Women’s World Cup: England’s potential path to glory – who could The Lionesses face en route to the final?

Hopes are higher than ever that England might make a serious bid for their first Women’s World Cup title this year.

After winning Group D with a perfect record, The Lionesses edged past Nigeria on penalties in a nerve-shredding last 16 tie.

Sarina Wiegman’s side arrived in Australia and New Zealand with the memory of their Euro 2022 triumph on home soil still fresh.

Ranked fourth in the world, The Lionesses are by no means the only contenders for the trophy.

Spain, Australia and Sweden and the are the other sides still dreaming of hoisting the World Cup trophy later this month.

But some of the other leading candidates are already out: two-time defending champions United States were beaten on penalties by Sweden, while former winners Germany and Olympic champions Canada failed to make it through the group stage.

England have reached the semi-finals in their last two World Cup outings, in 2015 and 2019 – can they go one step further this time?

Here’s who they could face in their bid to make that happen.

The first obstacle has been hurdled in style, England topping Group D with a perfect nine points.

It wasn't exactly a comfortable 120 minutes for The Lionesses, who were reduced to 10 in the second half following Lauren James' red card, but they snuck through on spot kicks.

Next up for England was a tie against one of the tournament's biggest surprise packages, Colombia.

Colombia topped Group H, earning a shock win over Germany in the process.

They then edged to a 1-0 last-16 win over Jamaica, who were runners-up in their group, going unbeaten in a section featuring France, Brazil and Panama.

There was a chance of an upset, too, as Leicy Santos put Colombia ahead on 44 minutes.

Thankfully for England, Lauren Hemp equalised deep into first-half added time, before Alessia Russo's winner just after the hour mark.

This is where England have come unstuck in their last two World Cup outings and if one thing is for sure, it’s that a place in the final won’t come easy this year either.

England's opponents this time are co-hosts Australia, after they defeated France.

Australia remain one of the strongest sides in women's football and with the backing of a Sydney crowd, they could be a daunting opponent.

So they’ve hurdled all the obstacles and made it to the showpiece game. There’s only one team left to face now and after a tournament packed with shocks, a potential finalist is hard to predict.

Following the USA's exit, the bookies have Spain down as the second-favourites behind England. It is new ground for the Spaniards, who have reached the quarter-finals for the first time, but their squad is packed with talent.

Spain defeated Netherlands 2-1 on Friday to set up a semi-final with Sweden, who won their quarter-final against Japan.

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