European champions England on Wednesday edged out Australia 3-1 in the second semifinal of the FIFA Women’s World Cup at the 75, 000 sold-out Stadium Australia in Sydney to book a place in Sunday’s final against Spain.
The Lionesses are through to their very first FIFA Women’s final after two earlier attempts at the finals.
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 start of the tournament.
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 final showdown against Spain on Sunday in Sydney.
Spain had earlier booked a qualification by beating Sweden 2-1 in the first semi-final encounter at the Eden Stadium in Auckland on Tuesday.
The Three Lionesses of England qualified for the semi-finals after a 2-1 comeback win against Colombia.
It was a third consecutive semi-final appearance for the reigning European champions.
Matildas’ head coach Tony Gustavsson had picked England as the favourites earlier in his pre-match press conference.
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“If you look at rankings they are favourites. If you look at where their players play, they have starting players in top clubs in top leagues all over the world.
“Not just the starting 11, down to 15, 16. We have bench players in those teams. We have players playing in mid-table teams in Sweden,” he said.
According to him, England has more resources to execute the match. “But the one thing that we have that they don’t have is the support and belief from the fans. That in itself is going to be massive tomorrow.”
However, England head coach Sarina Wiegman believes Australia were not underdogs in the encounter. “First of all, I don’t think they are underdogs. They’re playing at home. The stadium will be really full so it’s two teams that are very good, very strong and have grown into the tournament.
“It’s going to be very tight and very competitive. We approach the game as any other game, we just prepare how we want to play.
“We’ve analysed our opponent really well so hopefully we can take out the strengths and exploit some weaknesses, and take it from there,” she said in her press conference.
Australia ended England’s 30-game unbeaten run under Wiegman with a 2-0 friendly win in April at Brentford’s Gtech Community Stadium
