Women's World Cup 2023: England-Australia rivalry bigger than I thought - Sarina Wiegman

England manager Sarina Wiegman says she is yet to fully appreciate the rivalry with Australia before the sides meet in the Women's World Cup semi-final.

England will face the co-hosts at Stadium Australia in Sydney on Wednesday after coming from behind to beat Colombia 2-1 on Saturday.

Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo struck after Leicy Santos opened the scoring.

Earlier, Australia beat France on penalties to reach the last four for the first time.

"It was like a home game for Colombia. We expect a similar crowd for Australia and that is so exciting," said Dutchwoman Wiegman.

"It is going to be really big. I've had a couple of questions about the rivalry, so it's going to be bigger than I thought it was.

"I really like the people here, but that doesn't mean there's no rivalry here."

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Hemp, who has scored twice at this tournament, said: "We're all so excited. As a group we thrived off the amount of Colombian fans. I can't wait to get going against Australia.

"It's going to be a packed-out stadium with so many Australian fans, but we know if we play at our best we are unstoppable, so hopefully we'll be able to bring that."

Gutsy England find a way to win

Aside from a 6-1 thrashing of China in the group stage, England have had to dig deep throughout the tournament, but they are now preparing for a third consecutive World Cup semi-final.

Australia are the only side to have beaten England under Wiegman, having won 2-0 in a friendly at Brentford's Gtech Community Stadium in April.

England took on Colombia at Stadium Australia without top scorer Lauren James, who served the first game of a two-match ban after being sent off for a stamp in the last-16 win over Nigeria, but they were level only seven minutes after going behind to Santos' sublime chip.

Player of the match Russo scored the winner with a well-taken strike that disappointed the majority of the crowd.

"We've been put up against a lot this tournament and we always find a way through," she said.

"One of the strongest things about this team is that we never give up and we have such a good team bond off the pitch. That's important.

"Colombia are a top team too - when they get moments they are ruthless.

"We weren't stressed - it was something we took in our stride - but we knew there were areas we wanted to exploit and we did that more in the second half."

England, the European champions, are aiming to reach a second successive major final but, in contrast to the Euros last year, they must do so with the crowd against them.

"That's what World Cups are all about," said Russo. "It's seeing the top teams on the biggest stage with all their fans behind them. We had a taste of it tonight because their fans were incredible.

"It's another test, but one that's exciting - not only to face the hosts, but also to be in the World Cup semi-finals and to keep the dream alive."

Former England midfielder Izzy Christiansen BBC Radio 5 Live: "England are finding a new mentality of how they can win games. They've done it again - they found ways to win.

"England were efficient, effective, ruthless and pragmatic. Lauren Hemp, Alessia Russo and Alex Greenwood, in particular, were absolutely outstanding."