Toone and England braced for Australia revenge mission after World Cup heartache | OneFootball

Ella Toone has said she expects Australia to treat Tuesday’s game against England as a revenge mission after the Lionesses “broke their hearts in the World Cup”.

England last faced Australia in Sydney in the semi-finals of that 2023 tournament, earning an emphatic 3-1 win over the co-hosts before losing 1-0 to Spain.

“We broke their hearts in the World Cup so it will feel like a revenge game for them,” Toone said. “We know it will be difficult. There are no friendlies in football. We want to win every game. We want to perform well.”

Sarina Wiegman said she was looking forward to the meeting at Derby’s Pride Park. “They are a top-level team and will challenge us in the way we want to be challenged,” the head coach said. “I’m not really looking back at the World Cup semi-final – it was an incredible semi-final by the way. They have a new coach and we have moved on.”

Eleven of the Australia squad named by Joe Montemurro for games against Wales and England are playing in the WSL. One of them, the Arsenal defender Steph Catley, said that would bring its advantages. “You play against them and know the strengths and weaknesses of each player,” she said. “I don’t think it changes it too much though.”

Australia beat Wales 2-1 on Saturday, Sam Kerr starting for the first time since an anterior cruciate ligament injury sustained in January 2024. They have won two of Montemurro’s four games, defeating then drawing with Slovenia in June and losing to Panama in July, with England their first major test under the former Arsenal manager.

England lost 2-1 to Brazil on Saturday after conceding first for the fourth time in as many games. In the preceding three, at the Euros, they came back and the team ended up lifting a second title. Wiegman denied there was an endemic problem.

“In the Spain game we started well and we could have scored and taken a 1-0 lead,” she said of the final, before reflecting on other Euros matches. “In the Italy game we could have scored and taken a 1-0 lead. In the Sweden game we didn’t start that well. In the France game we started really well and they scored the first goal. So, I don’t agree that we always have slow starts. Last Saturday we didn’t start well enough. We had to get more physical. We talked about that in the review of the match. The players felt the same. So we’re definitely going to give everything to start better tomorrow.”

Wiegman said Hannah Hampton was likely to be available after the goalkeeper missed the Brazil game with an elbow injury. “She’s good,” said Wiegman, who handed Khiara Keating a first cap in Hampton’s absence. “She is progressing really well and has ticked all the boxes. We still have one day to go. If things go well she will be available tomorrow.”

With the team battling what Wiegman described as “some niggles”, the West Ham defender Anouk Denton has been added to the squad. “Everyone is on the pitch but we’re also in a recovery stage,” Wiegman said.

Header image: [Photograph: Jacob King/PA]