Zelem on Colombia, Caicedo and realising her England dream

• England face Colombia in a Sydney quarter-final on Saturday

• Katie Zelem hoping to be involved after making her first international start at this tournament

• Midfielder has been telling FIFA about that achievement and what she expects from Las Cafeteras

Katie Zelem had never started a match for England before this FIFA Women’s World Cup™. When she was left out of Sarina Wiegman’s squad in April, the 27-year-old wondered if she ever would. “There wasn’t another camp [before the squad for Australia & New Zealand 2023 was named]," she recalled. "I thought was my World Cup dream was over.”

Zelem did, of course, ultimately receive the call, and that long-awaited first start soon followed when the Lionesses played China PR. The Manchester United captain impressed, too, as England produced, by some distance, their best performance at this tournament so far, thumping the Asian champions 6-1.

A far less convincing showing followed against Nigeria in the last 16, with Wiegman’s side outplayed for large spells and fortunate to squeeze through on penalties. And while a quarter-final date with the lowest-ranked team left in the competition would seem rich reward, Zelem is expecting another tough night against the “brilliant” Colombians.

Katie Zelem: I think we were all really looking forward to coming out here and knew it was going to be a great tournament to be involved in. But the attendances and crowds at every game have blown everyone away. They’ve been continually breaking records, whether that's in Australia or New Zealand, and it's so great to see the direction women's football is heading.

It's amazing. We know we've got amazing support back home, but to see England fans in the stadium makes it even better. It almost feels like a home away from home being here in Australia.

It was incredible. For me it was a dream come true just being picked for the World Cup. But to be able to start in my first-ever England match in a World Cup, and getting a result like that, was just the icing on the cake. It was something that I had never even imagined, and I feel so whole that I've been able to do it.

I think we already knew it before the game, but it showed again that you can't take any opposition lightly. We know that every single team that's at the World Cup, and especially in the knockout rounds, deserves to be here. The world rankings really become irrelevant when you get to this stage of the tournament. Nigeria had some exceptional players and performed so well as a team. I think they should be so proud of how they played. They really showed their qualities off to the world.

Yeah, 100 per cent. They're in a World Cup quarter-final and they definitely deserve to be here. Colombia have some brilliant individual players who’ve really shone here.

I think for us it's about focusing on our own game. We know we've got great qualities in our team too, so it’s about being able to control what we can. Obviously [Caicedo] has scored some unbelievable goals in this tournament and we’ll need to nullify Colombia’s threats. But really it’s about focusing on ourselves.

That's been so impressive every time I've watched Colombia – it's just a sea of yellow shirts. The atmosphere has sounded incredible too, so we’re all excited. We've all played in massive games with big crowds, whether it be for England at Wembley or for our clubs. And whether this feels like a home or away game, I think our fans and the Colombians will definitely bring a great atmosphere.