There will be revenge. Spain will play the World Cup final against England and will test its evolution since that defeat in the Euro Cup quarterfinals last summer. Sarina Wiegman’s team won 1-3, ending the hostess’s dream. Australia, the first nation to reach the semi-finals as hosts in the last twenty years, goes home with its head held high after inspiring an entire country with its football.
Ella Toone put England ahead in the first half, but Sam Kerr leveled things up in the second half. With half an hour to go, ‘Lionesses’ and Matildas’ got involved in a life-and-death fight from which England emerged victorious. Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo signed the goals that put Sarina Wigman’s team in the final. On Sunday (12 noon) against Spain, they will play to turn their European throne into a world one.
England, with their stripes of European champions, seized the ball from the opening whistle, ready to make Australia run. Georgia Stanway was the first to put Arnold’s reflexes to the test in a one-on-one match that the local goalkeeper masterfully saved, putting her leg in as if it were her own in a futsal match. The ‘Matildas’, for their part, pressed aggressively looking for an error that would allow them to recover the ball and plant themselves in the Mary Earps area in a few passes. Sam Kerr, starting for the first time in the tournament, and Mary Fowler, await their opportunity upstairs.
That was how the first clear chance for the Australians came. One against that Carpenter did not know how to end well. Little by little, after resisting England’s first attack, Australia was gaining ground and getting closer with danger. But when the ‘Matildas’ were at their best, the ‘lionesses’ would give their first blow. A throw-in that ended up at the feet of Ella Toone so that from outside the area she could send a real cannon shot to the squad, impossible for Arnold.
The goal pushed the locals, supported by more than eighty thousand people in the stands, to look for a tie. Australia took the reins of the match and tried by all means. Not even the interruption of the game for the break slowed down the revolutions of Gustavsson’s team, which came out in the second half for the game. Foord struck a dangerous wing-back cross into the hands of Earps, warning England that he would not make things easy for them.
The award would come to him in the 63rd minute with a great goal from Sam Kerr. A manual play by Australia, which caused a loss by England and in a single pass the ball ended up at the feet of the star of the ‘Matildas’. The Chelsea forward played it alone, left the defense and sent a missile from the balcony of the area to sign the 1-1.
With the tie and half an hour ahead, far from settling and looking for extra time, both teams went on the attack, exchanging blows in one area and another. A battle from which England emerged victorious. Lauren Hemp took advantage of a blunder by Carpenter, who allowed the ball to be stolen in the area and did not forgive the English footballer to put the English team ahead again.
The game went wild, with Australia fighting to get back into the game. Sam Kerr was able to do it on a very clear occasion that the Chelsea footballer will have a hard time forgetting. And from 1-2 it went to 1-3 that sentenced the match in minute 86. Alessia Russo signed the goal that sealed the pass to the final of the European champion. Of course, half a goal should go to Hemp, who dragged the central defenders into the middle and filtered an exquisite pass for Russo to push the ball into the back of the net. An explosion of joy in England, and a total collapse of an Australia that said goodbye to the World Cup at the gates of the final.
