SYDNEY — Spain was celebrating its first Women’s World Cup trophy Sunday after a powerful show proved an excessive amount of for England in a 1-0 victory for La Roja.
Olga Carmona scored within the first half of the ultimate and Spain held on to cap the month-long event.
Overcoming the turmoil that had surrounded the crew, the victory made Spain the primary crew to carry the under-17, under-20 and senior world titles on the identical time. Spain is the fifth winner in 9 editions of the Women’s World Cup and joined Germany as the one two nations to win each the boys’s and girls’s titles.
At the ultimate whistle the Spanish gamers piled on one another in entrance of their purpose. They had been nonetheless dancing on the sector till the trophy shows, the place they kissed the trophy and raised their arms triumphantly as golden glitter fell from above.
“We’ve suffered a lot throughout the past 12 months but I think everything has a reason to be. This has made us a stronger team,” Carmona mentioned. “And it’s really incredible. I don’t know just why Spain is the world champions, but I think that we deserved it.”
The Lionesses had been attempting to convey a World Cup again to England for the primary time because the males gained it in 1966. The wait will go on.
PHOTOS: Spain wins its first Women’s World Cup title, beating England 1-0 within the closing
“At first you feel like you failed with not winning,” England captain Millie Bright mentioned. “I think in a couple of weeks and it settles, (we) will be really, really proud.”
In an open recreation that includes a number of probabilities for each groups, Carmona’s left-foot strike within the twenty ninth minute – ending off a fast-breaking counterattack after England’s Lucy Bronze misplaced possession – remained the one purpose.
Carmona additionally scored the game-winner within the 89th minute of Spain’s 2-1 semifinal victory over Sweden, changing into the primary participant since Carli Lloyd in 2015 to attain in a World Cup semifinal and closing.
Spain had an opportunity to double the lead within the 68th after a VAR overview awarded a penalty for Keira Walsh’s handball, however Jenni Hermoso’s penalty try was saved by Mary Earps.
Spain’s victory comes regardless of a near-mutiny by gamers final 12 months. Fifteen gamers mentioned they had been stepping away from the nationwide crew for his or her psychological well being whereas additionally calling for a extra skilled surroundings.
Three of these gamers – Ona Batlle, Aitana Bonmatí and Mariona Caldentey – reconciled with the federation and had been on the World Cup.
The victory was additionally a little bit of redemption for La Roja, which fell to England 2-1 within the quarterfinals of the European Championship final 12 months. England went on to win the Euros on residence soil.
“I think all of us, we felt that this team had something special,” Carmona mentioned. “I imagine that we’ve proven this on the sector, we’ve proven this within the group stage, within the knockout stage. We’ve been combating till the tip. We by no means stopped.
“Last year was different, but football gives you second chances What better chance than in a World Cup final and to be able to call ourselves world champion.”
Spain grew over the course of the event. After a 4-0 loss to Japan within the group stage, Spain changed Misa Rodriguez with Cata Coll in purpose. La Roja rebounded rapidly by trouncing Switzerland 5-1 to kick off the knockout spherical and constructed from there.
“When we found out that we had England in the final, we analyzed them and saw how they played,” Bonmati mentioned. “We prepared it well, we came out confident of what we were doing, of our game, of our fight, of our dedication.”
England had momentum going into the event after profitable the Euros, however three of the crew’s greatest gamers, captain Leah Williamson, Fran Kirby and Beth Mead, all had knee accidents that saved them off the World Cup squad.
Sarina Wiegman was the primary coach to take her groups to back-to-back World Cup title matches. She led the Netherlands to the ultimate in 2019, however fell 2-0 to the United States. She’s now 0-2 within the championship match.
One of England’s greatest probabilities was within the sixteenth when Lauren Hemp’s blast caromed off the crossbar. A minute later, Salma Paralluelo raced towards purpose however couldn’t get a clear shot and Earps stopped Alba Redondo’s try within the scramble in entrance of the web.
England was coming off a 3-1 victory over host Australia within the semifinal. Lauren James, who was the crew’s high scorer with three targets and three assists, was compelled to sit down out two matches after being suspended for stomping on Nigeria’s Michelle Alozie to open the knockout stage.
While James was obtainable for the ultimate, Wiegman began Ella Toone and used the Chelsea winger as a second-half substitute in a double change to spark the assault.
Spain coach Jorge Vilda began 19-year-old Paralluelo, who scored the breakthrough purpose for Spain towards Sweden, and the game-winner in additional time over the Netherlands within the quarterfinal. Those efforts helped her win the younger participant of the event award. Earps gained the Golden Glove for greatest goalkeeper and Bonmati gained the Golden Ball for greatest participant of World Cup.
Vilda had a problem in working round two-time Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas, who was nonetheless working her approach again from a torn ACL final 12 months. For the ultimate, Putellas was on the bench at first.
Putellas went into the sport with 15 seconds left in regulation, however there have been 13 minutes of stoppage time. After the match Putellas was in tears as her teammates danced in entrance of the flag-waving followers behind the crew’s bench.
There had been 75,784 followers on the closing at Stadium Australia, together with tennis nice Billie Jean King, growing the report attendance for the event to greater than 1.975 million.
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