“If we don’t beat you, we’ll knock your bloody heads off.”
Australia vs England could be the fiercest international sporting rivalry on the planet, a cross-discipline feud with its roots in historic colonialism and a hyper-competitiveness between two countries who define their sense of worth through sport more than most others.
The Women’s World Cup semi-final tomorrow (Wednesday) in Sydney will be the most significant football match ever played between the two nations. Not only have they never faced each other at this tournament before, neither the men’s or women’s teams have ever played in a competitive fixture.
Sam Kerr scored in a 2-0 win for Australia the last time these two sides met in April (thus far, Sarina Wiegman’s only defeat in 36 matches as England head coach), and the seven friendlies between the men’s teams are most notable for being the…