Mary Earps has said “the best is yet to come” from England as they prepare to face Colombia in front of a sold-out and overwhelmingly hostile crowd in Sydney on Saturday.
England have struggled to find form in Australia, with an impressive 6-1 defeat of China the outlier, having laboured to 1-0 group wins against Haiti and Denmark and been taken to penalties against Nigeria in their last-16 tie.
“I really believe the best is yet to come,” the England goalkeeper said. “There’s so much talent in the group, so many more levels that we can go, I really do believe that … It’s an exciting time to be an England player. But we have to earn that right every day. We’re constantly looking to improve and drive performance and drive our standards. We’re of course sitting here happy and grateful that we’re here, but we’re not satisfied, we’re not done and there’s still more levels we want to go to.”
At the 83,500-capacity Stadium Australia, it is expected that the overwhelming majority of fans will be backing Colombia, whose supporters have travelled in force to back a team with a host of young talents, including the 18-year-old superstar forward Linda Caicedo.
Colombia’s manager, Nelson Abadía, welcomed the support against the European champions. “Having that positive support – not only from Colombia, but the entire continent – is beneficial,” he said. “In addition to that, it gives us the opportunity to grow, to continue positioning ourselves within international football. How are the players doing that? They’re doing it on the pitch.”
The striker Mayra Ramírez said the fans, who had the stadium rocking for their shock defeat of Germany during the group stage and can be found all over Sydney in yellow, blue and red, would “be the 12th player”.
The tournament has opened up for both teams. The quarter-final exit on Friday of the 2011 winners, Japan, at the hands of Sweden means a new name on the World Cup trophy is guaranteed, the only other previous champions – the USA, Germany and Norway – having been knocked out earlier.
For England, only Sweden remain of the three teams above them in the Fifa world rankings. A draw that could have brought Sarina Wiegman’s side up against their Euro 2022 final opponents, Germany, the South American champions, Brazil, or the Olympic champions, Canada, in the knockout stages has delivered shock after shock to leave all three eliminated.
If England get their act together their chances of returning with a first World Cup title look invitingly good. Escape the huge threat posed by an exciting Colombia side, who will relish the chance to take another big scalp, and France or the co-hosts Australia will await in a huge semi-final. Sweden’s victory earned them a semi-final against Spain.
Expectations regarding England had been knocked by pre-tournament injuries to three key players from the Lionesses’ Euros-winning squad – Leah Williamson, Beth Mead and Fran Kirby – but with each unconvincing but battling win the team are stepping closer and sights being raised.
Ramírez said Colombia were “fighting for a dream” and Abadía claimed his side would “need to be chess players and analyse” in order to win. Exactly what they should analyse is hard to say. England played a 4-3-3 formation for their opening two games before switching to a 3-5-2 for their final group game against China in the absence of the injured Keira Walsh and sticking with it for their last-16 tie despite her return. What they will look like against Colombia is anyone’s guess, with Walsh back in the fold and Lauren James suspended for two games for stepping on Nigeria’s Michelle Aloize.
England (4-3-3): Earps; Bronze, Bright, Greenwood, Daly; Stanway, Walsh, Toone; Kelly, Russo, Hemp.
Subs: Roebuck, Hampton, Carter, Wubben-Moy, Charles, Morgan, Nobbs, Coombs, Zelem, England, Robinson.
Suspended: James.
Colombia (4-2-3-1) Pérez; C Arias, Carabalí, D Arias, Vanegas; Bedoya, Montoya; Andrade, Usme, Caicedo; Ramírez.
Subs: Garcia, Restrepo, Santos, Ramos, Reyes, Sepúlveda, Giraldo, Barón, Guzmán, Chacón, Bahr.
Referee: Ekaterina Koroleva (USA)
“At this level, obviously tactics, formations and that kind of thing is really important,” said Earps. “It’s fine margins when you’re winning games. It’s understanding what Sarina wants and trying to make sure we’re implementing it as best we can but also finding solutions as a group. Teams pose very different problems; you can’t prepare for every single problem, so as a group it’s important we find a way to push through.”
On James’s two-match ban, Wiegman said: “That’s the decision that’s made. Of course that’s not up to me. It’s two games, that’s a fact for us, and we respect that punishment and we’ll take it from here and we hope we’ll get through.”
Earps said: “Lauren is doing fine. What she did was wrong, she knows that and apologised for it. Now she faces the consequences. As a team, we stick together and stand behind her. She’ll support the team as she serves that [ban].”
