England were set a challenge yesterday to reach the World Cup semi-finals in Canada next year to justify the huge investment behind them.

The message comes from Chelsea Ladies boss Emma Hayes — the only female manager in the Women’s Super League.

England had the big stage but fluffed their lines against European champions Germany at Wembley last month, losing 3-0 in front of a record crowd of 45,000 spectators.

But after 10 wins from 10 matches in qualifying, and a handsome victory over Sweden in August, optimism in the camp remains high.

Manager Mark Sampson will learn who his team must play at the World Cup today, which runs from June 6 to July 5, when he attends the group-stage draw in Ottawa.

And, with a growing number of clubs and players embracing a professional era, and the Football Association ploughing £12 million into the women’s game this year, Hayes argues it is time England made a World Cup impact.

“With the level of investment in the game, a semi-final appearance has to be our minimum goal,” Hayes said.

“I think anything less than a semi-final means we would be under-achieving.”

England have only qualified for three of the six World Cups contested since the tournament’s 1991 debut as a Fifa event, falling at the quarter-final stage each time.

In Germany three years ago, Hope Powell’s team were beaten on penalties by France, while England gave a poor account of themselves at the 2013 European Championship, being bounced out in the group stage — a failure that cost Powell her job and opened the door for Sampson to take over.

Sampson said ahead of his first draw as England manager: “There is no team we would like to avoid, the same way there is no one team we would definitely like to have in our group. 

“We will take whoever we get and prepare thoroughly.

“We have come a long way in such a short space of time and we are still improving.

“We know we have got to keep on developing between now and next summer and that is exactly what we will do, I have no doubts about that.

“Everyone involved with this team is incredibly excited by the prospect of going to Canada next year and being competitive against the best nations in the world. We want to make every England fan proud.”