Women’s World Cup 2023: England’s Keira Walsh says pressure is on Australia in semi-final
England’s key midfielder Keira Walsh has said the “pressure is on Australia” in the upcoming semi-final match against England.
The Matildas will enjoy having the support of a home crowd, but the Lionesses are no strangers to digging deep against a hostile crowd.
The European champions are playing in their third successive World Cup semi. Whilst tournament co-hosts Australia are in the last-4 for the first time.
The Lionesses expect the majority of Sydney’s 81,500-capacity Stadium Australia on Wednesday to be in support of the Matildas. But that also means the pressure is on Australia not England.
“That is a different thing to cope with,” said Walsh.
“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.
“When you’re playing against it and can quieten the crowd, it’s a nice feeling. There’s positives and negatives to both [sides]. We experienced it against Colombia in the quarter-finals.”
‘Focused on reaching the final’
The newspaper have been building up sporting rivalry between the two countries, Walsh says there is no added incentive in beating Australia.
“The media do talk a lot but for us it’s not about Australia, we want to win regardless,” she said.
“There’s a rivalry in any team, it doesn’t make any of a difference if the media is talking about beating England.
“Whatever game we play in we want to win, it doesn’t matter who you are playing against. We aren’t thinking about spoiling the party. We are fully focused on reaching the World Cup final.”
Leah Williamson’s support a ‘massive boost’
Leah Williamson – who captained England to the Euro 2020 win – has arrived in Australia to support the Lionesses in their last-8 match against Colombia. She was ruled out of the world cup after suffering an ACL injury.
“It’s a massive boost for the team to see her supporting,” said Walsh.
“It’s the other side of the world, it’s not an easy flight and that shows what she feels about this team.
“The first time I saw her she was outside my hotel window waving. She didn’t want to distract us on game day.
“It was nice to get the win and celebrate after. I can imagine it’s not easy for her to watch, she would have wanted to be playing, so we appreciate her support.
“It shows what a good character she is to be able to that for us.”