Alessia Russo‘s second-half goal lifted England to a thrilling 2-1 quarter-final victory over Colombia on Saturday and into the World Cup semi-finals for the third consecutive time.

Lauren Hemp also scored for the European champions, who now face hosts Australia on Wednesday in Sydney for a place in their first World Cup final.

Colombia, who were the lowest-ranked team remaining at 25 and had never made it past the tournament’s round of 16, opened the scoring with a goal from Leicy Santos to the delight of the large swathes of yellow-and-blue clad Colombian fans among the crowd of 75,784 at Stadium Australia.