Spain defeats England to win 1st Women’s Cup title

Champion

Iberian national team had a goal by Olga Carmona to win 1-0

The Women’s World Cup has a new champion, Spain, who defeated England in the final by 1-0, this Sunday morning (20) at Australia Stadium, in Sydney, to win the competition title for the first time in history. The Iberian team achieves the feat in the third Cup in its history.

Spain debuted in women’s Cups only in 2015, in Canada. On that occasion, they fell into the same group as Brazil and finished last in the group, behind South Korea and Costa Rica. In 2019, in France, it managed to advance to the round of 16, where it stopped in the United States, which ended up winning the competition.

With this Sunday’s title, the Spanish team joined the select group of world champions in women’s football, headed by the United States (four titles) and which still has Germany (two), Japan and Norway (one each). In addition, Spain equaled the Germans, the only ones, until then, to lift the World Cup cup between men and women.

upper spain

The game started with Spain valuing possession of the ball too much and scoring on top of the English players. But it was the Lionesses who arrived in danger first. At the 15th minute, Lauren Hemp received the ball at the edge of the area after a good exchange of passes from her teammates and hit a powerful shot in the goal defended by goalkeeper Cata Coll.

A minute later the Iberians responded with a counterattack on the left. Paralluelo received it in the area and kicked it, but Millie Bright deflected it and the ball fell to Alba Redondo, who finished for Mary Earps. However, at 28, Spain showed efficiency to open the scoring. Caldentey played for Olga Carmona, who took advantage of the space left by Lucy Bronze on the left wing. The side dominated, advanced and finished low to put the ball in the back of the net.

Even with the advantage, the Iberian team continued to improve, and arrived with a lot of danger in the 46th minute, when Battle made a good move on the right and crossed into the middle of the area, where Paralluelo arrived hitting the first time to hit the post.

On return from the break coach Sarina Wiegman decided to field forwards Chloe Kelly and Lauren James, who have missed England’s last two matches through suspension. But who started the final stage better was Spain, who continued to bet on a very aggressive marking, advancing their players and not allowing England to have space to create anything.

England, on the other hand, depended too much on quick exits on the counterattack, such as the one in the 8th minute, which ended in a low cross from Chloe Kelly to Hemp, who narrowly sent it out in a move that ended up being canceled due to an offside position.

However, the superiority was really from Spain, who at 23 minutes had the opportunity to extend the score in a penalty kick scored after Keira Walsh touched the ball with his hand inside the area. Jenni Hermoso charged for safe save from Mary Earps.

At 29 minutes, the Lionesses finally arrived with danger, when Lauren James made a great individual play on the left and beat the defense of goalkeeper Cata Coll. From then on, the game entered a dynamic of a lot of battle in the center of the field, and opportunities decreased from side to side.

And a good opportunity only appeared again in the 46th minute, when Ona Battle dominated on the right wing and advanced to cross the ball to a great defense by Mary Earps. As the end of the game approached, England clearly became disorganized and started to create very little, while Spain knew how to manage the advantage until the final whistle to guarantee the title.

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