Australia have downplayed a rivalry with England ahead of their World Cup semi-final clash with the Lionesses on Wednesday. The two nations share a storied sporting history across a number of sports, but on Monday two veteran Matildas hosed down any suggestion that the clash had any special significance in women’s football.
“I think obviously you see it in a lot of men’s competition, 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 America, you could say that about so many other countries. So really for us it’s just a game.”
Williams said that the team had only one focus, making their first World Cup final, and that talk of rivalry was no more than white noise. “I think for us Australians, I don’t want to say ‘unbothered’, but we want to go out there and do the job, and that’s to play,” she said. “All the extra stuff, rivalries and stuff, it doesn’t really come about. If anything it’s to prove a point, that we can make the final and represent Australia that way. I think we’re so proud of our country that we really don’t bother about the other team in that kind of sense.”
Midfield dynamo Tameka Yallop, who scored in the penalty shootout against France on Saturday, suggested it was New Zealand rather than the Lionesses who stirred emotion in the Australian camp.
“I think the biggest international rivalry is probably New Zealand still,” said Yallop. “That’s always been our ‘we cannot lose to them and we will not lose to them’. Within the team right now our mindset is that to be the best you have to beat the best. For us England are right up there, so are the other teams in the semi-finals as well.
“We’re at that stage in our game and in our mindset where we can beat the best – we’ve shown it before. It’s all about going out and doing it in this game.”
More than a third of the Matildas’ squad play their club football in England, while several more are currently on the radar of Women’s Super League clubs. But both players batted away the suggestion that mix of club teammates and World Cup opponents would have any bearing on the match.
“I think it’s just another game,” said Williams. “It’s people that we know, that we play against, we have in our [club] team, but at the end of the day we know how to shift focus to representing and performing. It’s a significant game, obviously we’re in the semi-final, but it’s just another opponent for us.”
