‘The girls are ready to fight’ – England’s Keira Walsh fired up for Australia semi

Keira Walsh is hoping England can silence the raucous home crowd on Wednesday when they play co-hosts Australia in a mouthwatering World Cup semi-final.

“When you are playing against it, when you can quieten the crowd, it is a very nice feeling,” said Walsh. World Cup fever has exploded in Australia and a match-up with old sporting foes England has got the press talking. On Monday, the Australian Daily Telegraph was renamed the ‘Daily Tillygraph’ and the lead story on the front page was: “Now for the Poms”.

“I don’t think their team will be coming out saying that,” said Walsh diplomatically. “I think it is different when you are in and around it. Obviously, the media do talk a lot, but for us it’s not about Australia or any team, we want to win regardless.

“There is a rivalry with any team. So, for me, it doesn’t make much of a difference if the media is trying to talk about beating England. Most teams probably say that about the England team and the Lionesses now, off the back of [winning] the Euros.”

England have been embraced by the Australians, receiving a warm welcome wherever they have stayed, trained, played or visited so Walsh was asked if they were ready for the switch to being public enemy number one?

“We have seen that the girls are ready to fight,” said Walsh. “The Nigeria and Colombia games weren’t easy. We were not always on top, and people have seen that side to us. Obviously, when the whistle ends it is a different story, but I think in the game the girls are very aware of what the game is going to be like, what the stadium is going to be like. I think, for us, we are more than ready for it.”

Walsh has had to alter the way she plays a little since her return to the side. After she picked up a knee injury against Denmark, Sarina Wiegman opted to change the formation of the side to a 3-5-2 to compensate for the absence of the influential defensive midfielder. With her injury not as bad as first thought, Walsh has returned, but has had to slot in in front of a back three given the success of the new-look side.

“Me and Millie [Bright] are sometimes in a similar area of the pitch, so it is just kind of getting those angles a little bit different,” said Walsh. “I experienced that a little bit at [Manchester] City, where they play with the inverted full-back and sometimes it was a back three. It’s something that I have experienced before, but 3-5-2 is a little bit different. The girls did so well against China playing it, so I can understand why Sarina stuck with it. My first training session was just trying to find the angles and the forward passes a little bit. The back three have been really helpful with that and talking me through it. I think it has been ok so far, I would say. I think it is a good thing, it keeps you on your toes.”

England are ranked six places above Australia, at fourth and 10th in the Fifa world rankings respectively. However, they are the only team to have beaten Wiegman’s side since she took charge, in 2021, inflicting a 2-0 defeat in a friendly in April.

The Chelsea forward and Australia’s talisman Sam Kerr scored the opener in that game, and she is expected to play a big part in Wednesday’s semi-final after working her way back from a calf injury.

“When I hurt my calf, the plan was to always [try] to be ready for a semi-final, the final,” said Kerr. “So, I could have [started against France], but who knows what could have happened? The girls have been smashing it and absolutely dominating.

“That was part of the plan, to get 20 minutes against Denmark to make me feel better for this game and now with another, what, 65 minutes, I feel better for it and I’ll have more training under my belt. So, I feel ready to go.”

Walsh said that friendly win, when England were without Bright at centre-back, does not give the Matildas the mental edge.

“If I put myself in their shoes, then not so much,” she said. “The semi-final of the World Cup is going to be a difficult game. They can take some confidence from that game but we weren’t at our best in that game. I’m sure they are aware of that.

“Obviously, we’ve changed a lot since then in terms of shape and players. I think the momentum you have in a World Cup is different.”