• Monday, October 14, 2024
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Women’s World Cup: Spain, England face-off in historic Sunday’s final

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European champions England will face Spain in Sunday’s final after beating co-host Australia 3-1 in Wednesday’s semifinal encounter at the 75 000 capacity sold-out Stadium in Sydney, Australia.

Both teams will be playing in their first event World Cup final. The La Roja of Spain qualified for their first major tournament final at the first attempt. Lionesses are through to their very first FIFA Women’s final after two earlier attempts at the finals.

The historic final will see a new champion emerge at Australia, New Zealand 2023 FIFA World Cup for the Women’s game after the reigning champion USWT was eliminated.

Spain defeated Sweden 2-1 to book a place in Sunday’s final, while England edged co-host Australia 3-1 in Wednesday’s semifinal clash.

For 81 minutes, the game was a careful affair, with neither side giving away many huge chances as a spot in Sunday’s showpiece final lay before them.

But a frantic final 15 minutes saw 19-year-old substitute Salma Parallels (81) fire Spain ahead 80 minutes in the game via a dramatic finish in the six-yard box. This was matched soon after as another substitute, Rebecka Blomqvist (88), curled in a fine effort to level for Sweden.

But Spain wasted no time retaking the lead through captain Carmona’s superb effort with a stunning effort past Zecira Musovic from range to send La Roja into their first major tournament final.

Spain is playing in their first-ever semifinal outing against Sweden in their fifth attempt at this stage of the competition hoping for a historic final.

However, sixth-ranked Spain went through to the final against the third-ranked women’s team in the world.

The Lionesses of England qualified for the semifinals after a 2-1 comeback win against Colombia.

It was a third consecutive semifinal appearance for the reigning European champions.

Lauren Hemp’s second-half strike helped fire England into the World Cup final as the Lionesses sealed a 3-1 victory over co-hosts Australia in front of a sold-out crowd in Sydney.

Ella Toone, who replaced the suspended Lauren James for England’s quarter-final win over Colombia, netted 36 minutes into her second tournament start.

Read also: Europeans challenge for 2023 Women’s World Cup glory

Australia captain Sam Kerr, making her first start of the tournament, equalised for the co-host with a stunning individual goal after the break before Hemp put England back in front.

Alessia Russo added another late in the second half to cap off the historic encounter and set up an all-European showdown against Spain on Sunday in Sydney.

It was another heart-breaking near miss for Sweden, who got knocked out in the 2019 World Cup and Euro 2022 semifinals and finished as runners-up at the 2020 Olympics.

Sweden will now play against co-host Australia in the third-place play-off on Saturday.

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