal each to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 victory.
Given that both teams have had to go through penalty shoot-outs to get to this juncture, and so with that in mind, it’s safe to say that both Australia and England will be hoping this game will be settled in 90 minutes.
Will it be, though? We will just have to wait and see.
