ELLEN WHITE: Fit or not Sam Kerr must play

There's no doubt in my mind that if Sam Kerr is fit then she will start against England. You simply cannot leave a player of her quality on the bench, even if she is a little short of match sharpness.

It’s such a shame we have only seen glimpses of her at the World Cup so far due to the calf injury she picked up on the eve of the tournament.

I know that Sam absolutely adores playing for her country and will be chomping at the bit to get out there, especially for a World Cup semi-final in front of a 75,000-strong home crowd.

She has only played 77 minutes so far but I actually think that could work in her favour. She will be fresh and raring to go up against her Chelsea team-mate Millie Bright, who I know she gets on very well with.

If she does play then naturally a lot of focus from an English perspective will be on Sam but you can’t forget that her Australian team-mates have taken the Matildas within one win of the final in her absence.

I think Mary Fowler has been one of the stand-out players of the tournament. The 20-year-old has shown maturity beyond her years and has been a real driving force for the team. Then you’ve got the threat of Hayley Raso and Caitlin Foord out wide, whose pace could cause England real problems.

But Kerr playing through the middle takes this Australian attack to a whole new level. When she came on against France her first touch of the ball was greeted by an almighty roar and that will really help to lift the whole team.

A lot has been made of the atmosphere the home supporters will generate in Sydney tomorrow but that will be nothing new for most of these England players, who have played in environments like that before for both club and country.

They handled the occasion well in the quarter-final