{"id":323552,"date":"2023-08-14T21:47:15","date_gmt":"2023-08-14T21:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=323552"},"modified":"2023-08-14T22:59:56","modified_gmt":"2023-08-14T22:59:56","slug":"why-england-star-brushed-off-epic-matildas-upset","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=323552","title":{"rendered":"Why England star brushed off epic Matildas upset"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ahead of their blockbuster World Cup semi-final against the Matildas<\/a>, England star Keira Walsh said the European champions weren't at their best when beaten by Australia<\/a> in April.<\/p>\n

The Aussies won the friendly earlier in the year 2-0 in Brentford, with Sam Kerr and Charli Grant getting on the scoresheet.<\/p>\n

It's the only defeat England has experienced under coach Sarina Weigman, who took over the team in 2021.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> The hidden battle being won by Matildas hero<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Newsflash': Gal's reality check after Gus' Latrell claim<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'I'm so sorry': Why Matilda apologised to fans after win<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

England midfielder Keira Walsh said her side wasn't paying too much attention to the game in April. As for the friendly giving the Matildas a mental edge on Wednesday night?<\/p>\n

"If I put myself in their shoes, not so much," Walsh said in Terrigal on Monday evening. "It's a semi-final of a World Cup. It's a difficult game.<\/p>\n

\"Matildas<\/p>\n

"Obviously they can take some confidence from that game, but we weren't at our best and I'm sure that they're aware of that. We've changed a lot since then in shape and players.<\/p>\n

"The momentum in a World Cup is different. I imagine that they'll be focused on that."<\/p>\n

England wasn't at full strength for the friendly match, with Millie Bright and Alex Greenwood out injured, while Australia was also missing Caitlin Foord, Steph Catley and Alanna Kennedy.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For this clash, England\ufeff is missing captain Leah Williamson, along with forwards Fran Kirby and Beth Mead to injury, and young star Lauren James who was banned for two games<\/a>.<\/p>\n

"There's pressure on both teams. We obviously felt that in the summer, having a home Euros. You can see it as pressure. You can also see it as they've got support in the stands, but there's pressure on both teams.<\/p>\n

"We experienced it [in the quarter-final] against Colombia at the weekend. They were really loud. They had some amazing fans, so we've experienced that this tournament now.<\/p>\n

\"'Matildas<\/p>\n

"They're a great team \u2013 it's going to be a tough game whether they're feeling pressure or not. The way they play, they don't always look like they're feeling the pressure. They're very front-footed, and we'll be ready for that."<\/p>\n

Walsh tried to play down the rivalry when speaking to reporters, even though both countries have a rich history in sporting clashes.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"There's a lot of rivalries in football, I wouldn't say this is the major one," she added. "With the cricket and the netball I understand why everyone else feels like that, but for us it's a semi-final. It's a massive game. We don't need to be told about a rivalry and how to get up for a game.<\/p>\n

"We're going to have to bring our best game. Australia have got some great players. They're playing really well. They're aggressive, they play a direct style of football. We're going to have to be on our A game."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ahead of their blockbuster World Cup semi-final against the Matildas, England star Keira Walsh said the European champions weren't at their best when beaten by […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":323494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323552"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=323552"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":323556,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323552\/revisions\/323556"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/323494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=323552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=323552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=323552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}