England reached their first Women’s World Cup final after beating Australia 3-1 on Wednesday despite a wonder goal from Matildas striker Sam Kerr as the co-hosts’ fairytale run came to an end. After falling at the semi-final stage in the previous two World Cups, England will face Spain on Sunday looking to add a world title to last year’s European Championship triumph. Spain will play for its first Women’s World Cup championship after Olga Carmona’s goal in the 89th minute lifted La Roja to a 2-1 victory over Sweden in the semifinal. The Associated Press has the story:
England moves into the W World Cup Final against Spain
Newslooks- SYDNEY (AP)
Lauren Hemp didn’t let the Women’s World Cup semifinal match between Australia and England become the Sam Kerr show.
Hemp scored to restore England’s lead eight minutes after a superb equalizer from Kerr, and then provided a perfect pass for the clincher as the Lionesses moved into their first World Cup championship game with a 3-1 victory over Australia on Wednesday.
The semifinal outcome ended a Matildas run that captivated Australia for almost a month and sent England to a matchup with Spain in the final, where the Lionesses will have a chance to bring a World Cup home for the first time since 1966.
Sarina Wiegman became the first coach to lead two countries to the Women’s World Cup final, and in back-to-back tournaments. Her run with the Netherlands in 2019 ended with a loss to the United States.
On either side of that, she guided Netherlands to the European title in 2017 and then took over the England squad for its breakthrough Euro 2022 title.
“I’m the lucky one — the last two tournaments I’m going to the final,” said Wiegman, the only female head coach of any team to reach the quarterfinals.
“You make it to finals, it’s really special,” she said. “I’m like, ‘Am I here in the middle of a fairytale or something?’”
England dominated possession in the first half, starving the Australians of the ball and shutting down the Matildas’ transitional, counter-attacking game.
It was rewarded when Ella Toone scored in the 36th minute with a powerful right-foot shot diagonally inside the far post. A throw-in from Rachel Daly went to Hemp, who turned and sent it into the area where Alessia Russo turned the ball back past Hemp for Toone to swoop.
Kerr was in Australia’s starting lineup for the first time in the tournament after overcoming a left calf injury.
Her equalizer in the 63rd gave the 75,784-strong crowd and millions of fans watching around Australia renewed hope, but Hemp responded with a goal in the 71st and provided a perfect through ball for Russo to finish from a tight angle four minutes from the end of regulation.
“Even after Sam’s goal there was no fear in the squad. We weren’t nervous. We just played our football,” Hemp said. “We showed the relentlessness inside the squad to make it 2-1. And then even when we’re on the backfoot going into the final few minutes, I felt like we showed calm, composure on the ball to manage to counterattack them and obviously make it 3-1.”
England and Spain will each be playing in the Women’s World Cup final for the first time at Stadium Australia on Sunday. It will be the first all-European final since 2003.
Australia will play Sweden, which lost to Spain 2-1 in the other semifinal, for third place on Saturday in Brisbane.
“We had a chance for 2-2 and a couple of minutes later it was 3-1,” Australia coach Tony Gustavsson said. “It was one of those games, unfortunately.”
Katrina Gorry created chances in each half of her 100th game for Australia but said the Matildas weren’t able to dominate the way they needed to.
“But you know, we’ve got a quick turnaround and we want to win the bronze medal,” she said.
After topping its group, advancing over Nigeria on penalties in the round of 16 and beating Colombia in the quarterfinals, England was playing in the semifinals for the third consecutive Women’s World Cup. Australia was in the final four for the first time.
It showed, particularly in the first half and in the last 20 minutes, when England had a harder edge and was more clinical when it counted.
The Australians seem to have played their final in the 7-6 penalty shootout win over France last weekend, their first win in four quarterfinal appearances at the Women’s World Cup.
Kerr missed the group stage, played the last 10 minutes in the round-of-16 win over Denmark and went on as a second-half substitute in that narrow win over fifth-ranked France before finally getting a start against England.
She ended up on the ground after her first touch after a tangle with Keira Walsh. In the ninth minute, England defender Alex Greenwood received a yellow card for a sliding tackle from behind that left Kerr on the ground again.
After being subdued by England’s defense for an hour, Kerr took the ball around halfway, sprinted forward in a solo run and launching a long-range right-foot shot that lightly touched defender Millie Bright before going into the top left corner.
Kerr started making inroads as momentum shifted briefly before England responded, with Hemp running onto a long ball into the area and scoring with a left-foot finish after Australia defender Ellie Carpenter over-ran the ball.
Kerr missed a chance to equalize again with a header in the 82nd and miscued another shot as Australia squandered three opportunities before Hemp set up Russo to finish off the scoring.
After putting Australia out of contention, Hemp said the England squad wanted to relive the kind of euphoria that their win in the European Championship generated last year.
“Obviously you’ve seen last year how successful we were. We want to do the same again, we want to go one step further,” Hemp said. “We’ve all got a dream and I feel like we’re really pushing each other to be the best that we can.”
Spain beats Sweden 2-1 with last-minute goal and advances to its first Women’s World Cup final
Newslooks- SYDNEY (AP)
Spain will play for its first Women’s World Cup championship after Olga Carmona’s goal in the 89th minute lifted La Roja to a 2-1 victory Tuesday over Sweden in the semifinal.
Spain, which overcame last year’s near mutiny by its players against coach Jorge Vilda, will play the winner of tournament co-host Australia and England on Sunday in the final in Sydney.
The controversy surrounding Spain dates to last September, when 15 players signed a letter complaining about Vilda and the conditions for the the national team. Three of those players are on this World Cup team, and Vilda a day before the game against Sweden praised the Spanish federation for its support.
Now, La Roja has a chance to become a first-time World Cup champion.
“This is a historic day,” said Vilda. “We’re in the final, that’s what we wanted.”
He again thanked the federation and its leadership for the support that has Spain one win away from the World Cup.
“The end result is a learning process which has made us all stronger in my opinion, and to leave it archived in the past and think about the future,” Vilda said through a translator. “And to think that we’re here because we deserve it.”
Carmona’s goal capped a flurry of late scoring that saw Sweden tie the game, then Spain win it 90 seconds later on the surprise score.
Salma Paralluelo, the 19-year-old super-sub who also scored the game-winner in Spain’s 2-1 extra-time quarterfinals victory over the Netherlands, scored in the 81st minute to put Spain up 1-0. She gestured for the crowd to cheer, and the crowd thought it was celebrating Spain’s decider.
But the celebration was brief. Rebecka Blomqvist tied it for Sweden in the 88th.
Then, just 90 seconds later, Carmona beat Sweden goalkeeper Zecira Musovic with the game-winner.
“It was really, really really crazy,” Spanish defender Irene Paredes said. “After scoring the first one it was like, ‘OK, this is the end, we have to keep this score.’ But they scored quite fast and I was like, `What the hell happened?’ But we had confidence that we could create something else.”
Sweden has now lost in four of five semifinals and will try to finish third for a fourth time.
“I have to watch the game, I really do, before I can make any assessments,” said Sweden coach Peter Gerhardsson. “Right now I am full of emotions. It is is the third loss in the semifinals. I think everyone just feels sadness and huge disappointment.”
Paralluelo became just the second teenager to score in a Women’s World Cup semifinal after Kara Lang of Canada in 2003, also against Sweden
“It was a magic moment. It is something very unique when I scored the first goal. To be able to repeat is really incredible,” Paraluello said.
Spain is playing in only its third World Cup. Four years ago, La Roja advanced to the knockout round but lost to eventual champions the United States.
“Now it’s the final. I think we have to do what we’ve done in every match,” said Paralluelo. “We’ve overcome every challenge and now we face the ultimate challenge, the big one”
The Swedes have never won a World Cup. They were the 2003 runner-up and have finished third three times. Sweden won silver medals at the Tokyo Olympics two years ago, and at the 2016 Games in Brazil.
“I’m tired of crying big tournament tears,” said Kosovare Asllani. Sweden also lost in the semifinals of the Euros last September.
The Swedes swept their opponents in the group stage before knocking out two-time reigning champion the United States on a penalty shootout after a scoreless draw.
Sweden then got by previously unbeaten Japan 2-1 in the quarterfinals.
Spain fell to second in its group after a blowout loss to Japan, but rallied to beat Switzerland 5-1 and the Netherlands 2-1 to reach the semifinals. It was La Roja’s first appearance in a major semifinal since the 1997 European Championships.
Spain’s two-time Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas made her third start of the World Cup. Putellas ruptured her ACL last summer and has been working her way back to full fitness. She came off the bench in the team’s last two matches.
Putellas, who replaced Esther Gonzalez in the starting 11, was subbed off in the 57th minute for teenage Paralluelo, who has now scored in two straight games.
Spain dominated possession and had the better chances in the first half. Carmona’s blast from the top of the box was a low shot went just wide. Sweden’s defense, which had allowed just two goals in the tournament, held.
Putellas nutmegged Filippa Angeldal before delivering a cross in the 35th minute but Magdalena Eriksson was there to clear it away.
Spain goalkeeper Cata Coll dove to save Fridolina Rolfo’s shot late in the half, then punched the ball away on a corner kick to keep the game scoreless at the half.
Sweden had energy to start the second half but Spain still had chances. Paralleulo’s header in the 63rd minute sailed over the goal.
Alba Redondo was on the ground in front of the goal but got a foot on the ball and appeared to score in the 71st minute, but she was just wide and the ball was caught up in the side netting.
There were a few tense moments when Paralluelo’s goal was checked by video review, but it was awarded.
After Carmona’s goal, Spain’s players piled on top of her near their bench.
There were 43,217 fans on hand for the match at Auckland’s Eden Park.
