Major World Cup Leak Could Now Cost England A Final Spot

In what will be a full and mainly Australian crowd on Wednesday, England fans have not helped themselves by leaking their code to buy tickets in a designated supporter’s section of Stadium Australia, meaning there will be even more Aussies to contend with.

England have once again, made it to a World Cup semi-final and while that has been lauded and praised within the media and fanbase, many still have mental scars from 2019 when they reached this same stage of the tournament but were undone by the USA and a Steph Houghton missed penalty.

The Lionesses are hoping to spoil the party in Sydney tomorrow with the Australians in party mood following their dramatic penalty shoot-out victory against France last week and they will certainly have an advantage in the stands with Stadium Australia set to be littered with yellow jerseys.

England to be against 12 players against Australia

This World Cup has seen records broken and attendances go through the roof across all games, no matter what day of the week or time the kick-offs have been, but come tomorrow, it will be at a different level, and just like against Colombia, England must block out the noise coming from the stands, as well as winning their battles on the pitch.

@hindhaugh98

Day in the life as I saw England reach the semi finals of the Women’s World Cup! Is football coming home? 🦁 #woso #football #worldcup #womensworldcup #wwc #footballtiktok #womensfootballtiktok #australia #matildas #lionesses #wosotiktok #dayinmylife

♬ Call Me A Lioness – Mel C – Hope FC

Stadium Australia is able to hold just over 83,000 fans, and that will indeed be the figure read out during the second half as the attendance is confirmed and while the Lionesses faithful will make themselves known and heard, they will certainly be drowned out by Australia.

The Australian media are pretty confident heading into tomorrow. World Cup fever is taking over down under. #FIFAWWC pic.twitter.com/YihOOSZSaO

— Aaron Hindhaugh (@AHindhaugh98) August 15, 2023

This would have likely been the case anyway, but following a leak on social media which saw an English access code leaked, meaning that Australian fans could buy tickets in a supposedly designated England section of the stadium, the Lionesses’ task just got more difficult.

According to the Daily Mail, less than 10% of the fans in attendance tomorrow in Sydney will be England fans, so if the Lionesses are to pull off a major win and beat the only side to defeat them under Sarina Wiegman, they will do it by becoming public enemy number one.

Lionesses face an uphill battle to reach World Cup final

England will need to win every little battle on and off the pitch if they are to reach the World Cup final and become double major winners after last year’s Euro success, but that will largely come down to individual battles.

The likes of Arsenal’s Alessia Russo will have to maintain the standards she set during the Colombia game and cause chaos in Australia’s backline and Chelsea’s Millie Bight will have to access all of her inside knowledge on Sam Kerr, who is predicted to start her first game of the tournament and ensure the Lionesses record a fifth clean sheet of the World Cup.