By Shaun Murphy-
Celebrations have began after England made it through to their first Women’s World Cup final, and English football’s first global final since 1966, as Sarina Wiegman’s resolute team beat co-hosts Australia on their own turf in a gripping semi-final.
Manchester City winger Lauren Hemp’s cool finish into the bottom corner with 19 minutes remaining and then her deft pass to set up Alessia Russo for a late third England goal on the counterattack dashed Australia’s dreams. England will play Spain in Sunday’s final in Sydney.
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Manchester United’s Ella Toone had opened the scoring with a superb finish into the top corner for the Lionesses, who were the superior team on the ball throughout the night.
Chelsea striker Sam Kerr had sent the vast majority of the 75,784 spectators into raptures, sparking wild scenes of celebration in the many packed fan parks across Australia when she equalised in the second half with a rocket from range that flew past Mary Earps.
England have reached the final , breaking the cycle of misfortune on three separate occasions in the semi-finals of this competition since 2015, following narrow semi-final losses to Japan and the United States.
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England’s women footballers made it through to their first ever World Cup final today after beating Australia 3-1 in a tense semi-final as days of banter between the two nations ended in heartbreak for the Matildas.
Australian fans were left crying into their beers as goals for England from Ella Toone, Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo sealed victory for England, putting them one win away from lifting two major trophies in just under 13 months.
Second half strikes for the European champions from Russo and Hemp silenced the home crowd of 75,000 hostile fans amid a febrile atmosphere in Sydney, with Hemp’s strike coming just minutes after Sam Kerr had equalized.
England will now take on Spain for the trophy this Sunday at 11am UK time, after they beat Sweden 2-1 yesterday to book their trip to the final. The match comes just over a year after England won Euro 2022 by beating Germany.
England opened the scoring in the 36th minute when the ball skipped past Hemp inside the area and fell at the feet of Toone, who gave Australia goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold no chance with a strike into the top right corner.
The breakthrough for the Matildas came when Kerr scored a delightful goal in the 63rd minute after picking up the ball just inside the Australia half. She ran and ran before releasing an arrow-like long-range strike into the net.
England regained the lead after Millie Bright sent a perfect long ball from the backline up to a running Hemp, who picked it up with ease, sneaked through the defence, drew out Arnold and fired into the goal in the 71st.
And, 15 minutes later, Hemp slipped through the Matildas to pick out Russo on the edge of the box, who made it 3-1 in the 86th minute. England then saw out the rest of the match, including six minutes of injury time at the end.
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