England v USA semi-final will be year's biggest TV event, predicts Phil Neville

England’s women’s footballers have captured the hearts of the nation to such an extent that their World Cup semi-final against USA on Tuesday night will be the most watched TV event of the year, Phil Neville has predicted.

Nearly eight million people watched the team’s quarter-final victory against Norway but Neville, the England manager, expects 10 to 12 million to watch the biggest game in the history of England women’s football.

That would exceed the season finale of the police corruption drama Line of Duty, which had 9.6 million viewers in June – the biggest overnight TV rating of the year so far.

“It’s our biggest strength as a nation that we come together as a country in these moments,” said Neville. “I heard 7.9 million saw the Norway game but we’ll have 10 to 12 million watching against the US. We have gathered momentum on and off the pitch and now the players have got to deliver.

England’s women have never reached a final of a major world competition before and they will be underdogs against the US, who are the reigning World Cup holders and ranked No 1 in the world. However Neville believes that his team, which reached the semi-finals of this competition four years ago as well as the last four of the European championships in 2017, have the ability and mentality to step up.

“I want my players to realise that we are so close and we have to deliver,” he added. “There is no upside to defeat. Losing in a semi-final would mean nothing to me. Every single meeting, every single training session, every five-a-side we’ve had we’ve spoken about winning. Winning is the most important thing. It’s about winning, that’s the mentality we’ve brought in. My players now have to become serial winners. We’ve done semi-finals – we have to make the next step.”

One of the key battles is likely to be between England’s best player Lucy Bronze and the American idol Megan Rapinoe, who has made headlines on the pitch by scoring five goals and off it with her criticisms of President Trump. Bronze, though, insists she is relishing the prospect.

“I love a challenge,” she said. “Megan is up there as one of the best, so to go toe-to-toe will be great. And while I think USA are a great team others have started knocking on the door, and getting close, so I believe they are beatable.”

Bronze admitted she also admired the US team for their social activism, which has included launching a lawsuit for equal pay against its own federation on international women’s day and speaking out for gay rights, but said the England players were mainly focused on growing the women’s game.

“We influence where we can – and at the moment that is driving women’s sport and equal opportunities for women’s sport in our country,” she added. “It sounds quite fairytale-like but we want to inspire the nation – little boys as well as little girls – and we want the whole country to get behind us.”

Meanwhile the US will be going for a record 11th World Cup victory in a row when they play England and are also breaking records off the pitch as well, with Nike announcing that the team’s shirt is the biggest selling soccer jersey in the company’s history.

“The USA women’s home jersey is now the No 1 soccer jersey, men’s or women’s, ever sold on Nike.com in one season,” said Nike’s CEO Mark Parker. “The exposure [of the Women’s World Cup] is driving outstanding sell-through in kits, high-performance bras and lifestyle extensions.”