Women’s World Cup semi-final preview: Lionesses out to secure first World Cup final place

All four of the Women’s World Cup quarter finals were closely fought affairs, proving there is nothing between the four teams remaining in the competition and England will have to be on their mettle against hosts Australia in Wednesday’s semi-final.

We preview England’s bid to reach the World Cup final for the first time as well as the other semi-final between Spain and Sweden.

Lionesses can make more history

England’s women have never got beyond the semi-final stage at a World Cup, coming closest when they fell at this stage in 2015 and then again in 2019. This group of players will be eager to banish those previous semi-final demons, but they face a tough opponent in host nation Australia who will have the support of the majority of the 80,000 fans inside Stadium Australia on Wednesday morning.

England have the better record against Australia, winning two of their four previous meetings, but most recently they suffered a loss at the hands of the Matildas during an international friendly in April. Sarina Wiegman will be under no illusions about the task facing her side, but the momentum seems to be building behind the Lionesses.

Their last 16 tie against Nigeria was a struggle, as they were outplayed for much of the game and lost a star player in Lauren James after she was sent off towards the end of normal time. However, they managed to grind out a win on penalties, showing that regardless of the challenge facing them, they have the character to overcome it. They produced a much better display in the quarter finals last time, creating more chances to come back from a goal down to defeat a strong Colombia side 2-1.

Better still will be needed against an Australian side that has looked inspired by their home support, but despite lacking the home advantage, England start as 5/4 favourites. Both Alessia Russo and Lauren Hemp netted in the quarter-final and they are likely to once again pose a potent threat at 29/10 and 7/2 respectively to score at any time.

Australia (11/5) come into this game in strong form having only lost two of their last 15 matches and will take heart from their aforementioned victory over the Lionesses back in the spring. There was nothing between them and their opponents France in the quarter finals with the Matildas just shading it 8-7 on penalties. That showed their resilience and how strong they are defensively, an attribute that has been on show all tournament as they have only conceded twice. In front of goal they also pack a punch, scoring 10 goals in their five games so far – only one less than England – and the Lionesses will have to be wary of their top scorer Hayley Rasso. The right-winger has three goals so far to her name and has proved dangerous when cutting in from the right. Rasso is 5/1 to score at any time, with Chelsea’s Samantha Kerr Australia’s favourite to find the net at 29/10.

While this looks a tough one to call, England might just have the experience to edge it and the odds suggest a 1-0 victory for the Lionesses is the most likely result at 4/1.

Tournament favourites Spain also eyeing first World Cup final

Spain are currently the narrow favourites to lift the World Cup (13/8). La Roja have generally scored goals for fun this tournament, with 15 in their five games to date. However, they can also be vulnerable at the back, as proved by their 4-0 humbling at the hands of Japan in the group stages. They have bounced back in the knockout stages though, thrashing Switzerland 5-1 and then showing their experience to defeat the Netherlands in extra time in the quarter finals.

Sweden came into this World Cup in woeful form, having only won twice in their seven matches leading up to the tournament. However, they have produced their best in Australian and New Zealand with five wins on the bounce, putting out two of the fancied teams in the USA and Japan in the last two knockout rounds. Their success has been built on a strong defence that has only conceded twice all tournament and they could well prove hard for the Spanish to break down.

These sides have only met once in the past, with that tie ending in a draw and another tight encounter can be expected. Sweden look the better value to win the tie though at 13/10, compared to 4/7 about Spain, especially on the back of their two excellent performances against the USA and Japan.

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