By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
England made sure this campaign will go down in the history books of their women’s football history.
After only settling for back-to-back semifinal qualifications during the last two editions of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, England is finally through to the championship match after outscoring Australia in the semis, 3-1, last August 16, 2023.
Ella Toone drew first blood for England after scoring a sensational goal inside Australia’s penalty box in the 36th minute of the first half.
After the conversion, the English squad quickly jumped for joy but was later on spoiled by Australia’s Sam Kerr in the 63rd minute of the match.
Kerr’s first goal of the tournament came at the perfect time when the Australians badly needed something to happen on the offensive end.
Just when Australia and their home crowd thought they could sustain the momentum, England struck back to regain the lead courtesy of Lauren Hemp’s goal in the 71st minute.
The Australians responded with a huge defensive stance in the next 15 minutes after holding England scoreless but Alessia Russo came to the rescue after tallying their third goal with only four minutes left before the regular time expired.
Australia desperately ran their sets with hopes of a miracle comeback inside four minutes but England wisely took advantage of their possessions and let the buzzer sound with a two-point advantage.
“I think with this team, there’s ruthlessness. Whether it’s up front or in defense, we really want to keep the ball out of the net, we really want to win. And we stick together and we stick to the plan. And it worked again,” said England’s head coach Sarina Wiegman.
With the huge semis victory, England just set up a highly-anticipated championship match with Spain on August 20, 2023.
