Keira Walsh is hoping England can silence the raucous home crowd on Wednesday when they play Australia, the tournament co-hosts, in a mouthwatering World Cup semi-final. “When you can quieten the crowd, it is a very nice feeling,” she said.
A match-up with the old sporting foes has got the home press talking. On Monday the Daily Telegraph in Sydney was renamed the “Daily Tillygraph” and the lead story on the front page was: “Now for the Poms”.
Walsh said diplomatically: “I don’t think their team will be saying that. It is different when you are in and around it. 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 it doesn’t make much of a difference if the media are trying to talk about beating England. Most teams probably say that now, off the back of [winning] the Euros.”
England have received a warm welcome wherever they have stayed, trained, played or visited in Australia so Walsh was asked if they were ready for the switch to being public enemy No 1. “We have seen that the girls are ready to fight,” she said.
“The Nigeria and Colombia games weren’t easy. We were not always on top and people have seen that side to us. When the whistle ends it is a different story, but 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. We are more than ready for it.”
The defensive midfielder has had to alter the way she plays since her return to the side. After Walsh sustained a knee injury against Denmark, the head coach, Sarina Wiegman, opted to change the formation to 3-5-2 to compensate for her absence.
With the injury not as bad as first thought, Walsh has had to play 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 getting those angles a little bit different,” she said.
“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 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. It has been OK so far, I would say. 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. Australia are the only team to have beaten them since Wiegman took charge, in 2021, inflicting a 2-0 defeat in a friendly in April. The Chelsea and Australia forward Sam Kerr scored the opener in that game and she is expected to play a big part in the semi-final on Wednesday after working her way back from injury.
“When I hurt my calf, the plan was to always [try] to be ready for a semi-final, the final,” she said. “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. I feel ready to go.”
Walsh said that friendly win, when England were without Bright at centre-back, does not give the Matildas an 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. I’m sure they are aware of that.
“We’ve changed a lot since then in terms of shape and players. The momentum you have in a World Cup is different.”
