Pep Guardiola says Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne faces up to four months out and could require surgery on a hamstring injury.

The 32-year-old was forced off in the first half of June’s Champions League final triumph against Inter Milan and did not play a single minute of pre-season.

De Bruyne returned from that hamstring issue as a second-half substitute in the Community Shield shoot-out loss to Arsenal and captained the side against Burnley in Friday’s Premier League opener.

But the Belgium playmaker only lasted 23 minutes at Turf Moor, where seemingly out of nothing he signalled to the bench that he had felt something.

Guardiola said after the game at Burnley that the issue related to the same hamstring and would see him miss a few weeks, but it appears worse than first feared.

“It’s serious, the injury,” the City boss said. “We have to decide if it’s surgery or not surgery, but it will be a few months out.”

Guardiola said that decision will be taken in the “next days” and De Bruyne faces “three or four months out” if he goes under the knife.

“Ramon (Cugat) saw the images,” Guardiola said of his go-to doctor in Barcelona.

“He didn’t personally (do anything) and they have two or three doctors have the same opinion, more or less, what they have to do.”

Guardiola was speaking on the eve of City’s first ever UEFA Super Cup appearance, with De Bruyne’s injury leaving him clearly downbeat in Greece.

“I have to say the injury for Kevin is a sore blow for us, so he’s a big loss,” Guardiola said at the press conference previewing the clash with Sevilla.

“Kevin has specific qualities that you can lose for one game, two games, but for a long time is really, really tough for us.

“But at the same time you have to look forward and of course you have alternatives there with different skills because the skills for Kevin are irreplaceable.

“But you have different talent players so it’s an opportunity. Life gives you that.

“When there’s an injury, there’s an opportunity for the other ones and I’m pretty sure they will take it.”

Asked if the injury was down to bad luck or De Bruyne returning too soon, Guardiola shot back: “Give me 25 days of preparation and he will not be injured.

“Before I take the decision I spoke to the doctors, the physios with him and he told me ‘I feel good, I feel good’.

“So, I said ‘ok, it’ s better start then half-time (take him off) but unfortunately it happened.”

Phil Foden looks primed to step up in that role but the severity of De Bruyne’s injury could see City look at a signing before the window closes.

“We will see,” he said. “After what happened, we haven’t talked with Txiki (Begiristain, City sporting director).

“We will see the chances and possibilities. We will see.”

De Bruyne looks set to miss City’s entire Champions League group stage and potentially December’s Club World Cup on top of domestic matters.

The severity of the Belgium playmaker’s injury is a big setback and came as a surprise to team-mate Rodri.

“Well, I didn’t know it was that much, honestly,” he said. “What can I say? I mean, he is one of the most important players of the club.

“For sure we are going to miss him a lot. We are going to try to support him in this bad moment. No one wants injuries.

“I saw him the other day and he was positive, he wants to come back (quickly).

“He’s an experienced player, he knows he doesn’t have to run fast to come back. He has to recover – that’s the most important part.

“We are going to miss him but at the same time I can tell you we have a very complete squad to play these two months without him.

“And hopefully we can have him back because he has been so important these years.”

When the Indianapolis Colts take their first offensive series in their season opener, Anthony Richardson will be lined up under centre.

Colts coach Shane Steichen named Richardson the starting quarterback on Tuesday.

Richardson had been competing for the starting QB job with Gardner Minshew.

"After evaluating training camp and the film and all that, I made the decision Anthony will be the starting quarterback this year for us," Steichen told reporters. " I like the progress he's made, excited about his future, his play-making ability that he brings to this football team."

His first start will come against the visiting Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 1 on September 10.

In Saturday's first preseason game, Richardson was the first quarterback on the field and ended up playing 29 snaps in the Colts' 23-19 loss to the Buffalo Bills. He completed 7-of-12 passes for 67 yards with an interception. He also ran twice for seven yards.

Indianapolis selected Richardson fourth overall in April's NFL draft, believing he'd be the team's franchise quarterback for years to come.

By naming him the starter now, the coaching staff can get the 21-year-old more reps in practice and prepared for the regular season.

Richardson started only 13 collegiate games for Florida, but many viewed the dual-threat quarterback as one of the most exciting prospects in this year's draft with the highest upside.

England have found themselves on the receiving end of a spying controversy after a training session ahead of their World Cup semi-final against Australia was photographed from a helicopter.

The Australian Daily Telegraph sent up the aircraft to capture images from the Lionesses’ behind-closed-doors session at their training base as they finalised plans for Wednesday’s last-four clash with the co-hosts in Sydney.

Published under the headline “Eleven Poms against a nation: Welcome to the jungle, Lionesses”, the pictures show boss Sarina Wiegman and her staff putting the players through their paces ahead of the eagerly-anticipated contest.

The newspaper wrote: “If England’s Lionesses thought they would happily fly into the World Cup semi-final under the radar they were in for a rude shock.

“We’ve sent the chopper up to see how the old enemy are preparing…Welcome to the jungle, Lionesses, we’ve got fun and games.”

It added: “It might not be in the spirit of football, but after last month’s men’s Ashes cricket series we will let the moral arbiters England pass judgment on what is and isn’t acceptable in the world of sport.”

The Football Association has declined to comment on the incident.

The European champions are assured of a hostile welcome at a sold-out Stadium Australia as they attempt to end the Matildas’ dream of World Cup glory on home soil.

Their exploits have galvanised a nation which revels in its sporting rivalry with England and is still in celebratory mood having already retained the Ashes and won the Netball World Cup at the expense the old enemy this summer.

Wiegman and her players have brushed aside that element of the fixture, although back at home, memories of Alex Carey’s controversial stumping of Jonny Bairstow in the second Test at Lord’s, which prompted booing and chants of ‘Same old Aussies, always cheating’ throughout the remainder of the series, are still fresh in the collective mind.

Former Manchester United captain Harry Maguire’s move to West Ham has stalled, the PA news agency understands.

The 30-year-old centre-back became the most expensive defender in history when joining the Old Trafford giants from Leicester for £80million in 2019.

Maguire was swiftly handed the captain’s armband, but a lack of form and game time led Erik ten Hag to last month name Bruno Fernandes as United’s new skipper.

West Ham’s initial £20m bid for the England international was rejected before an improved offer in the region of £30m was accepted by the Red Devils last week.

But the PA news agency understands the Hammers are looking at other potential options as the move has stalled, albeit the transfer is not dead.

Maguire was an unused substitute on Monday as United beat Wolves 1-0 and a resolution between selling club and player is thought to be a key part of the hold up.

David Moyes’ Europa Conference League champions have signed Ajax’s Edson Alvarez and Southampton captain James Ward-Prowse in recent days.

Pep Guardiola has confirmed Kevin De Bruyne faces a “few months out” with a hamstring injury, with Manchester City now having to decide whether he will undergo surgery.

The 32-year-old midfielder was forced off in the first half of June’s Champions League final triumph against Inter Milan and did not play a single minute of pre-season.

De Bruyne returned as a second-half substitute in the Community Shield shoot-out loss to Arsenal and captained the side against Burnley in Friday’s Premier League opener.

But the Belgium playmaker only lasted 23 minutes at Turf Moor, where seemingly out of nothing he signalled to the bench that he had felt something.

Guardiola said the issue related to the same hamstring and would see him miss “a few months”, but it is worse than first feared and a decision has to be made over surgery.

“It’s a seriously injury,” the City boss said. “We have to decide surgery or not surgery but a few months out.”

The decision on surgery will be taken in the coming days and could see him miss “three or four months”, Guardiola said.

Kepa Arrizabalaga hopes to make his loan move to Real Madrid permanent.

The Spain international joined the LaLiga side on a season-long loan from Chelsea on Monday after number one Thibaut Courtois was ruled out for the majority of the season with an ACL injury.

Kepa, 28, hopes to make an impression at the Bernabeu and extend his stay.

“Will I stay after the loan? Hopefully,” Kepa said at his Real Madrid unveiling on Tuesday as reported by Marca.

“Today is the first day of my loan. We have time, we’ll see. Hopefully with my performance I can make that happen.”

Kepa joined the Blues in a £71.6million switch from Athletic Bilbao in August 2018 and has made 168 appearances for the club.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side began their LaLiga campaign with a 2-0 win over Bilbao on Sunday, with Ukrainian goalkeeper Andriy Lunin between the sticks.

“This is one of the most important and special days of my sporting career and of my life,” Kepa told the club website.

“I’m very proud to be at Real Madrid. I’ll never be short of hard work, commitment and effort with this jersey both in training and in matches.

“I hope that we can further add to Madrid’s trophy cabinet and enrich the club’s legend. Hala Madrid!”

Salma Paralluelo has called on Spain to “face the ultimate challenge” after reaching the World Cup final with a 2-1 win against Sweden.

A cagey game with few clear-cut chances suddenly sparked into life with three goals in the last 10 minutes.

Barcelona winger Paralluelo put Spain ahead in the 81st minute before Sweden soon levelled with a cool finish from Rebecka Blomqvist.

However, just one minute later Olga Carmona grabbed the winner with a wonderful first-time strike from a short corner, and Paralluelo praised the resilience of her side, who reached their first-ever World Cup final.

“It was a very tough game. It could have been difficult to recover from their goal, but we’ve shown that this team can deal with everything,” the 19-year-old told FIFA’s website.

“We deserved this. We took this little step, and now we need that final push. Now it’s the final.

“I think we have to do what we’ve done in every match. We’ve overcome every challenge and now we face the ultimate challenge, the big one.”

Spain’s progress in this World Cup has seen them go much further than the last edition in France, where they were knocked out by the United States in the last 16.

They will now face either England or co-hosts Australia in the final on Sunday, with those sides playing their semi-final on Wednesday.

The turning point came with Paralluelo’s introduction in the 57th minute and coach Jorge Vilda praised her impact.

He told a post-match press conference: “The plan was to control the game, to try to get them tired by the passing of the ball, our possession and reaching the goal as well, which did happen.

“We knew that they would also have their moments and to use the speed, talent and quality of Salma and other players could really open up the game in the second half.

“Today the decision was to have her as a number nine and it worked out well. I don’t have to tell you about Salma’s qualities, but she’s very young.

“In the case of Salma and her future, we have to provide her with the appropriate conditions to help her to become what we believe she can become.”

Arsenal have completed the signing of goalkeeper David Raya from Brentford on a season-long loan, with an option for a permanent transfer.

The 27-year-old played in all 38 of the Bees’ Premier League games last season keeping 11 clean sheets and conceding 46 goals.

He will compete with England international Aaron Ramsdale for the number one position as Mikel Arteta’s team look to build on last season’s title challenge, whilst also playing in the Champions League for the first time 2017.

Gunners’ sporting director Edu said: “We welcome David to us on a season-long loan from Brentford. David is a top-quality goalkeeper, who has consistently performed to a high level with Brentford in the Premier League.

“With David joining us we are adding quality and depth to our squad so we can perform at the highest possible level in all competitions.”

He has also signed a new two-year deal with Brentford with an option for a third, something the club has described as a “fall-back option” should his Arsenal move not be made permanent.

Director of football Phil Giles said: “I’m not expecting to see David back at Brentford, although if ever that happened then of course the opportunity to work with such a high-class goalkeeper for up to two more years would in many ways be an unexpected bonus for us.

“All parties (want) to make this a permanent transfer as soon as practically possible.”

Raya, who joined Brentford from Blackburn whilst they were playing in the Championship in 2019, leaves having appeared 161 times for the club.

He made his debut for Spain during a 2-1 friendly win against Albania in March 2022 and was a part of Luis Enrique’s squad for last year’s World Cup.

Tottenham had reportedly been keen to sign him as a long-term replacement for Hugo Lloris but a deal to take him from the Gtech Stadium did not  materialise.

Arsenal sold back-up keeper Matt Turner to Nottingham Forest earlier this month, with the United States international making his debut for his new side during Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at the Emirates.

Referee Simon Hooper and both video assistant referees from Wolves’ 1-0 defeat at Manchester United on Monday night have been stood down from the next set of Premier League fixtures, the PA news agency understands.

Wolves head coach Gary O’Neil revealed he had received an apology from elite referees’ manager Jon Moss after his side were denied a “blatant” stoppage-time penalty when United’s debutant goalkeeper Andre Onana clattered into Sasa Kalajdzic deep into stoppage time.

Hooper did not react to the incident, and VAR Michael Salisbury deemed there was no foul – with an incredulous O’Neil instead booked for his reaction to the decision.

PA understands head of the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) Howard Webb, who has demanded a higher level of accountability as well as an open and transparent approach, had also been in touch with Wolves after the match to apologise.

Hooper, VAR Salisbury and assistant VAR Richard West have all not been selected for the second round of Premier League fixtures.

Appointments for those games had not yet been made public ahead of Monday’s night’s match at Old Trafford. All three officials were absent from the ‘Matchweek 2’ list published by the Premier League on Tuesday morning.

Speaking after Monday’s defeat, during which Wolves created plenty of chances, O’Neil said he thought Onana was trying to “take Kalajdzic’s head off”.

The new Wolves head coach added: “Fair play to Jon (Moss) in coming out (to talk to me).

“He said it was clear and obvious and he can’t believe the on-field referee didn’t give it and he can’t believe VAR didn’t intervene.

“It’s probably made me feel worse to be honest because once you know you’re right you feel worse about leaving with nothing.”

Spain will face either European champions England or co-hosts Australia in Sunday’s World Cup final after a dramatic 2-1 victory in their last-four showdown with Sweden.

Jorge Vilda’s side, who had never won a knockout game at the tournament before their arrival in Australia and New Zealand, could be just 90 minutes away from lifting the biggest prize of all.

Here, the PA news agency takes a closer look at a team which have perhaps already-exceeded even their own expectations.

Coach

Vilda learned his football at the feet of his father Angel, who worked as a physical trainer for – among others – Luis Aragones at Atletico Madrid, Johan Cruyff at Barcelona and Jupp Heynckes at Real Madrid. A physical education graduate, the 42-year-old was appointed boss in 2015 having worked with Spain’s under-age teams, but had to significantly remodel his squad after a rebellion in 2022 which saw 15 players make themselves unavailable – Aitana Bonmati, Ona Batlle and Mariona Caldentey have since returned to the fold – in protest at the conditions under which they were having to operate.

Key players

Twice Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas is undoubtedly the star of the Spain squad on paper, but having fought her way back from the anterior cruciate ligament injury she suffered on the eve of last summer’s Euros, the 29-year-old Barcelona midfielder has been used sparingly in the tournament and played only the opening 57 minutes of the semi-final, one of three starts to date. In her absence, Bonmati, Alba Redondo and Jennifer Hermoso have each scored three times, but Barca team-mate and former international sprinter Salma Paralluelo, 19, has proved the woman for the big occasion with vital strikes from the bench in both the last eight and the semi-finals.

Pedigree

Spain are playing at their third World Cup finals tournament, but had never before progressed beyond the last 16. They reached the quarter-finals at Euro 2022, where they led eventual winners England with six minutes of normal time remaining before going down 2-1 in extra-time. Ranked sixth in the world by FIFA, they are an emerging force in the international game and are bidding to add the senior World Cup to those they currently hold at under-17s and under-20s levels.

Style of play

Vilda favours a 4-3-3 formation and a possession-based game which he believes is aligned to the philosophy instilled by Cruyff during his time in charge at Barcelona. The system relies on high-tempo passing and movement and a relentless press in attack to create the space in which their highly-technical game-changers can thrive. Familiarity is a weapon too – seven of the starting XI against Sweden play their club football with Champions League winners Barca.

Mackenzie Arnold insists there is “much more to come” from the legacy Australia can leave as they aim for World Cup semi-final success against England.

The goalkeeper provided the heroics in the co-hosts’ quarter-final penalty shootout against France with her spot-kick saves to help them reach the last four.

Their performances throughout the tournament have sparked plenty of support from the Australian public, but Arnold knows there is still work to be done.

She told a press conference: “I think the legacy that we wanted to leave throughout this World Cup, to inspire the generation coming through, I think we’ve done more than that. I think we’ve done more than what we thought we would accomplish.

“Obviously we’re not done yet, but again, to see the reaction that we’ve received from the whole country has been absolutely unreal, and I think this is only the beginning, and I think there’s much more to come.”

Australia went the full distance with extra time and penalties during Saturday’s quarter-final, which ended goalless after regulation time.

Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson made three substitutions during the match, but he is not concerned with any fitness worries for Wednesday’s semi-final.

“What we’ve done is we’ve focused on recovery, so each player will follow an individual plan between the games,” he said.

“Some have done more football than others. It’s all about being as fresh as possible for the game tomorrow.”

One fitness worry for Australia has been that of star striker Sam Kerr, who has had her game time throughout the tournament limited due to injury.

The Chelsea forward was substituted on in the 55th minute of the France game and Gustavsson confirmed that she is involved in plans for the England clash.

He added: “When it comes specifically to Sam (Kerr), she pushed through more minutes than we hoped for, to be honest.

“One of the reasons that we kept her on the bench was that we were uncertain how many minutes she had coming back from that calf injury, but also the limited training minutes she had.

“The way she pushed through was fantastic and impressive, both from a mental and physical aspect. She recovered well, she trained today so she’s available.

“There will be a meeting tomorrow to see, again, the best starting 11 and the best finishing 11, and whether we plan for 90 minutes or plan for extra time and those type of decisions.

“There will be some tough decisions tonight again but Sam is available for selection.”

Australia’s clash with England will see plenty of teammates pitted against each other, with several members of the Matildas squad representing Women’s Super League clubs.

Arnold plies her trade with West Ham, who finished eighth in the WSL, and praised the progression of the league.

“All of us that play over in that league can say it’s a different world coming from the W-League,” she said.

“The amount of professionalisation and the talent that they have over there, the time they put into their clubs and players, it really shows the progress both of them individually and the game as a whole.

“After seeing the Euros and them winning that and seeing how much it really took off and how much money was invested over there, it just really goes to show the progression they’ve had.”

Micky van de Ven has predicted Tottenham can achieve “beautiful things” under attack-minded Ange Postecoglou.

The Dutch defender was thrown into the deep end in Sunday’s Premier League opener at Brentford after only three training sessions with his new team-mates, but impressed in the 2-2 draw.

It had been a whirlwind week for Spurs with growing speculation over record goal-scorer Harry Kane eventually resulting in his departure for Bayern Munich on Saturday.

A degree of optimism remains rife amongst supporters following a busy summer of transfer activity and with a new bold, front-foot approach set to be adopted by Postecoglou.

“It’s an amazing club,” Van de Ven reflected after his debut. “I had a good meeting with the trainer and it was a really good meeting.

“He’s a really good trainer. I love the club, I love the players and I think there is so much potential under this trainer so we will see where this season heads.

“He has a good view on football, that’s what I think. Attacking football is what I love, playing with a lot of space in the back doesn’t matter for me.

“Offensive football is what I like and I think if we play a lot of offensive football and we train, we train, we train then I think we can do some beautiful things.”

Spurs had chased Netherlands Under-21 captain Van de Ven all summer and eventually secured his services on August 8 for an initial £34.5million fee, which could rise to £43.1million in add-ons.

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Despite featuring for Wolfsburg during pre-season, the 22-year-old had not completed 90 minutes all summer, but Postecoglou’s decision to include him in the starting XI was vindicated.

Van de Ven admitted: “Everything is harder, it’s going quicker and it’s going up and down, up and down. There is no moment in the game where you feel you can rest a bit, you always have to be sharp and 100 per cent focused.

“It is my first game with the team, so of course at the beginning we have to watch a bit how everything is going and afterwards you feel more comfortable. The guys are talking positive to you so that is also helping.

“I trained three days with the team but they gave me some confidence and the trainer was talking to me and also gave me some confidence. I didn’t stress at all that I can’t do it.

“All the trainers were positive, all the players were positive saying ‘do your job, do what you can do and we will help you’ and I think it went well.”

Comparisons to Jan Vertonghen, another left-footed centre-back who started out in Eredivisie, occurred before Van de Ven had even signed his contract at Tottenham.

The ex-Volendam defender revealed he used to study Vertonghen before the Belgian moved to Spurs, where he went on to make 315 appearances and become a hugely popular figure with the club’s fanbase.

“I was always in the stadium when Jan Vertonghen was playing for Ajax so I always saw him play and always said he was a good left-footed, centre-back. I learned some from him as I watched videos of him,” Van de Ven added.

“I watched a lot of times Spurs because a lot of players from Ajax also went to Spurs and also players from Holland.

“Always when you see a player go to Spurs it is an amazing step if you went from Ajax, AZ, PSV to Spurs.

“Of course with the history they didn’t win a prize for a long time but you never know what is going to happen.”

Georgia Stanway has revealed she is leaning on the support of former Manchester United midfielder Luke Chadwick to navigate the highs and lows of England’s World Cup campaign.

The Lionesses, who are bidding to reach the final of the competition for the first time, will take on tournament co-hosts Australia on Wednesday in Sydney for the right to face Spain – 2-1 victors over Sweden in Tuesday’s semi-final – in Sunday’s showpiece.

Bayern Munich midfielder Stanway was introduced to “mentor” Chadwick through her agency while she was still playing for Manchester City, and speaks to him at least once a week – even from 10,000-plus miles away in New South Wales.

Stanway said: “I’m not afraid to say it, I went through a time at City where it was a little bit up and down in terms of my mentality, my position, everything was changing.

“(Chadwick) was my go-to in terms of getting clarity on my position, clarity on what I wanted to achieve in that season.

“It’s just little things. You rely upon a good luck message before the game and he never fails. Always after the game he’s always the first to say something positive and then says, ‘Let me know when you want to talk’. It’s always on my terms, which is so understanding.

“He’s honestly one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet and he cares for absolutely everybody. And I think the most important thing is that he removes himself from any equation, and he’s just so focused on making sure that he improves the individual and wants them to be the utmost successful individual as a player and as a person.

“I think it’s just (about) finding yourself.  I’ve found what works for me, so I’m not going to change that.”

Chadwick, now 42, made his senior United debut just months after Red Devils won the treble in 1999, but the joy of seeing his lifelong dream fulfilled was soon overshadowed when the teenager found himself routinely ridiculed for his appearance on the popular BBC panel show They Think It’s All Over.

His mental health suffered severely. Chadwick became “obsessed” with what people might be thinking about him every time he left the house, later admitting in an interview on the club website that he “really did suffer in silence”.

Chadwick, who also played for England at youth level, was privately haunted by the experience for two decades before opening up in 2020, a revelation that resulted in an apology from presenter Nick Hancock.

He has since used his experience of facing adversity as fuel to help players like Stanway reach their full potential, a holistic approach that includes everything from pre-game goal-setting on the eve of matches to ensuring her Munich flat was fitted out with everything she needed.

Though still just 24, Stanway has evolved into one of the leaders on Sarina Wiegman’s 23-woman squad, one of seven England players in this tournament who also featured four years ago in France, when the Lionesses were knocked out 2-1 by eventual champions the United States in their semi-final.

Her maturing process has resulted in a new appreciation for facts over sometimes-misleading feelings when it comes to evaluating her own performances.

Stanway said:  “I am big on numbers. I could come away from the game feeling on top of the world and then my mentor could bring me back down to Earth, and say, ‘Oh, no, your passing was shocking today’.

“So it’s vice-versa and it’s just kind of (about) staying level and staying consistent and being consistent in the way that I am as a person and the way that I am on the field.”

England have been embraced by locals since they arrived in Australia nearly six weeks ago, but Stanway appreciates the semi-final match-up might have cooled down the warm welcome.

She added: “Everyone we speak to, they always say, ‘Good luck until you play Australia’, so we’re kind of feeling that a little bit now.”

Captain Millie Bright expects the hostile environment England will encounter against Australia in their World Cup semi-final to feel like well-trodden territory for the European champions.

Wednesday’s game is a sell out at the 75,000-plus capacity Stadium Australia in Sydney, with the vast majority issued to home supporters, who have backed their side in rapidly-rising, record-smashing fashion.

While the Lionesses – who are hoping to advance to a first-ever final – have so far been warmly embraced Down Under, Bright is acutely aware that millions of new friends will soon view them as foes.

She said: “We’re always preparing for that, no matter the opponent. Their fans are always going to want the opposition to lose, that’s football. We know that we’re going to have fans there, yes they’re going to have more, but we’ve been in these moments before and as players we’ve embraced these moments.

“It’s all about us sticking to task, executing the game plan and embracing the moment. 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.

“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 target on England’s back, at least publicly, has grown since Bright and her team-mates – 16 of whom are in this World Cup squad – lifted the Euro 2022 trophy at Wembley last summer and firmly entrenched themselves amongst the favourites to win the global showpiece.

Inside the Lionesses’ camp, said Bright, the reality has always been different.

She added: “Honestly, I think for us there’s always been pressure, whether it’s looked like that from the outside or not. I think for us, that’s what pushes us forward.

“That’s what gives us our determination to always challenge ourselves, to be better, to grow. The journey has been long and tough, but without those experiences you don’t develop, you don’t learn, and you don’t go to higher levels.

“I think we have an ultra-competitive group of players and staff where the competitiveness has always been there. It’s part of who we are. It’s our DNA to fight and be competitive and to want to win.”

England’s first appearance in a semi-final came eight years ago in Canada, when Laura Bassett’s own goal in second-half stoppage time abruptly halted their dreams of reaching the final.

The Lionesses won their third-place play-off for a best-ever World Cup finish to date, four years later coming fourth in France, where now-England boss Sarina Wiegman led the Netherlands to the final but ultimately lost to defending champions the United States.

The Matildas are the only side who can boast they have beaten England since Wiegman – otherwise undefeated in 36 matches – took over in September 2021, with a 2-0 victory at Brentford in April.

While she, too, has found herself impressed by the growth she has observed in the ninth edition of the World Cup, expanded to 32 teams for the first time and guaranteed a new champion, that elusive trophy remains at the forefront of her mind.

Wiegman said: “I’m aware that this is very, very special and that what happens in the growth of the women’s game the level has really grown so worldwide people see what’s going on.

“I hope that helps women in football but women in general too.

“But to be honest I’m very focused, so when it’s the game it’s the game, and you just try to block everything out because you have to do a job.”

Australia boss Tony Gustavsson believes his side are fully prepared to rise to the monumental occasion.

He said: “We actually don’t look at it as pressure. We look at it as a privilege that so many people believe in this team, and we feel the support.

“We look at it more as fuel, as 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 I feel the belief in us.”

Australia opener David Warner has taken a cheeky dig at England ahead of the Women’s World Cup semi-final.

The Lionesses face Australia in Sydney in the last four on Wednesday morning.

The Australia cricket team were unhappy when the ball was changed mid-innings during England’s victory in the fifth Ashes Test last month.

It is something Warner clearly has not forgotten as he wished Australia good luck ahead of the semi-final clash.

He wrote on Twitter: “An early good luck to the The Matildas. Just keep an eye out in case the Poms ask to change the ball.”

Fellow batter Usman Khawaja also chipped in, tweeting: “They going to go with the 2010 ‘Jubulani’ ball.”

The winners of Wednesday’s showdown will face Spain in the World Cup final on Sunday.