Australia are desperate to beat Lionesses in World Cup clash

IAN HERBERT: Forget cricket and rugby, getting the better of England at football would top the lot for Australia… they are desperate to beat the Lionesses at their own game in World Cup semi-final

• Matildas are desperate to beat Sarina Wiegman’s side in World Cup semi-finals 
• Australia team are taking the nation by storm, and inspiring a new generation 
• The quarter-final shootout against France had over 4 million watching on TV  

It was the City2Surf charity run here on Sunday— tens of thousands of Sydneysiders surging through the streets, out to Bondi beach — and though the participants all had their own motivations, it was football, and England, they suddenly all wanted to talk about.

‘It’s always been your game, played on your side of the world in the middle of our night, but now it’s ours, too,’ said Sally Jenneke, beginning her trek back to the suburbs after completing 14km.

‘It was a sport that incomers and immigrants played more than we did,’ said Peter Liedman, in the same group near the Central station hub. ‘But it’s bringing us all together. Beating England at football in our World Cup? That would be something.’

An extraordinary scene at the Optus Stadium in Perth on Saturday night bore out the cultural shift he was describing. A huge AFL match between the West Coast Eagles and Fremantle Dockers was about to take place. No one even noticed the players running out because the stadium screens were showing the Australia and France penalty shootout.

And that was just the quarter-final. If the ‘Ma-thrildas’, as Australia’s Sunday Telegraph christened them, had not raised the temperature enough, now comes a fixture with old colonial power — and with history.

Australia’s Sam Kerr has been the poster girl of the Women’s World Cup, despite missing the first few games due to injury, though is back in the squad ahead of England semi-final clash

A TV audience of 4.23million Australians watched the quarter-final penalty shootout against France – eclipsing any broadcast across the past two decades, including the Rugby World Cup

Rich history. Stadium Australia, where the teams will meet, is where these two nations’ men’s rugby union teams memorably collided 20 years ago, when Dallaglio, Wilkinson, Greenwood and Co lifted the Webb Ellis Cup.

Recent history. Murmurings of discontent about England and this summer’s Ashes are still doing the rounds here.

There is the question of what they call ‘Ballgate’, the suspiciously helpful Dukes ball England were handed in the fifth Test after the old one had gone out of shape.

The Australian newspaper last week reported rumours that England’s new one was from a five-year-old batch which had proved particularly effective for them in the past. Dukes has said it will investigate.

Australia’s recent defeat of England in netball’s World Cup final certainly helped redress the balance of what some here evidently felt was an uncomfortable cricketing summer. 

‘Your guys seemed to have the qualities that we would describe as Australian,’ said Liedman. But defeating Sarina Wiegman’s European champions at the Olympic Stadium would perhaps transcend anything in sport for this nation, bar Cathy Freeman’s run into history in the same arena 23 years ago.

The Australians’ journey to the Rugby World Cup final in 2003 certainly did not command the present hype. The TV audience of 4.23million Australians who watched Saturday’s shootout eclipsed that of any broadcast across the past two decades, including that final and Ash Barty’s Australian Open triumph last year.

It is a bandwagon everyone evidently wants to join, with French president Emmanuel Macron one of the latest.

Australia saw off tough competition with France in the quarter-finals, winning on penalties

Goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold was hailed as a ‘brick wall’ after an impressive penalty display

‘Nothing personal against our English friends, but good luck Australia for the semi-finals!’ Macron tweeted after the quarter- final. He and Australian PM Anthony Albanese evidently agreed to back whichever of their sides lost on Saturday.

Albanese wants to create an Australian national holiday if the team win this thing, though he is struggling to match the Matildas’ charismatic Swedish manager Tony Gustavsson in the national popularity contest.

The Swede’s memorable utterances in his excellent, slightly eccentric English are about as far removed from Sarina Wiegman’s Dutch circumspection as you will get. His general remarks on Saturday led to a momentary pause before anyone could think of a question. ‘It doesn’t matter what the question is Tony,’ said the first journalist to speak. ‘Just talk more!’

One of his favourite expressions is ‘the why’ of Australia’s success — the broader reasons, beyond sport, of why it matters.

There was a quasi-religious feel about the image of Kerr, in the golden sunshine of the team’s Brisbane training base, which dominated the cover of the Weekend Australian on Saturday

There is the inspiration it brings to the next generations of girls, of course, but also the feeling here that the success of the diverse Matildas squad, including stars such as Sam Kerr and Mary Fowler, is helping the social cohesion of Australia. Kerr did enough after arriving in the 55th minute on Saturday to demonstrate that she is the one England should most fear. She made France drop deeper and feel afraid, former France midfielder Louisa Necib Cadamuro wrote in L’Equipe.

Then there is the broader psychological boost that the wearer of those distinctive pink boots seems to bring to the Australian nation. There was a quasi-religious feel about the image of Kerr, beaming, arms held out, in the golden sunshine of the team’s Brisbane training base, which dominated the cover of the Weekend Australian on Saturday.

The Aussie press has been less expansive in its discussion of where the Matildas’ weaknesses lie. The team did demonstrate in their rather fortunate defeat of the French that their defence can be exploited. Alanna Kennedy and Clare Hunt are certainly not unbreachable.

Defeating the European champions would transcend anything for the Matildas on Wednesday

The Matildas have brought great inspiration to the next generations of girls, but also the feeling that the success of the diverse squad is helping social cohesion in Australia 

A few of the Australian team were still wearing small party hats yesterday as they touched down here, having moved their base from Brisbane to Sydney for as long as their tournament lasts. They will face media questions about England for the first time today and will resolutely resist any temptation to create noise which might distract.

Today’s issue of The Australian lists some of the great moments between England and Australia — Bodyline, Jonny Bairstow’s stumping, the Gatting ball — which belong to the ‘sporting blood feud’ that has centred on cricket since 1877.

Its headline encapsulates the national sentiment: ‘An old enemy. A new battle. And an adoring nation holds its breath.’

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