BRONZE: FORGET THE HOME HYPE, WE KNOW HOW TO WIN THE BIG GAMES

No fear for Lionesses who are used to semi-final pressure

- NEIL MOXLEY

LUCY BRONZE kicked off the war of words with Australia by saying that England know how to win big games.

The Barcelona defender said she was looking forward to a feisty affair' with the old enemy as attention turned to Wednesday's World Cup semi-final following victory over Colombia.

It will be the third consecutive occasion that Bronze has reached the last four on the biggest stage of them all.

Both in Canada and France those clashes ended in defeat to Japan and the United States, respectively - but the Lionesses ended that sorry record of semi-final failure at last year's Euros.

While Bronze admitted that home advantage does count, she also pointed out that the experience of making it to a final was invaluable. She said: "We are World Cup the only team to be in three consecutive semi-finals which obviously puts us in good stead. We know what we're facing for the next game.

"And we got over the hurdle last year in the Euros and finally made it to the final. We got past that dreaded feeling of always getting beaten in semis - so we've got that in the locker.