England vs Colombia, Women’s World Cup 2023: What time the game starts today and how to watch
England can handle themselves against physical Colombia if the World Cup quarter-final gets fiery, striker Bethany England has said.
The European champions are preparing for the last-eight contest today at Stadium Australia against a Colombian side whose pre-tournament training game against Republic of Ireland behind closed doors had to be abandoned after just 20 minutes because of what the Irish felt was an “overly physical” start to the match that temporarily left one of their star players, Denise O’Sullivan, in hospital.
Asked about that pre-tournament training game, Tottenham striker England said: “We just have to make sure we approach it [the quarter-final] in a good manner, knowing that they can be physical, and we can also be physical and match that.
“Look, every game is physical in its own way. If it gets too physical, I’m sure that referees would step in when it comes to safety of players. But ultimately, I just think it’s a case of the biggest danger is just not to underestimate them.
“And I think it’s just going to be important that we don’t get too into more of a fight than actually playing football, because that’s what we’re here to do. We’re here to play the game that we love and hopefully do it in a good, stylish way as well.”
Looking further ahead, the Lionesses, if victorious in the quarter-final, will play a semi-final against either Australia or France. The final will be against either Spain or Sweden.
For more on what England are saying, go here.
What and when is it?
Kick-off is at 11.30am (UK time) today (8.30pm Sydney local time).
View the full fixtures and results here.
Where is the match being played?
England’s quarter-final against Colombia will be at Stadium Australia, Sydney.
How to watch
Broadcasting rights for the Women’s World Cup are being shared between BBC and ITV. Because the BBC got the first pick of the round-of-16 games (and chose England’s match with Nigeria), ITV will broadcast England’s quarter-final today.
Back England to win the World Cup with these Women’s World Cup betting offers and free bets.
Who is in England’s squad?
Goalkeepers: Mary Earps (Manchester United), Hannah Hampton (Aston Villa), Ellie Roebuck (Manchester City)
Defenders: Millie Bright (Chelsea), Lucy Bronze (Barcelona), Jess Carter (Chelsea), Niamh Charles (Chelsea), Alex Greenwood (Manchester City), Esme Morgan (Manchester City), Lotte Wubben-Moy (Arsenal)
Midfielders: Laura Coombs (Manchester City), Jordan Nobbs (Aston Villa), Georgia Stanway (Bayern Munich), Ella Toone (Manchester United), Keira Walsh (Barcelona), Katie Zelem (Manchester United)
Forwards: Rachel Daly (Aston Villa), Bethany England (Tottenham Hotspur), Lauren Hemp (Manchester City), Lauren James (Chelsea), Chloe Kelly (Manchester City), Katie Robinson (Brighton & Hove Albion), Alessia Russo (Manchester United)
Colombia scouting report: What England can expect
By Tom Garry, women’s football reporter
England will face a cacophony of Colombian noise in Sydney today after the South Americans booked their quarter-final meeting with the Lionesses courtesy of a 1-0 victory over Jamaica in Melbourne.
Colombia are ranked 25th in the world, 21 places below England, and may be something of an unknown quantity to many Lionesses fans. But they will present plenty of problems for Sarina Wiegman’s side in today’s showdown.
Colombia will feel like the ‘home’ team
The Colombians have been the most vocally-supported overseas side at this World Cup, and their supporters are likely to descend on Sydney’s Stadium Australia in their tens of thousands. Their fans dominated the 27,706-strong crowd at the comparatively small Melbourne Rectangular Stadium on Tuesday, and now they are set to make up a majority of the turnout at the 80,000-capacity venue in Sydney.
In their tense win over Jamaica, ‘Las Cafeteras’ were backed by a relentless wall of noise, unlike anything seen at these finals in any games not involving the two host nations, from the high-pitched whistling when a refereeing decision went Jamaica’s way to the chest-pumping roar whenever Colombia counter-attacked to the chaotic scenes of celebration at full time.
With some 11,000 Colombians reported to live in Sydney alone, there is a sizeable expat community Down Under but also many thousands have travelled, and their colourful contribution made Melbourne’s Olympic Park area lively before kick-off.
England must prepare to feel like an away team for this game and they will have to cope with an intimidating atmosphere.
The pace and trickery of the brilliant Linda Caicedo
The most dangerous threat for Colombia on the pitch will come in the form of 18-year-old Real Madrid sensation Caicedo, who drew adoring chants of ‘Linda, Linda, Linda’ from the Colombian fans. The crowd noise surged whenever she got the ball in an attacking position, and it was easy to understand why they are so excited about this young talent.
Speaking after the match, Caicedo said of the England match-up: “We do not want to just get to the quarter-finals. It is a rival that is a world power, but we believe.”
Caicedo, who scored a superb individual strike in Colombia’s group-stage victory over Germany, showed glimpses of her agility, close control and vision against Jamaica, and she nearly scored but clipped over the bar from her best chance after skilfully stepping inside her marker.
Her tendency to hug the touchline to try to find space will give Wiegman a tactical decision to make: will she stick with the 3-5-2 formation that England deployed against China and Nigeria or revert to a 4-2-3-1 but ask right-back Lucy Bronze to do a more defensively-focused shift to mark left-winger Caicedo?
They are improving at the back
This was Colombia’s second clean sheet of the tournament and on Tuesday defender Daniela Arias showed good strength to stand up to Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw, going toe-to-toe with one of the very best strikers in the Women’s Super League. She was also a threat in the air from set-pieces.
Colombia did, however, have a couple of lucky escapes against Jamaica, with Drew Spence sending a bouncing header narrowly wide late on.
The have pace on the counter and are hard to predict
Colombia were the first team to find a way to score against resolute Jamaica in this tournament, after France, Brazil and Panama all tried and failed to do so. Their goal came when Catalina Usme collected a fine long ball with an excellent first touch and had the composure to find the corner of the net with a classy finish.
Jamaica goalkeeper Becky Spencer, who had kept three clean sheets in a row prior to this, was proud of her side’s run to the last 16, but added on Colombia’s strengths: “They are very unpredictable, you don’t know what they’re going to do. Their players are very quick and they are very skillful.
“At any moment they can produce a bit of magic and I think they’ve got that across the board. It’s not just one or two players – they have it across the board. Technically they’re magic on the ball, so when you’re defending them, you’ve got to make sure you concentrate enough times.”
They are full of confidence and ‘dreaming big’
Match-winner Usme said she and her team-mates have come to Australia for “seven finals”, not just to reach this stage. “[This win] gave us the opportunity to make history – but we can go beyond,” she said. “We came here to play seven finals. In the game against England, we’ll be facing them one-on-one. We won’t be speculating about how we will do.
“We are dreaming big. But we know we can pull it off, we can do it. The mentality we have in this team has been crucial in this World Cup.”
Their manager Nelson Abadía added more of a cautionary tone but also said he believes his team can beat the bookmakers’ favourites: “With English football’s history, we need to be cautious, but the football at this World Cup [overall] has shown, the gaps have been closing down, and Colombia have been playing with good stability.
“England are one of the favourites of course, but we have also faced Germany and they were one of the favourites, and we had the composure, we were wise enough [to beat Germany]. It won’t be easy, it will be tough.”
What are England saying?
“We all know that Colombia have got a great following and they are going to bring some good noise to the stadium,” Bethany England said. “I think that is great for any football game, a bit of noise. We don’t know what’s going to happen on the day and hopefully we have got enough fans there supporting us as well. Hopefully they just realise it’s a game for both teams to be there to win and it’s just a friendly game for everyone [to attend]. Whether it does get rowdy, I am sure we will be able to deal with that.”
England, 29, is understood to be in contention to feature in the match, having come off the bench to score in the penalty shootout in the last-16 against Nigeria. She was an unused substitute throughout last year’s Euros triumph but has enjoyed herself in Australia so far, adding: “That situation last summer where I didn’t play, it was tough, but for me, this tournament has been very much different and it’s been an amazing feeling, and a very proud moment for me to have been able to have stepped onto the pitch for my national team in a major tournament.”
Asked if she is now ‘due a start’, England replied: “The million dollar question! Look, ultimately Sarina is the boss. I am here to be a part of the team that is, whether it is starting or as a sub. I love playing football, I want to play as much football as I can at this tournament. So ultimately if I get the minutes I will try and do everything I can when I am on the pitch, and even if I don’t [get on the pitch], I will be there to be the No1 fan for the girls that are on the pitch.”
What are the odds?
England to win 1/2
Colombia to win 7/1
Draw (followed by penalties) 13/5
