The Matildas are ready for the biggest game Australian football has ever experienced – so far.
And if you ask goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold, they’ve been ready for some time.
On Wednesday night at Stadium Australia, the Matildas face England for a spot in the Women’s World Cup final against Spain.
A run of friendly wins against fellow semi-finalists England, Spain and Sweden, and vanquished quarter-final opponent France preceded Australia’s golden run on home soil – most of which has been without skipper Sam Kerr.
It’s given them belief they can go all the way.
“I remember coming in after the French game, the friendly before the World Cup and we were all in the change room and Sam said ‘I think this is a time now that we’re all really together and like this is the time that we can really believe that we can go all the way,'” Arnold told reporters.
“Because we’d just come off beating England, Spain, France and all these top teams that maybe we hadn’t done in the past.
“Just everyone’s confidence radiated off each other and being together and believing in each other, no matter who’s starting, who’s coming on, whatever it is – I think that’s just really gone a long way in the confidence for everyone.”
Both teams have batted away talk of rivalry, but England have followed France in attempting to pile the pressure on Australia as the hosts.
“I’ve said it from day one: we actually don’t look at it as pressure. We look at it as a privilege that so many people believe in this team,” coach Tony Gustavsson said.
“And we feel the support – we’re filled with energy every time whether it’s arriving at the hotel, or coming to an airport, going to the stadium or when we play during games.
“It’s amazing to see how many people support and believe in this team and in that sense we’re looking at more as fuel and energy than pressure.
“We don’t look at it as heavy, we look at it as we get carried from underneath and built up and feel the belief in us.”
The Lionesses have switched to a back three but whatever England throw at them, Gustavsson feels ready.
“Are England going to stay true to their possession game or are they going to take away our transition game by playing a different style of football than they normally do and just adjusting in that sense?” he asked.
“We are prepped for both. We are prepped for both systems, if they play 4-3-3 or 3-5-2.
“We have also played with three different systems in this World Cup, so we might be flexible and do something different as well.”
Gustavsson indicated he could target a couple of England’s weak links.
“There some players no matter what system they play that have the very same tendencies and when we played them last time, we managed to target specifically two of those players and benefited from that tactically.
“So we looked into those nuances and those individual behaviour a little bit more now instead of the system – and hope that we can target that tomorrow as well.”
