England eliminates Australia and goes to the final of the Cup – 08/16/2023 – Sports

Deprived of their two main players since the start of the Women’s World Cup and with another suspended star, England defied setbacks to reach the final.

This Wednesday (16), the team beat Australia 3-1 in the semi. Next Sunday (20), he will make the decision against Spain. The certainty is that the Women’s World Cup will have an unprecedented champion.

It is already the best result in the history of the English team and confirmation of the favoritism of the team that reached the competition as continental champions. Last year, he won the Euro Cup.

In 2015 and 2019, England had been defeated in the semi-finals.

In 38 games under Dutch coach Sarina Wiegman, the team lost just once. But this setback had happened in a friendly against Australia this year.

The finalist landed in Oceania without Beth Mead, top scorer in last year’s European title, and midfielder/captain Leah Williamson. Both were not called up because of knee injuries. In the victory over Nigeria, for the round of 16, striker Lauren James was sent off and received a two-game suspension. She returns only in Sunday’s decision.

England dominated the first half, in part because Australia decided the best course of action was to close down and use counterattacks. Something that didn’t happen in the first 45 minutes. In the only launch that caught the unguarded rival defense, Sam Kerr came out in front of the goal, but had already been marked offside.

The reward for the best English performance came in the 35th minute, when Ella Toone hit the angle to open the scoring. In the remainder of the initial stage, the hosts were unable to press for a draw and the British continued with territorial dominance.

Australia needed to get out more for the game and their star player Sam Kerr to show up. If the second half didn’t have a very different scenario in the first minutes, England slowed down and the tie arrived thanks to the brilliance of shirt number 20.

Recovered from injury, the semifinal was the first game in which he started as a starter in the Cup. And in the 28th minute, Kerr hit a long-distance shot, indefensible for the Earps goalkeeper, and equalized the score.

It was the move that made England wake up and resume the same rhythm with which they started the game. Lucy Bronze almost scored a spiritual goal, in a cross, and Alessia Russo came close to breaking the tie with a cross kick. The advantage happened at 25, when Lauren Hemp took advantage of the failure of the Australian defense to score the second Englishman.

Australia were used to being squeezed at this World Cup. In the group stage, they reached the last round needing to beat Canada to qualify after being beaten by Nigeria. In the quarterfinals, they called for a long penalty shootout to get past the French after a 0-0 draw.

The defeat means that the country lost the chance to match something that was achieved only by the United States in 1999: hosting the competition and being champion.

In the final 20 minutes, the team tried. Vine and Kerr tried but Earps made two saves. It was Sam Kerr who had the best opportunity to level the score again. At 40 minutes, the ball landed at his feet inside the small area after a rebound from the goalkeeper. She kicked it out. The punishment was immediate.

In the next attack, Alessia Russo crossed, scored the third Englishman and stamped the vacancy for the unprecedented final.