Coach Mark Sampson has done his meticulous best to make sure his players are ready to face the hosts who will be backed by 30,000 spectators

A young woman sits outside a Utrecht cafe, sipping strong Dutch coffee when she spots a familiar face whizzing past on a bicycle. “I was like ‘Sari?’” says Jodie Taylor, recalling her meeting on Monday with her Arsenal team-mate Sari van Veenendaal, the Holland goalkeeper. “And she turned round and biked back for a 10-minute chat.”

On Thursday, England’s striker will be doing everything possible to add to her five-goal Euro 2017 tally when the pair meet again in the semi-final here but such rivalry was not about to spoil their friendship.

“I was sitting in a coffee shop Sari had recommended,” says Taylor. “And then she bikes past. We joked about how we’ve helped each other over the past few months. At Arsenal Sari does extra shooting sessions with me after training. I don’t think she could quite believe we’re playing each other in the semi-final.

“We were laughing. She congratulated me and said she was really proud of me. We both know the hard work we’ve put in and what it means to both of us. I congratulated her too – she’s a great goalkeeper – and then we left it there.”

Should the game be level after extra time things will become seriously interesting. “We’ve done a lot of extra work on penalties together at Arsenal,” says Taylor. “If it goes to penalties it will be a mind game between us.”

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Van Veenendaal is one of six players from the FA Women’s Super League in Sarina Wiegman’s Holland squad, thereby ensuring the match abounds with potential subplots. Yet if the expected duel between Vivianne Miedema, who has just joined Arsenal from Bayern Munich, and Steph Houghton or Millie Bright attracts attention, the contest involving Lucy Bronze, England’s outstanding right-back, and Lieke Martens promises to prove compelling.

The left-winger has just signed for Barcelona in a £180,000-a-year deal – around three times the annual salaries of some England players – but Bronze remains unfazed. “I’m not worried,” she says. “The games I enjoy the most are when I play against the big stars. I enjoy keeping them quiet.”

Michael Owen, watching from a television studio, where he will be on analyst duty, may struggle to remain impartial as he watches Bronze, Taylor and co attempt to reach a final against Austria or Denmark here on Sunday. “Growing up on Merseyside, I loved Michael Owen and Robbie Fowler,” says Taylor. “It’s pretty cool that Michael Owen’s working for Channel 4. It’s gone a complete 180 degrees. He’s my role model.”

Her finishing style arguably owes more to Fowler’s technique of seemingly passing the ball into the net. “I don’t go for power in my shots,” says the 31-year-old, who has played for clubs in England, Sweden, the United States, Canada and Australia. “I like to think of myself as more of an intelligent player.”

Collective cunning and clarity of thought from England will be called for in front of 30,000, largely orange‑clad, spectators at FC Twente’s home. “Silencing the crowd is the aim,” says Taylor, who scored against Canada in a 2-1 2015 World Cup quarter-final win in front of 52,000 in Vancouver. “Silencing a hostile crowd is the best feeling ever.”

Mark Sampson, the England coach, certainly seems ready to confront, and confound, a wall of Dutch noise. “We have to make sure our communication lines are strong so we can provide the solutions to the tough questions Holland will ask us,” he says. “It becomes harder to communicate in these big games, harder to pass messages on.”

Sampson has prepared for what Taylor recalls from Vancouver as inevitable moments of “pressure and panic” with typical thoroughness and innovation. “It’s about putting players in stressful positions where you make them think,” he says. “So we’ve been creating different training ground challenges; some people have to play two-touch and others one-touch. Or if a goal is scored in a certain way it counts double.

“It’s all about being able to think clearly under pressure; as soon as you manipulate particular reference points, you make players use their brains. You put them in stressful positions where they have to adjust their awareness of what’s happening and make some good decisions.”

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The sometimes controversially outspoken 34-year-old is proud of England’s collective ability to find a way to win. Despite being schooled as a sweet-passing coach by Roberto Martínez at Swansea there are often distinct shades of Sam Allardyce in his gameplans. Significantly the Lionesses are particularly adept at stopping teams as their physical, psychological and tactical strength sometimes compensates for slight technical shortfalls.

“We’re big-game players,” says Bronze. “People might question some of Mark’s big decisions because they often go against established norms but we’ve been very successful off the back of his gambles, off things like him making 10 changes for our group win against Portugal.

“We have a lot of faith in Mark. He’s very open. If you have a question or are unsure about a decision he’s made, he’ll happily discuss it with you. It’s why we’re doing so well. We trust each other and trust in what we’re being asked to do.

“Off the field we do a lot of work on togetherness. You don’t have to be the best of friends but on the pitch you have to have each other’s backs. When you’re away for so long, it can be hard; there can be issues in squads where there are so many different personalities but we’re all on the same wavelength. It’s definitely to our advantage that we’ve addressed this issue.”

All that remains is dealing with Martens, Miedema and friends.