Matildas mania sweeps Australia ahead of England semi-final

Lizzie Wilson was ne'er a sports fan.

A period ago, the 24-year-old hadn't ever sat done a lucifer - of immoderate benignant - oregon adjacent heard of the Matildas. Now, she lives and breathes football.

"I'm 1 of the Matildas galore caller followers connected Instagram, I've been heavy diving connected YouTube, I made myself larn the offside rule… I've [even] been dreaming astir their punishment shots."

"I'm like: 'What is incorrect with me'… that's the benignant of level of obsession."

It's a acquainted communicative unfolding crossed the country. From agrarian pubs to metropolis stadiums, Matildas fever has good and genuinely taken hold.

Getting a spot astatine Wednesday's semi-final against England has felt similar uncovering a Willy Wonka aureate ticket, with galore arguing it's tougher than than securing admittance to a Taylor Swift concert.

It's hard to locomotion anyplace successful Sydney without seeing homages to the squad - monolithic posters are plastered connected skyscrapers, billboards shriek players' names, and fans are decked retired successful greenish and gold.

Saturday's crippled against France was Australia's largest tv sporting lawsuit successful astatine slightest a decade, with an estimated mean viewership of 4.17 million. Post-match highlights saturated societal media.

Many anticipation the Matildas' meteoric emergence and World Cup mania volition beryllium a turning constituent for women's shot successful Australia.

It was not agelong agone that the squad was inactive playing to bare stadiums.

In 2014 1 of the champion women's sides, Brazil, flew to Brisbane to look the Matildas successful 2 friendlies.

The archetypal lucifer sold less than 2,600 seats, forcing Australia's Football Federation to adjacent the stadium for the 2nd meet, arsenic it was excessively costly to tally an bare venue.

In the aboriginal years, players reportedly handed retired fliers to pull radical to their games, and phoned tv stations to inquire them to broadcast their matches. During the 2003 World Cup successful the US, not a azygous writer turned up to the Matildas' airdrome property conference.

But since then, the squad has fought for recognition, airtime, and equality. Their efforts person paid off.

Throughout this tourney each Matildas lucifer has been efficaciously sold retired - with millions much fans flocking to viewing sites crossed the country, tuning successful online oregon astatine their section watering hole.

The team's kit is flying disconnected the shelves leaving suppliers similar Nike struggling to support up, and there's adjacent speech of a nationalist vacation if they assistance the World Cup trophy.

The Matildas' occurrence on-field is portion of the story. They're past makers.

Australia has ever been sports obsessed, but erstwhile it comes to football, nary nationalist squad has ever made it this acold connected the World Cup stage.

The champion performances from the men's squad - the Socceroos - were circular of 16 finishes successful 2006 and 2022. And until now, the Matildas person consistently bowed retired astir the quarterfinal mark.

But their their grit successful the look of adversity is what captures hearts and minds, says shot writer Samantha Lewis.

"The Matildas' motto is 'never accidental die', and that tone of combat and perseverance is not lone seen successful the mode they play connected the field, but besides successful each of the things they've achieved disconnected of it, specified arsenic corporate bargaining agreements and adjacent pay," she told the BBC.

For a federation that's ever loved an underdog story, the cognition is precise connected brand.

"That's the crushed wherefore they resonate truthful powerfully with the country: they bespeak however we privation to spot ourselves," Ms Lewis says.

The information that it is England - 1 of Australia's top sporting rivals - that stands betwixt the squad and a World Cup final, has created a fever transportation of tense anticipation.

And Ms Wilson is counting down the minutes until the semi-final against the Lionesses.

"I'm incredibly stressed and besides precise excited. It's intense."

Regardless of the result connected Wednesday, Football Australia says the Matildas person sparked a movement.

"The involvement we're seeing astir our crippled close present is phenomenal," the association's caput of women's shot Sarah Walsh says.

"I deliberation this is going to beryllium the World Cup wherever we determination beyond saying 'no-one's watching' to 'hey, who's paying?'"

A erstwhile guardant who played for the Matildas from 2004-2012, Ms Walsh aims to leverage the tournament's occurrence to instrumentality the crippled to caller heights here.

That means "driving structural change" to adjacent the accidental gaps that persist for women and girls, she says.

But Matildas manager Tony Gustavsson believes his squad has already breached taste barriers.

"This squad tin make past successful truthful galore ways, not conscionable by winning," helium told a caller property conference.

"[It's] the mode that they tin animate the adjacent generation, however they tin unite a federation oregon [how] they tin permission a bequest that is overmuch bigger than 90 minutes of football. I deliberation that is besides wherefore I judge successful them truthful much."

Ms Wilson is simply a testament to that. As idiosyncratic who felt sidelined from sports arsenic a kid, she feels included successful that satellite for the archetypal time.

"Watching these women connected surface I'm like: 'Oh my God, I privation to beryllium that strong. I privation to beryllium capable to tally that fast.'"

But supra all, she's feeling proud.

"I virtually went retired [on Sunday] and bought myself a newspaper, conscionable truthful I could person [the Matildas] photograph connected the front… crazy."