KATHRYN BATTE: England are in ENEMY TURF in Australia

Over the past year England have become masters at blocking out the noise.

For the last two tournaments, the European Championship and this World Cup, boss Sarina Wiegman has placed a bubble around her players. Nothing negative comes into their camp and nothing goes out.

But when the Lionesses line up for Wednesday's World Cup semi-final, there will be 75,000 Australians hoping that bubble bursts. England’s players will not be able to shut out the deafening sound that will come from the stands. There is no escaping they are on enemy turf.

Wednesday's game is uncharted territory for both teams. Australia have never played in a World Cup semi-final while England have never played against such a hostile crowd.

The Lionesses were given a taste of what to expect in their quarter-final tie with Colombia. The South Americans passionately belted out their national anthem and jeered every time England’s players touched the ball. But it will be on a different level against Australia.

Players from both teams have been at pains to stress there is little rivalry between the two nations in a footballing sense and, perhaps, they are right.

There have been no great battles in past tournaments. The closest we have come was when Australia beat a Team GB side in the quarter-finals of the women’s football at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The rivalry may not be there on the pitch but it is there in the stands.

Several Aussie fans managed to buy tickets intended for England supporters and bragged on social media they would be wearing their Matildas shirts in the Lionesses’ section of the stadium. Aussie fans are singing in the streets to England supporters: ‘You’re going home on Thursday.’ The front and back pages of Australian newspapers are calling for the Matildas to take down the Poms.

Wiegman and her players had been given a warm welcome when they first arrived on Australian soil. Locals would wish them luck, ‘Until you play Australia’ — and in their first two games there seemed to be substantial support from the neutrals.

But things changed when the Lionesses’ side of the draw opened up after Germany were eliminated at the group stage. The chances of an Australia-England semi-final was becoming more and more likely.

When the Lionesses played Nigeria in the round of 16, there were fans with green and white face paint wearing Matildas shirts.

When England had a penalty overturned by VAR in the first half, much of the stadium celebrated as if Nigeria had scored. It was the same against Colombia, though much of the crowd was made up of South Americans.

England’s players said after their quarter-final victory they had enjoyed the intensity of playing in a hostile atmosphere.

Lauren Hemp said she had thrived in that environment and had declared: ‘Bring it on’, when asked about facing an even more antagonistic crowd. One year ago the Lionesses were in the same position as Australia in that they had full stadiums cheering for them for each match at Euro 2022.

The players know how crucial a home crowd can be when it comes to winning a tournament. It is the one thing Australia have that England do not, is how Matildas boss Tony Gustavsson described the home advantage on Tuesday. It is up to England to silence the crowd.

‘It’s the semi-final of a World Cup, you want that environment, you want it to be tense, you want it to be noisy,’ said England captain Millie Bright on Tuesday.

‘It’s a proud moment in the women’s game when people turn on the TV back home and they see what an incredible atmosphere we’ve created.

‘Credit to Australia for selling out the stadium and creating that atmosphere because, like we always know, the women’s game is still on a journey — but what a place to be.’ The back page of the Sydney Morning Herald on Tuesday had looked to play mind games by describing captain Sam Kerr as England goalkeeper Mary Earps’s ‘kryptonite’.

‘Nothing gets past the world’s best goalkeeper, except Sam Kerr’ read the sub-heading, in reference to the nine goals Chelsea forward Kerr has scored against Manchester United’s Earps representing her club and country.

Bright said England would be ‘leaving the mind games to other people’. As a team, the Lionesses have blocked out the noise around them for so long.

Wednesday's game will test that capability to the limit. They are already public enemy No1. To reach a first ever World Cup final, England must spoil the Aussies’ party in their own backyard.