Peterborough came from behind to win 3-1 at Barnsley with an impressive second-half performance featuring goals from Hector Kyprianou, Jonson Clarke-Harris and Kwame Poku.

Barry Cotter had put the hosts in front six minutes after the break but it only served to spark the visitors into life.

Peterborough’s Ephron Mason-Clark threatened early on, forcing Liam Roberts to make a save.

At the other end, Nicholas Bilokapic was tested by Jon Russell and Nicky Cadden.

Roberts then made another important save, thwarting Randall after he was put through by Kyprianou.

The home side took the lead when Cotter sent in a low driven cross from the right which found its way into the back of the net.

Roberts made fine saves to deny Randall, Poku and Clarke-Harris before Peterborough equalised.

After 74 minutes, Peter Kioso reached the byline and pulled the ball back to Kyprianou, who fired into the far corner of the net.

Clarke-Harris struck two minutes later, netting from close-range following Poku’s scuffed shot.

Poku added a third five minutes from time, firing into the roof of the net after creating space for himself inside the area.

Stevenage continued their perfect start to life in League One with a 2-1 win at Cambridge.

U’s keeper Jack Stevens was called on to push away a Finley Burns header early on, before the visitors took the lead after 27 minutes.

A long free-kick from goalkeeper Taye Ashby-Hammond was flicked on by Carl Piergianni, and Jordan Roberts nipped in to tuck the ball beyond Stevens.

Steve Evans’ team missed a huge opportunity after 62 minutes when Roberts played sub Jamie Reid through on goal, only for Stevens to produce a fine stop to deny him.

It looked like Stevenage would be made to regret that miss 10 minutes from the end when two substitutes combined for Cambridge’s equaliser.

Fejiri Okenabirhie’s shot was heading wide but was turned in at the back post by Elias Kachunga.

Parity was to last just moments though, with Reid making amends for his earlier miss with a super effort into the far corner from outside the box to win it for Stevenage.

Chelsea have agreed a fee of £53.5million to sign Romeo Lavia from Southampton, the PA news agency understands.

The midfielder made it known to his club on Monday that he favoured a move to Stamford Bridge over Liverpool, who had had a similar bid accepted, with a deal having been reached on Tuesday night for him to join the west London club.

Lavia will now undergo a medical in advance of becoming the eighth first-team signing the club have made this summer.

He made 29 Premier League appearances last season in what was his debut top-flight campaign, after joining Saints from Manchester City last summer.

PA also understands that the club have agreed to pay Crystal Palace winger Michael Olise’s £35m release clause, paving the way for the France Under-21 international to join Lavia at Stamford Bridge.

It takes Chelsea’s spending this week to over £200m following the British record capture of Brighton’s Moises Caicedo for a potential £115m on Monday.

James Tavernier’s equaliser sent Rangers into the Champions League play-offs as an improved second-half display in Switzerland saw them overcome Servette.

Tavernier’s header five minutes after the break sealed a 1-1 draw which handed Michael Beale’s side a 3-2 aggregate win.

Rangers had failed to test the home goalkeeper in the first half and might have been further behind at the interval but they were the better side after the break and had chances to win the second leg.

The result sets Rangers up for a repeat of last year’s play-off against PSV Eindhoven as the cinch Premiership runners-up bid for a second consecutive campaign in the group stages.

Beale brought Connor Goldson and Ryan Jack back into the team after resting the pair for Saturday’s league win over Livingston and the Gers manager changed his formation from the team’s usual 4-3-3 to a midfield diamond spearheaded by Todd Cantwell. Danilo and Abdallah Sima started up front.

Beale had stated they had come to Geneva to win the game and Rangers attacked in the early stages but Jose Cifuentes scuffed a left-footed effort from their first shooting chance.

The visitors were soon cut open by a slick move but Jack Butland made a brilliant stop at full stretch to deny Timothe Cognat.

The home side took the lead midway through the half. John Souttar came out second best from a challenge following a long ball and both Cifuentes and Tavernier were slow to react to the danger following a blocked shot. Dereck Kutesa had time and space to execute a glorious finish into the far top corner.

The unmarked Danilo had a brilliant chance to level on the half-hour mark but the Brazilian missed the target from inside the six-yard box following Cifuentes’ deep cross.

Servette could have gone ahead in the tie when Souttar was caught trying to play offside as Kutesa ran on to a through-ball from just inside his own half. The goalscorer forced a good stop from Butland from a tight angle but he had a team-mate completely unmarked in the middle.

Rangers maintained their formation at the start of the second half but they showed more urgency and both Nicolas Raskin and Cantwell had efforts saved before Tavernier got in front of his marker and headed home from close range after Borna Barisic whipped in a dangerous cross.

Rangers looked comfortable and Raskin was wide from a half-chance before substitute Cyriel Dessers missed two good opportunities. The Nigeria international headed over and then hit the post from eight yards after being set up by Cantwell.

Servette managed to exert some late pressure but Rangers stood firm and the hosts missed two decent chances in quick succession in stoppage time.

Beale’s side now host PSV at Ibrox in the first leg of the play-offs next Tuesday.

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.

South American champions Brazil went out at the same stage after they were held to a surprise goalless draw by Jamaica, making only their second World Cup appearance, in their final game.

And Mead called for England’s critics to put the team’s own performances, which have failed to convince at times despite seeing the side progress to a third straight semi-final, in the context of illustrious rivals who failed to overcome the emerging nations of women’s football.

“You’re never going to play a perfect game every game,” she told the PA news agency whilst attending a McDonald’s Fun Football session ahead of the semi-final. McDonald’s has given 50,000 children access to free football throughout the summer.

“In the Euros, we grew into the tournament and I think it’s the same at the moment.

“We didn’t play our best game in the first two matches and still came away with two victories, in comparison to Germany or Brazil who got knocked out in the group stage. You don’t need to be firing on all cylinders if you’re winning games and getting momentum.

“But fans have an expectation of us to be playing 10 out of 10 every time we get on the football pitch. Unfortunately that’s not football. The opposition make it hard for you.

“But the girls are in a good place. We’ve made it to a semi-final and haven’t actually played our best football. It’s exciting to know they can still get to another level against Australia.”

Mead, who won the Golden Boot as the Lionesses were victorious at Euro 2022 but was ruled out of the World Cup with an ACL injury, pointed to defender Alex Greenwood as England’s standout performer at the tournament so far.

The Manchester City player has made the most interceptions of any player involved across all teams competing in Australia and New Zealand as well as the most touches and the highest number of passes.

Against Australia she is set to start in a back three alongside Chelsea pair Jess Carter and captain Millie Bright, and Mead is hopeful that the club connection will help give them the edge over fellow Blue Sam Kerr.

Australia’s all-time top scorer made her first appearance of the tournament as a late substitute during the last-16 win against Denmark after missing the group stage with a calf injury, coming off the bench once more against France, and coach Tony Gustavasson has hinted she may be used as an impact substitute against the Lionesses.

“Whether Sam Kerr is fully fit or not, she only needs one chance to score a goal,” said Mead. “The England players know that, Millie Bright plays with her every week at Chelsea and knows the ability that she has.

“She’s a player that can stay concentrated and in the game for 90 minutes, we’ve learned that the hard way over the years.

“They’ll have her locked in their sights for the full game. We need to keep her under wraps, we can’t give her a sniff on goal.

“But Alex Greenwood has made more interceptions than any other player at the tournament. She’s got a wand of a left foot and is under-rated in this team.”

Of the continued growth and popularity of the women’s game in England she added: “You can see that by the fact that McDonalds Fun Football sessions are oversubscribed by 160 per cent, it’s great to see first-hand how the next generation have been galvanised by the team.”

Chelsea have agreed to activate a £35million release clause in Michael Olise’s contract leaving them free to negotiate personal terms with the Crystal Palace winger, the PA news agency understands.

A deal is yet to be struck with the player but it is understood he has made it clear to Palace that he wishes to leave in order to become the latest recruit in Mauricio Pochettino’s Stamford Bridge rebuild.

The 21-year-old, who can play either as an attacking midfielder or out wide, is currently out with a hamstring injury and is unlikely to be fit before September.

Should he agree terms as expected, he will join seven other first-team recruits brought in during the transfer window so far, taking the club’s total summer spend to over £320m once performance-related add-ons are taken into account.

Southampton’s Romeo Lavia is also understood to have told his club he wishes to join Chelsea with that deal expected to go through in the coming days once a fee – likely to be in excess of £50m – has been agreed.

Chelsea, who broke the British transfer record for the second time in eight months with the signing of Brighton’s Moises Caicedo for a possible £115m on Monday, will have had a net spend of £175m once the Olise deal is finalised, with a clutch of players having been offloaded for significant fees earlier in the summer.

Olise has appeared 63 times in the Premier League for Palace since signing from Reading in 2021 and played an influential role last season in the absence of Wilfried Zaha, who spent part of the campaign injured.

Chelsea are understood still to be in the market for a goalkeeper to play back-up to Robert Sanchez after Kepa Arrizabalaga joined Real Madrid on a season-long loan on Monday.

Barbados' rising football star, 22-year-old Dishon Howell, alias ETO, has died.

On Sunday, the Barbados Football Association (BFA) shared the news saying the Association is "devastated to have learnt of the passing of former outstanding junior national footballer Dishon Howell.”

The BFA said: "Dishon will always be remembered by scoring twice on his debut for Barbados in a comeback victory over Bermuda in 2017.”

"May he rest in peace, we offer our deepest condolences."

In January of this year, at the age of 21, Dishon was diagnosed with anaplastic large cell Lymphoma.

A GoFundMe page was set up for him to try to help raise for his treatments which were needed urgently.

According to the details on the fundraiser page, Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma is a rare type of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma that develops from white blood cells. These white blood cells called lymphocytes grow out of control. Lymphocytes are part of your immune system which helps protect your body from germs and diseases.

Sharing some insight into the young man who was a genius with a football, the page said, Dishon loved football.

"Dishon’s dreams came true at the age of 15 years when he represented Barbados. Since then, he has been on the rise. In 2016, he was one of 12 boys selected from a group of 420 across the Caribbean and Central America. It was this moment that allowed him to train for one week at Manchester’s City Football Club’s youth academy. From here, he not only captained the Digicel squad but also scored four scintillating goals in their 6-2 victory in an exhibition match against Hopwood College."

Dishon’s treatment started in the USA, where he was diagnosed, but after two rounds of chemotherapy, Dishon was transferred back to Barbados to continue his fight.

On his passing, the BFA has stated that the "thoughts of everyone at BFA are with Dishon’s family, friends, teammates and everyone connected with the clubs, and teams he represented."

The BFA added another post saying, "Forever in our hearts".

Neymar is the latest star name to take his talents to the Saudi Arabian Pro League after completing a move to Al Hilal.

The 31-year-old has joined from Paris St Germain in a deal that could go up to 100 million euros (£86.3m).

The Brazil forward add to the list of stars of world football to turn his back on a major European club, following the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Riyad Mahrez, Ruben Neves, Sadio Mane and N’Golo Kante to the Middle East.

The move ends a six-year stay at PSG, who he joined from Barcelona for a world-record £200m fee in 2017.

He leaves the Parc Des Princes having scored 118 goals in 173 matches and won five Ligue 1 titles.

Neymar was left out of Luis Enrique’s squad for the opening league game of the season and did not feature in the Spaniard’s plans.

PSG chief executive Nasser Al-Khelaifi told the club’s official website: “It is always difficult to say goodbye to an amazing player like Neymar, one of the best players in the world

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“I will never forget the day he arrived at Paris St Germain, and what he has contributed to our club and our project over the last six years. We had a great moment and Neymar will always be a big part of our history.

“I would like to thank Neymar and his family. We wish Neymar all the very best for the future and his next adventure.”

Neymar joins former Wolves captain Neves and ex-Chelsea defender Kalidou Koulibaly at Al Hilal.

The club president of a university football club said the “Lionesses are paving the way” for young girls to have a career in women’s football.

Layana Sasieddine, a student at Imperial College London and club president of the women’s university football team in their upcoming season, said it is “inspiring” for any female footballer to see “there actually is a future” in the sport.

The bio-engineering student said the university society has grown from 60 to 100 members in the last year following the success of the Lionesses, saying there is a “spotlight” on the sport that was not there before.

Ms Sasieddine, 21, who was born in Lebanon but relocated to London to attend university, said her home country does not have the “support or resources” for women to develop careers in football, but she feels the Lionesses are paving the way for young girls in the UK.

“These little girls right now that are watching the Lionesses, you can see all that passion in them going towards the players,” Ms Sasieddine told the PA news agency.

“These girls are going to stick to football, play football and develop at such a young age – that’s something we didn’t have a few years ago.

“And that’s all due to the Lionesses winning and getting that exposure and really paving the way for all these little girls.”

Ms Sasieddine said her society, which has three teams ranging from beginners to advanced players, has grown in membership following the success of the Lionesses.

“We’re hoping that it’s going to continue, and I really believe that if the Lionesses win, it’s going to have a major impact on the UK and little girls playing football.

“Being able to see this change and these accomplishments is very inspiring, because women’s football didn’t have that spotlight before.

“It’s great for any female footballer to see that change and to see that there actually is a future in women’s football.”

Having grown up in Lebanon, Ms Sasieddine said she missed the opportunity to pursue a career in the sport, saying she “didn’t know that women’s football clubs existed”.

“I did not get the opportunity to start (playing) at a younger age, I started when I was about 14.

“I wish I started when I was like five or six, because I really believe that I would have liked to go pro or have a career, but at a younger age that was never an option for me.

“I didn’t know that women’s football clubs existed.”

Ms Sasieddine added that there was no female team at her school in Lebanon so she tried to start her own when she was in high school, but it ceased to exist after she left.

“It’s still tough, it took me a while to find female clubs – there were a few – but it wasn’t very accessible,” she said.

“It’s a bit odd for girls to play football still.

“We do have the national team, but there’s not enough support and resources to develop players for them to reach this type of level.”

She said if she had decided to develop her skills in the UK, she “could have made a career”, adding: “Little girls in London would have way more opportunities to develop, reach that level and actually make a living.”

Ms Sasieddine said that her university society has been trying to watch every World Cup game together, either in person or over the phone.

“I’m hoping that the Lionesses winning pushes more women to join a football society, or continue their career and journeys,” she said.

“The Lionesses reaching the semi-finals is a big deal.”

Of England’s semi-final match against Australia on Wednesday, she said: “Everyone’s behind the Lionesses.

“It would really mean a lot if they reached the final and win it – we’re all behind them.”

Pep Guardiola is determined to cap Manchester City’s “extraordinary” Champions League triumph by winning a first ever UEFA Super Cup.

Last season’s treble-clinching victory against Inter Milan secured Wednesday’s clash against Europa League victors Sevilla at Olympiacos’ Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium in Greece.

Guardiola can become the first manager to win the competition with three different clubs but this is a first taste of Super Cup action for City.

“To be here in this press conference ahead of tomorrow you have to do two extraordinary things: win the Champions League or Europa League,” he said in Piraeus.

“I have to say this is not easy. Maybe for Sevilla it’s easier because they have won a lot of Europa Leagues. I remember once when they beat Barcelona 3-0 in the Super Cup.

“They have a special character. The resilience in the bad moments, to play the finals. It’s not always necessary to play top level always but they have something in their DNA that makes this team and this club different.

“They are mentally so strong but you cannot imagine how incredibly happy we are to be here, to play this game because you have to win the Champions League.

“This is an opportunity we want to take because who knows when we will be back here to play this tournament.”

Sevilla won on their Super Cup debut in 2006 but the perennial Europa League winners are now looking to avoid a sixth straight defeat on this stage.

There are a number of familiar faces in Jose Luis Mendilibar’s squad, including former City players Fernando and Jesus Navas.

“Knowing what I know now, maybe I would have extended the contract when we were together after the first season,” Guardiola said of Sevilla captain Navas.

“We took a decision because we were an old team in that period. We needed to refresh mentally the team. That’s why we make in that year a lot of changes.

“But it’s incredible for him to be at 37, 38 playing and I know how committed he is to his club, captain of Sevilla. I am really pleased to see him tomorrow and say hi to him.”

City are looking to lift their first silverware of the season having lost the Community Shield on penalties to Arsenal.

Stefan Ortega started that match and the back-up goalkeeper is expected to get the nod in Piraeus amid interest from German giants Bayern Munich.

“It would be a problem to lose him first of all because of the quality,” Guardiola said of Ortega, who joined from Arminia Bielefeld last summer.

“We bring him here because (head of goalkeeping) Xabi Mancisidor sent me the clips and said ‘this is a keeper that maybe we need’.

“I didn’t know him. He was playing for a side relegated from the Bundesliga and I saw him and said ‘ah, looks good’. But since day one I said ‘what a keeper we have’.

“You know how many important games he played and how he saved us. We don’t want to sell him, we don’t want to loan him. We need him.

“But like many cases it depends on three parts because after that if we lose Stefan two weeks out (from the end of) the market, we have to go pick up a keeper and it’s not easy now.

“You have to pay transfer (fee) and it’s not easy. We want him. I am sorry but we want him.”

The 2023 Concacaf Boys’ Under-15 Championship wrapped up on Sunday with the United States claiming the League A title with a 4-2 victory over Mexico at the Estadio Olimpico Felix Sanchez in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

The duel for Third-Place in League A saw an all-Caribbean affair end in a 3-1 victory for Haiti over Jamaica, also at the Estadio Olimpico Felix Sanchez.

Nicaragua are champions of League B after edging Saint Lucia 2-1 at the Stadion Rignaal Jean Francisca in Willemstad, Curacao.

In the League B Third-Place Match at the Stadion Rignaal Jean Francisca, Martinique defeated Bermuda 7-6 in a penalty shootout after a 1-1 draw.

In League C in the Dominican Republic, Saint Martin claimed the title thanks to a 4-1 win over Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in the Final. 

Meanwhile, in the Third-Place Match that was completed on Saturday, Turks and Caicos Islands topped Dominica 1-0.

Olga Carmona netted an 89th-minute winner to send Spain through to the Women’s World Cup final for the first time ever with victory over Sweden.

Jorge Vilda’s side will meet either England or Australia, who will battle it out on Wednesday morning for a place in the final.

Here, the PA news agency take a look at how Spain booked their passage to the World Cup showpiece.

Spain snatch it

Extra-time loomed to close yet another fixture at this tournament as Spain failed to threaten the Swedish goal, but 19-year-old substitute Salma Paralluelo looked to have changed that when she drilled home from close range to put them 1-0 up with 81 minutes on the clock.

Sweden created very few chances throughout the 90 minutes but hit back with two minutes remaining when the ball fell to Rebecka Blomqvist inside the area and she finished expertly past Cata Coll in the Spain goal, as the game once again looked like it would go the distance.

But Spain had other ideas and regained their advantage one minute later when Carmona received a short corner on the edge of the box and unleashed an effort too strong for Zecira Musovic’s hands and Spain sealed a spot in their first ever final.

Sweden fall short

Sweden scored in all but one of their World Cup games, that being a 0-0 draw with the United States where they went on to win on penalties, so they were not out of the contest when Paralluelo broke the deadlock in the 81st minute.

Blomqvist’s third strike of the tournament came with two minutes to go but Swedish hearts were broken a minute later, as they fell short at the semi-final stage for a fourth time and will instead have to fight for third place with the loser of the game between England and Australia.

Boss Peter Gerhardsson insists his side will be ready to hit back in their final match, saying: “All of us that were in France (finishing third in 2019), we really bring that with us, the willingness to win the final game if we can.”

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Semi-final: Australia v England, Sydney, Wednesday 11am

Pep Guardiola says Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne faces up to four months out and could require surgery on a hamstring injury.

The 32-year-old was forced off in the first half of June’s Champions League final triumph against Inter Milan and did not play a single minute of pre-season.

De Bruyne returned from that hamstring issue as a second-half substitute in the Community Shield shoot-out loss to Arsenal and captained the side against Burnley in Friday’s Premier League opener.

But the Belgium playmaker only lasted 23 minutes at Turf Moor, where seemingly out of nothing he signalled to the bench that he had felt something.

Guardiola said after the game at Burnley that the issue related to the same hamstring and would see him miss a few weeks, but it appears worse than first feared.

“It’s serious, the injury,” the City boss said. “We have to decide if it’s surgery or not surgery, but it will be a few months out.”

Guardiola said that decision will be taken in the “next days” and De Bruyne faces “three or four months out” if he goes under the knife.

“Ramon (Cugat) saw the images,” Guardiola said of his go-to doctor in Barcelona.

“He didn’t personally (do anything) and they have two or three doctors have the same opinion, more or less, what they have to do.”

Guardiola was speaking on the eve of City’s first ever UEFA Super Cup appearance, with De Bruyne’s injury leaving him clearly downbeat in Greece.

“I have to say the injury for Kevin is a sore blow for us, so he’s a big loss,” Guardiola said at the press conference previewing the clash with Sevilla.

“Kevin has specific qualities that you can lose for one game, two games, but for a long time is really, really tough for us.

“But at the same time you have to look forward and of course you have alternatives there with different skills because the skills for Kevin are irreplaceable.

“But you have different talent players so it’s an opportunity. Life gives you that.

“When there’s an injury, there’s an opportunity for the other ones and I’m pretty sure they will take it.”

Asked if the injury was down to bad luck or De Bruyne returning too soon, Guardiola shot back: “Give me 25 days of preparation and he will not be injured.

“Before I take the decision I spoke to the doctors, the physios with him and he told me ‘I feel good, I feel good’.

“So, I said ‘ok, it’ s better start then half-time (take him off) but unfortunately it happened.”

Phil Foden looks primed to step up in that role but the severity of De Bruyne’s injury could see City look at a signing before the window closes.

“We will see,” he said. “After what happened, we haven’t talked with Txiki (Begiristain, City sporting director).

“We will see the chances and possibilities. We will see.”

De Bruyne looks set to miss City’s entire Champions League group stage and potentially December’s Club World Cup on top of domestic matters.

The severity of the Belgium playmaker’s injury is a big setback and came as a surprise to team-mate Rodri.

“Well, I didn’t know it was that much, honestly,” he said. “What can I say? I mean, he is one of the most important players of the club.

“For sure we are going to miss him a lot. We are going to try to support him in this bad moment. No one wants injuries.

“I saw him the other day and he was positive, he wants to come back (quickly).

“He’s an experienced player, he knows he doesn’t have to run fast to come back. He has to recover – that’s the most important part.

“We are going to miss him but at the same time I can tell you we have a very complete squad to play these two months without him.

“And hopefully we can have him back because he has been so important these years.”

When the Indianapolis Colts take their first offensive series in their season opener, Anthony Richardson will be lined up under centre.

Colts coach Shane Steichen named Richardson the starting quarterback on Tuesday.

Richardson had been competing for the starting QB job with Gardner Minshew.

"After evaluating training camp and the film and all that, I made the decision Anthony will be the starting quarterback this year for us," Steichen told reporters. " I like the progress he's made, excited about his future, his play-making ability that he brings to this football team."

His first start will come against the visiting Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 1 on September 10.

In Saturday's first preseason game, Richardson was the first quarterback on the field and ended up playing 29 snaps in the Colts' 23-19 loss to the Buffalo Bills. He completed 7-of-12 passes for 67 yards with an interception. He also ran twice for seven yards.

Indianapolis selected Richardson fourth overall in April's NFL draft, believing he'd be the team's franchise quarterback for years to come.

By naming him the starter now, the coaching staff can get the 21-year-old more reps in practice and prepared for the regular season.

Richardson started only 13 collegiate games for Florida, but many viewed the dual-threat quarterback as one of the most exciting prospects in this year's draft with the highest upside.

England have found themselves on the receiving end of a spying controversy after a training session ahead of their World Cup semi-final against Australia was photographed from a helicopter.

The Australian Daily Telegraph sent up the aircraft to capture images from the Lionesses’ behind-closed-doors session at their training base as they finalised plans for Wednesday’s last-four clash with the co-hosts in Sydney.

Published under the headline “Eleven Poms against a nation: Welcome to the jungle, Lionesses”, the pictures show boss Sarina Wiegman and her staff putting the players through their paces ahead of the eagerly-anticipated contest.

The newspaper wrote: “If England’s Lionesses thought they would happily fly into the World Cup semi-final under the radar they were in for a rude shock.

“We’ve sent the chopper up to see how the old enemy are preparing…Welcome to the jungle, Lionesses, we’ve got fun and games.”

It added: “It might not be in the spirit of football, but after last month’s men’s Ashes cricket series we will let the moral arbiters England pass judgment on what is and isn’t acceptable in the world of sport.”

The Football Association has declined to comment on the incident.

The European champions are assured of a hostile welcome at a sold-out Stadium Australia as they attempt to end the Matildas’ dream of World Cup glory on home soil.

Their exploits have galvanised a nation which revels in its sporting rivalry with England and is still in celebratory mood having already retained the Ashes and won the Netball World Cup at the expense the old enemy this summer.

Wiegman and her players have brushed aside that element of the fixture, although back at home, memories of Alex Carey’s controversial stumping of Jonny Bairstow in the second Test at Lord’s, which prompted booing and chants of ‘Same old Aussies, always cheating’ throughout the remainder of the series, are still fresh in the collective mind.