Hot on the heels of a blockbuster Ashes collection, England followers are in for an additional excessive stakes sporting conflict with Australia because the Lionesses tackle the Matildas within the Women’s World Cup semi-final.
The outdated rivalry has already been ignited within the construct as much as the match at Sydney's Stadium Australia, with tickets allotted to England being snapped up by Aussie followers and a helicopter funded by the Australian Daily Telegraph spying on an England coaching session.
The newspaper's stunt culminated in a bit with the title "11 Poms against a nation: Welcome to the Jungle, Lionesses".
According to the article, supervisor Sarina Wiegman and co had been in for a "rude shock" in the event that they thought they might quietly put together for the sport.
England booked their place within the semi-finals alongside the host nation over the weekend following a 2-1 win in opposition to Colombia.
Australia, in the meantime, noticed off France in a penalty shootout after the match remained goalless after additional time.
Read extra: Five things to know ahead of England's clash with Australia
The Lionesses will likely be with out Lauren James who's finishing her two-match ban for stamping on Michelle Alozie in the course of the spherical of 16 match in opposition to Nigeria.
But captain Millie Bright says her crew will "thrive" under the pressure of taking part in in opposition to the hosts.
"That is what we expect now - for us to thrive in those moments," she mentioned.
"It is a proud moment for the women's game back home when they see what an atmosphere there is.
"It's about turning up, exhibiting up, performing and having fun with the sport.
"It is important to adapt to the game whatever they give to us. We have faced many different challenges and we have adapted really well."
Wiegman has additionally mentioned she expects the match to be "very tight and very competitive".
However, Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson has mentioned that whereas England could also be favourites on paper, they do not have the "support" his gamers do.
He mentioned: "If you look at all that and you look at resources, financially, obviously they are massive favourites going into this game.
"But the one factor that we have now that they do not have is the help and perception from the followers."
Read extra on Sky News:Family split by England-Australia loyaltiesLionesses star apologises to opponent for stamp
Rishi Sunak has despatched a very good luck message to the crew forward of the tie - telling The Sun newspaper the "nation's hopes of beating the Aussies now rest on our Lionesses".
His feedback comply with the Ashes collection which ended in a 2-2 draw after 5 matches replete with epic performances, controversial dismissals and quite a few rain delays.
As properly because the phrases exchanged between supporters of either side, the FA mentioned it was "disappointed" to listen to reviews of tickets particularly allotted to England followers being purchased by Australians.
The extra 1,970 tickets had been launched on the weekend, and about 8,000 England followers had been anticipated to be in attendance on the Australia Stadium.
The FA mentioned it was working with FIFA to overview its ticketing processes going forwards.
A novel supporter code was reportedly leaked on social media - with plenty of Australian followers claiming to have bought tickets.
Back in England, followers have put out flags and bunting forward of the fixture and pubs and fan parks have ready to welcome supporters for the 11am UK kick-off time.
According to Sky Bet on the time of writing, England had been 5/4 to win in regular time, in comparison with 5/2 for Australia.
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