Australian Newspaper Says It Snapped Photos Of England Woman's Soccer Team Practice Ahead of World Cup Semi-Final

Things are getting interesting between England and Australia ahead of their semifinal match at the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.

The two countries are set to square off on Wednesday there's a bit of a rivalry between them.

I'm not sure if you're a history buff or not, but England and Australia have a bit of a past with one another. I'm not sure if the good people of Australia are still perturbed by that whole "former penal colony" thing, but there is definitely a rivalry going on.

While the Daily Mail, reports that the teams have downplayed any kind of rivalry, local newspapers did not get that memo.

Australian newspaper, the Australian Daily Telegraph flew a helicopter over the English team's training session ahead of the match and snapped some photos.

They weren't shy about their espionage tactics either, because they then bragged about it.

"If England’s Lionesses thought they would happily fly under the radar into the World Cup semifinal under the radar they were in for a rude shock," the paper wrote. "We’ve sent the chopper up to see how the old enemy are preparing."

Then to show that they mean business, the paper quoted the immortal words Guns N' Roses.

"Welcome to the jungle, Lionesses, we’ve got fun and games."

The Australian women's soccer team is already having its most successful World Cup appearance to date. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Australia Wants To Win This One Bad

Oddly enough, there are usually cameras at those training sessions and you can typically find snapshots floating around too. Just not usually from a helicopter's vantage point (I like to think they'd say in Australian parlance, a "chopperoo." They probably don't though).

There hasn't been any word on whether or not the paper gave its snapshot to the Australian soccer federation or not.

Australia is hosting this edition of the tournament in conjunction with New Zealand. So, it's not a surprise that the folks over there want to win badly. You can't blame them. This is already the most successful World Cup the Matildas, as they're known, have ever had. Before the 2023 World Cup, the team had never made it beyond the quarter-finals.

The Lionesses and Matildas play at 6 am Eastern for the chance to battle Spain in the World Cup Final.

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