Australia v England: Women's World Cup semi-final the latest chapter in great sporting rivalry

Australia fans have been gripped by their team's run to the Women's World Cup semi-finals

"It's a fundamental truth down under that if there's a chance to beat the old enemy at their own game on the biggest stage, you grasp it."

Australians love nothing more than the rivalry against England on any sporting front, says Aussie journalist and commentator Adam Peacock.

This summer has already seen Australia retain the Ashes by the slimmest of margins in both the men's and women's competitions, while the Aussie Diamonds comfortably beat England in the Netball World Cup final.

Wednesday's Women's World Cup semi-final is the next thrilling instalment in a rivalry which is steeped in colonial history dating back to Victorian times.

The Matildas face the Lionesses at Stadium Australia in Sydney - and the venue is not lost on older generations who remember that is the ground where Jonny Wilkinson drop-kicked England to Rugby World Cup glory over a despondent Wallabies 20 years ago.

Wednesday's semi-final takes place at the same ground which witnessed England snatch the Rugby World Cup from Australia

The football feud is not as established but Peacock says: "So many people here in Australia aren't football fans but are on this bandwagon, so the first thing they say is, 'oh yes, you beauty. The rivalry continues'.

"In football it's not as big as it is in cricket but it's still very much us versus them.

"I wish we had a little bit longer for the occasion to soak in, but I think by the time kick-off comes around this will be a game that everyone wants to win. [Beating] England will be the extra cherry on top."

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An energy unlike any other has swept Australia in the days since more than six million Australians watched the Matildas beat France on penalties to earn their first World Cup semi-final berth.

Pundits and journalists are in overdrive waxing lyrical about what has already been achieved and what it could mean for the future of the sport in the nation.

Fans are busy rescheduling their days to ensure they are free for Wednesday's kick-off, which is 20:00 in Sydney (11:00 BST).

Such was the fervour over the weekend that only in the past day or two has attention really turned towards the "old enemy" England, who are standing in the way of the Matildas' route to the final.

As the front page of Sydney's Daily Telegraph announced on Monday morning: "Now for the Poms."

Lionesses manager Sarina Wiegman has already admitted to being caught off-guard by the scope of the rivalry between the two nations.

"It is going to be really big," she said after England's quarter-final win. "I've had a couple of questions about the rivalry, so it's going to be bigger than I thought it was."

The Matildas, for their part, have played down the rivalry since the fixture was confirmed.

"I think obviously you see it in a lot of men's competitions, especially in cricket and rugby," said goalkeeper Lydia Williams.

"But for us we've had so many rivalries with other countries that we've played against. We've played against Brazil at every other World Cup [in the recent era].

"You could say that about the USA, you could say that about so many other countries. So really for us it's just a game."

"I think the biggest international rivalry is probably New Zealand still," added her Australia team-mate Tameka Yallop. "That's always been our 'we cannot lose to them and we will not lose to them'."

Women's football journalist Isobel Cootes puts the lack of needle between the two teams down to the fact the players themselves spend more time as club team-mates.

"There's definitely a rivalry there, but I think it gets diluted by the fact they play together so often," she told BBC Sport.

"You're going to have Arsenal team-mates and Chelsea team-mates coming up against each other.

"That being said, it's tearing fans apart and tearing families apart."

'There are no friendlies between the nations'

Australia and England's football rivalry is an odd one. It is a fixture that rarely throws up opportunities for the two to meet, but always generates excitement when it does.

This will be just the eighth match between Australia and England's women's teams in their respective histories - with both sides having claimed three wins apiece.

The Matildas, of course, beat the Lionesses 2-0 on their home turf in a World Cup tune-up match just a few months ago, handing Wiegman her only loss in 37 matches as England boss.

Australia inflicted England's only defeat under Sarina Wiegman in a friendly in April

At the Tokyo Olympics, Australia beat a Team GB squad dominated by England players 4-3 in a thrilling quarter-final.

The spirit afterwards, as it is now, was more jovial than cutting.

Perhaps a more abrasive moment between the two came on the men's side, when the "Shockeroos" claimed a 3-1 win over Sven Goran Eriksson's England in a 2003 friendly. That result remains etched in Aussie footballing folklore - and the sides will meet again in October at Wembley.

Australia was a fledgling football nation back then, but the media reaction from both countries underlined the inherent sense of rivalry that exists between the two nations, no matter the sport.

"With Australia and England, there are no friendlies," then-Socceroos manager Frank Farina told the Sydney Morning Herald earlier this year when looking back on the game.

'Moment has overtaken the rivalry'

So will this year mark the start of a brand new volume in a storied sporting rivalry?

"I hope so," says Peacock. "I don't see any reason that the Matildas and Lionesses can't play annually or bi-annually. Both of these teams are only going to get better. Make a trophy and make it mean something."

Despite the history, there is also the sense that the weight of the momentum behind the Matildas is such that it wouldn't really matter who they play - Australia will turn out in droves to get behind them in what could be a watershed moment for a sport that's traditionally been an afterthought down under.

"I think the moment has overtaken the rivalry, to be honest," says Cootes.

"The overwhelming feeling around Wednesday is what it means for Australian football itself. One of the most interesting parts of this is what I've heard from the English fans after they saw what happened in England after the Euros.

"They see the other side and how much it means to us, and while they want to win, they can step back and see that bigger picture."

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