England’s semi-finalists can still get to another level – Beth Mead

Beth Mead pointed to early World Cup exits for Germany and Brazil as a reminder that results trump performances after England scrapped their way to Wednesday’s semi-final meeting with Australia.

The Lionesses were far from their best in the group stage but emerged with three wins, a pattern that has continued into the knockout rounds as they narrowly edged past Nigeria and Colombia despite starting as heavy favourites to set up the meeting with the co-hosts in Sydney.

Much-fancied Germany, who Sarina Wiegman’s side beat in the European Championship final at Wembley a year ago, were surprisingly dumped out of the tournament at the first hurdle after losing to Colombia and failing to beat South Korea.

Here’s everything you need to know ahead of our #FIFAWWC semi-final!