‘Bring it on’: Australia and England renew sporting rivalry in semifinal

Co-hosts Australia will have the nation behind them for the first World Cup semifinal in their history and Stadium Australia will be heaving with an anticipated crowd of about 80,000 on Wednesday.

Their heart-stopping penalty shootout win over France in the quarterfinals on Saturday was one of the most-viewed television sporting events in Australia in almost 20 years.

But England are the reigning European champions and will be favourites to reach the final of the World Cup for the first time, even if they must face down a hostile crowd.

It was put to England’s Dutch coach Sarina Wiegman that she probably did not fully appreciate the enormity of a match between Australia and England.

“It’s going be really big,” she said.

“But now I’ve had a couple of questions about that so it’s probably going to be bigger than I imagined now. I’ll talk to my players and staff and see what that rivalry is.”