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Spain won the Women’s World Cup for the first time by defeating England 1-0 in the championship game. Captain Olga Carmona scored the game-winning goal in the first half.
In front of 75,784 spectators at Stadium Australia on Sunday, La Roja, which had some of their best players removed due to a mutiny against coach Jorge Vilda only a few months prior and had been thrashed 4-0 by Japan in the group stage, outperformed England and earned their first major victory in just their third World Cup.
Spanish midfielders Aitana Bonmati and Teresa Abelleira controlled the match, and the margin of victory would have been higher had England goalkeeper Mary Earps not saved a penalty in the second half. Since Sarina Wiegman took over as coach, England has lost just twice in 39 games, preventing them from adding a first-ever world championship to their European Championship victory from the previous year.
England almost had the upper hand in the match between two first-time finalists as the first Women’s World Cup final without either the United States or Germany got off to a fast start.
Forward After screwing the ball toward the goal in the fifth minute against Australia, Lauren Hemp began where she left off in the semifinal and clipped a shot against the crossbar 12 minutes later. Salma Paralluelo, a young player from Spain, was unable to make contact with Carmona’s drive across the goal, and Alba Redondo’s effort from the far post was expertly stopped by Earps. Spain promptly countered.
After England lost the ball in midfield just before the half-hour mark, Abelleira curled a beautiful crossfield pass to Mariona Caldentey, who then slid the ball forward to Carmona, giving La Roja the lead.
The left-back drove into the area and fired a shot from an angle that sailed past Earps’ hands and into the far corner of the goal. Spain held the advantage for the remainder of the half, with Paralluelo pinging a shot off the post just before halftime. The goal appeared to knock the wind out of England.
Since England has proven to be adaptable throughout the competition, Wiegman changed the defense from three to four at the interval while substituting Lauren James for Alessia Russo up front. Contrarily, Spain’s game hasn’t changed and they’ve kept pushing forward. In the 50th minute, Caldentey’s strike from the edge of the box forced a great save out of Earps.
Just after the hour mark, Bonmati’s long-range attempt missed the crossbar, and the Spanish loudly petitioned for a handball against Keira Walsh on their subsequent trip to the England box.
When VAR told referee Tori Penso to check the video, the penalty seemed like a formality. However, Jennifer Hermoso’s spot kick was stopped by Earps’ low dive to her left.
James had a shot tipped over the bar by Spanish goalkeeper Cata Coll in the 75th minute but Spain was not content to sit on their lead and Earps had to be at her best to deny Ona Batlle as the clock hit the 90th-minute mark.
England threw all 11 players forward for a corner deep into stoppage time but Coll, playing only her fourth international, came out confidently to gather the ball.
Officials indicated 13 minutes of injury time in the end, but if anything, it was Spain who looked the more likely to score as England’s dreams of a first World Cup melted away.
“It was a really tough game, we knew it would be tricky, England has a great team, but I think it was our game,” Carmona told Spanish national broadcasters La 1.
“We had the feeling we were going to do it.”
A visibly disappointed England captain Millie Bright shared her views post-match.
“It’s hard. They are a fantastic team. We weren’t at our best in the first half. In the second half, we put the fight in. We just couldn’t finish it today. This is the hard part of football,” she said.
“The feelings are strong. Devastation to the max. We fell short. When it becomes established in a few weeks, we will be extremely proud. At the beginning of the competition, we faced a lot of criticism. We recovered. It’s great to be able to stand here today.”
Source- Al Jazeera
