For the first time ever, England and Australia will meet in a FIFA World Cup match, both men’s and women’s.
The rivalry between the two nations is one filled with rich history across several sports.
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But no meeting has ever had quite the hype, pressure and expectation that the Matildas’ semi final against the Lionesses on Wednesday night has, at least not since the 2003 Rugby World Cup final.
England are the bookies favourites going into the clash and it is hard to argue otherwise given they are the reigning European champions and have a stacked roster.
But the Matildas will have over 80,000 fans roaring them on to victory at Stadium Australia and millions more across the country.
There is always an underlying respect between Australia and England whenever they compete, but good-natured competitive banter is often art of the build-up.
Yet the verbal back-and-forth has been absent, at least for now.
In fact, the British press has been surprisingly complementary as they realise just how gripped our nation has become with the Matildas and the tournament as a whole.
“Here in Australia you can feel the hype is growing,” The Times’ Owen Slot wrote.
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“The minute that Australia’s penalty shootout nailbiter was over against France, you knew it was immediately going up another notch.”
The advantage that comes with playing in front of a nation is something ex-Lioness Casey Stoney knows will help the team, but so too is the knowledge of Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson.
“Australia are very organised and they will have the home crowd behind them,” Stoney wrote in a column for The Times.
“I said before the tournament that the experience of Tony Gustavsson, their head coach who was the assistant for two of the United States’ World Cup trophies, would be crucial and it is proving so.”
But a vibrant and vocal crowd coupled with a coach who knows what it takes to win it all will only get the Matildas so far.
It is down to the playing group to secure the Matildas a historic World Cup first by beating England to qualify for the final.
To get this far largely without superstar striker Sam Kerr has perhaps caught many by surprise, especially given the quality she possesses and the leadership skills she brings.
It’s why football journalist Flo Lloyd-Hughes believes the Aussies are “punching above their weight.”
“What is important and what matters right now is that they’ve got to their first-ever World Cup semi-final and that is huge for them,” Lloyd-Hughes said on the Counter-Pressed podcast.
“I think they are punching above their weight a little bit. Look at the squads and the depth that other teams have had in this competition and fallen.
“I think Australia should be really proud of where they’ve got to now.
“They’ve had the host nation boost. But think about the fact they’ve done all this without really needing Sam Kerr.
“I don’t think at the start of the first game when she dropped out we would have thought they could have got this far without her.”
Kerr logged 65 minutes against France, but she didn’t look like the player who loves to make sneaky and rapid runs in behind the opposition’s backline.
However, football journalist Jessy Parker Humphreys believes Kerr’s presence was more than enough to give the French backline something else to think about as England could face a similar scenario.
“I don’t think she looks fit,” Parker Humphreys said on the Counter Pressed podcast.
“But that being said, I actually think you could still see how much she offered that Australian team even without the running.
“There were lots of moments where she was receiving the ball on the edge of the area and she was turning to pass across the area. Some of the passes were really good and there were some really nice moves that I thought it was a shame people didn’t really latch on to.
“But a different Sam we’d see might turn and make the run in.”
Although Kerr is understandably the headline name in this Matildas team, a number of other stars have put their names in lights throughout this tournament.
There’s Mackenzie Arnold and her penalty heroics, there’s Clare Hunt who continues to defy her lack of international caps with mature displays in defence and there’s Kyra Cooney-Cross who shines in the midfield, to name three.
But one player who has caught the attention of the English media is Mary Fowler.
The 20-year-old came agonisingly close to scoring the opener against France when her effort was cleared on the line and has proved to be one of the young stars of the World Cup.
Parker Humphreys had plenty of praise for the Manchester City midfielder, even if she was perhaps a little wasteful in front of goal in the quarterfinal.
“There were just a couple of occasions where it felt like Mary Fowler just didn’t have the finesse, shall we say, to curl a shot or hit a shot into the top of the net rather than hitting it straight at (Pauline) Peyraud-Magnin,” Parker Humphreys said.
“I think Fowler had a really good game. It was a classic case of if you’re in a position to be getting that many chances, you’re doing something right.”
Despite the praise from English media about the Matildas, there’s no doubt they feel there are weak spots to be exploited in the team.
Writing for the Daily Mail,Kathryn Batte believes it will be the Australian backline that could be vulnerable.
There’s also the sentiment that the fact the Matildas have struggled to convert their deep runs at tournaments into silverware could also come back to bite.
“They have never reached a World Cup semi-final before and have previously faltered when they’ve reached the latter stages of tournaments,” Batte wrote.
“There is also perhaps a question mark over their centre backs. Manchester City’s Alanna Kennedy missed the majority of last season through injury and has been shaky on a couple of occasions while Clare Hunt is inexperienced at international level.”
Granted, Kennedy has had a few hairy moments at the back, but she is part of a defence that has kept four clean sheets in five games played.
Wednesday night promises to be one of the most special, electrifying atmospheres Australian sport has ever witnessed although the nation hopes the best will be saved for Sunday, when the World Cup final will be played.
But the discourse from some of the English media proves this Matildas team is one the Lionesses cannot and will not underestimate.