Why the Lionesses’ World Cup semi-final opponents Australia are known as the Matildas

ok.co.uk:

England’s Lionesses are vying to lift the World Cup for the first time ever - but standing in their way are semi-final opponents and host nation Australia.The crunch match between the famous sporting rivals kicked off at the Stadium Australia in Sydney at 11am British time on Wednesday.The winner will face Spain in the final in Sydney on Sunday after La Roja beat Sweden 2-1 in the first semi-final on Tuesday.

No team left in the competition has won it before so history is guaranteed to be made on Sunday.The Lionesses became history makers in July last year when they secured their first-ever European Championship with a 2-1 win over Germany at Wembley.

Before Wednesday’s game kicked off, England’s Dutch manager Sarina Wiegman revealed it was “bigger than I imagined” after she became more aware of the sporting rivalry between England and Australia - who last month competed against each other in the women’s and men’s Ashes cricket series.

Wiegman’s only defeat in 37 matches in charge of England was in a friendly against Australia four months ago. Sporting commentators, speaking ahead of the match, were expecting a close encounter.