Pressure on co-hosts Australia in World Cup semi, says England's Walsh

SYDNEY : The pressure is on World Cup co-hosts Australia in Wednesday's semi-final rather than England, the Lionesses' midfielder Keira Walsh said, as both sides seek a first ever appearance in the final of the global tournament.

European champions England, who beat Colombia 2-1 in a febrile atmosphere in Saturday's quarter-final, have been one of the favourites throughout the tournament.

However, the Matildas carry the hopes of expectant Australians who have set attendance records and tuned in by the millions to watch their team's run to the last four.

"The pressure is on Australia, that is a different thing to cope with. But they are a great team, whether they feel the pressure or not," the 26-year-old told reporters at the team's base in Terrigal on Monday.

"The way they play they don't look like they feel it. They are very physical and we have to be ready for that. It's just about going in confident and playing on the front foot."

The game has received an enormous amount of hype Down Under, playing on the historic rivalry between the two nations and coming just after the Australian men's cricket team retained the Ashes in a test series against England.

"And you thought the Ashes was big!" read the front page of The West Australian newspaper.

'RELAXED' WIEGMAN

Walsh said such hype could not be further from the minds of her and her team mates as they look to reach their first World Cup final, having failed at this stage in the previous two editions of the tournament.

"The media do talk a lot but for us it's not about Australia, we want to win regardless. There's a rivalry in any team, it doesn't make much of a difference if the media is talking about trying to beat England, most teams probably say that about the Lionesses