Alright you lot. It\u2019s come to this. 172 teams. 567 matches. 2,304 goals. It\u2019s easy to forget that the World Cup is just the ultimate culmination of a much longer, more gruelling qualifying competition covering all six federations and up to two years in length. But come Sunday, we reach the speartip. 2 teams. 1 match. 1 trophy. Come on the journey with me to find out how we chose the two best teams in the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I said in my preview for this game that I expected Sweden would be able to draw on their massive experience at this level. They\u2019d reached at least the semi-finals of the last three major tournaments and were runners up in Tokyo. Turns out all they\u2019ve actually got experience of is falling short. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most of this game passed without remark. That\u2019s the thing about semi-finals, and we\u2019ll see it in the other game as well, both teams are feeling the pressure and the fear of failure starts to creep in. Creativity is slowly stifled. Energy becomes more frantic and less focused. Spain were doing Spain things, loads of possession and little movements; Sweden were doing 4-4-2 low block – drawbridge raised, portcullis lowered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And it was Sweden who had the first real chance. They pinned Spain back in their own defensive corner and Nathalie Bj\u00f6rn cut out a pass to lob the ball towards the far post over everyone. Everyone but Fridolina Rolf\u00f6 who kept her volley low, straight at keeper Catalina Coll. Hands on heads all round – Spain for letting such a clear-cut chance spring from nothing, Sweden, the doubts already starting to creep in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An hour went by with very little to report on so Jorge Vilda went to his bench and swapped in Salma Paralluelo, the teenager who had won the game against the Netherlands. She made an immediate impact. Alba Redondo reached for a cross but ended up on her back with the ball rolling slowly towards the dead ball line, shepherded by Magdalena Eriksson. A lost cause? Not for Paralluelo. She nipped round Eriksson\u2019s blindside, overpowering her attempts to shield the ball and hooked it back to Redondo, still prone. Redondo reacted as all of us would when a responsibility we thought had gone comes racing back with interest and flailed helplessly at it, sending the ball just wide of the post. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both teams had been through extra time this tournament and wanted no more of that, so much like a uni student facing a deadline, the effort levels went through the roof as the clock ticked ever lower. Spain pushed higher and higher and it was Jennifer Hermoso who decided to pull the trigger. Her deep cross was arcing towards Redondo but Jonna Andersson did her job just – getting a foot in front of the Spanish forward. But the ball was far from cleared, and it was down to who reacted first. And no one, this tournament, has reacted faster than Paralluelo. She was facing away from goal so pivoted on her left foot and slammed the ball into the bottom corner. Two massive goals in two massive games for this amazingly talented teenager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sweden weren\u2019t done though. They\u2019d been sunk at this hurdle too many times to give up without a fight. They ran back the playbook from their first half chance – a towering cross dropping towards the far side of the box. Lina Hurtig clambered over Olga Carmona, fighting to keep the long stymied Swedish dream alive. Her header dropped into a gaping chasm in the Spanish defence, a region of space seemingly abandoned by light, matter and any women wearing red and blue. Empty of all but a single glowing yellow figure: Rebecka Blomqvist. Leaning back to ride the bounce, she side-footed the ball home to level. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now if there\u2019s one thing you do as an experienced team when you\u2019ve just dragged yourself off the mat in a high-stakes bout like this, it\u2019s to kill the energy for the next few minutes. Draw it out a little. Let your nerves settle back and prepare for the marathon that is extra time. That\u2019s the mark of champion teams, and it\u2019s an exam this Swedish team flunked magnificently. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The clock had read 87:24 when Blomqvist\u2019s shot rippled the netting. After all Sweden\u2019s mad celebration, it read 88:43 when Mariona Caldentey tore down the Spanish right wing and won a corner. All tournament, Sweden have been immense at set pieces so this should have been a meaningless moment. Should have been. Teresa Abelleira took the corner but rather than lumping it in for the various giant Swedish defenders to head out, hammered a low pass to the completely unmarked Carmona, lurking at the top corner of the box. She took one touch and, with the flat footed Swedish defence finally trying to close her down, hit the ball hard and with a hint of top spin straight at goal. Zecira Musovic has been immense this tournament so I can only assume she didn\u2019t see it \u2018til late – she was positioned directly underneath it but her leap only managed to get her high enough to palm the ball into the underside of the crossbar and in. Sweden had been equal for 1 minute, 36 seconds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That was it. Sweden now own outright the record for most lost World Cup semi finals. This team has been one of the best in the world over the last 6 years or so. They can be proud that they\u2019ve routinely been at the pointy end of major competitions. But they also, I think, must look at themselves. They\u2019ve not been able to turn their experience into results and at some point, that says more about attitude, desire and mindset than anything else. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can\u2019t make me write about this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seriously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I simply won\u2019t do it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s just preview the final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fine. OK. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Contrast the Lionesses with Sweden. England went to the semi-finals of the 2015 WC, 2017 Euros and 2019 WC. Realising that the talent on the pitch wasn\u2019t the issue, they replaced the comically inept nepo hire, manager Phil Neville, with the best manager available in international football – Sarina Wiegman. Since then, they won the 2022 Euros at home and are quite literally unbeaten in competitive games. This is partly due to Wiegman, who is a mastermind and genius, but it also reflects well on the FA, who recognised that they had all the other pieces in place but that they needed to be world-class in every position. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Australia have never been to a WC semi-final. They have talent and they have the crowd on their side, but nothing ever matches experience. England aren\u2019t just experienced, they are accustomed to being here, to the pressure that comes with the territory. Frankly, they bossed this game. That doesn\u2019t mean they were always going to win it – football is a famously dangerous sport for complacency or just bad luck – but they did everything right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Step 1 was drawing the sting from the crowd. The Lionesses took the ball and kept it. And kept it. And kept it. They took the tempo and kept that. And with half-time approaching, they pulled that tempo up through the gears. Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo combined near the byline, an area of the pitch that lacks threat itself but is the enabler, the promise of threat to come. Hemp, to Russo who wove between two gold and green markers and pulled back. Hemp had overrun it but Ella Toone – dropped in the group stages for Lauren James, brought back thanks to the starlet\u2019s moment of madness – was waiting to deliver an exquisite outswinger into the very top of the top corner. England were on their way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And for a while, it looked like that would be it. It would, to be frank, have been deserved. But if there\u2019s one variable you can never control in football, it\u2019s world-class talent. And the Matildas\u2019 Sam Kerr has that in truly overflowing amounts. She\u2019d missed most of the tournament through an injury suffered the day before the tournament. She\u2019d played 10 minutes against Denmark, 60 against France due mostly to extra time and finally started here. But she\u2019d been kept quiet. Very quiet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Too quiet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
England had pressed up, deciding it was time to kill the game. Instead, they lost the ball. Two quick passes and Kerr had it on halfway. Worrying, with only Chelsea teammate Millie Bright between her and Mary Earps in goal, but not yet panic stations. 5 seconds later, it was panic stations. Kerr ran, and ran, and ran. Bright backed off, and off, and off. By the time she realised she\u2019d given the world\u2019s best player a sliver of a fraction of a decimal of a sight of goal, it was already too late. Kerr was still five metres outside the English box. Earps is one of the world\u2019s best keepers. Bright was cutting off most of the available angle. And it was already done. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kerr put everything through the shot. The ball took off. It kissed Bright\u2019s knee as she desperately tried to amend her mistake but didn\u2019t alter its trajectory. Picked up height and curl. Drifted inevitably past the full stretch dive of Earps. Hit the net. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stadium Australia had just been treated to one of the great World Cup goals. It responded. To score an equaliser in a home World Cup against the favourites and reigning European Champions would already have put this goal somewhere in the pantheon. To do it from a solo 40 metre run and outrageous strike like that – I can\u2019t pull a better one out of my memory. Maybe Brazil, 1970. Maybe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another team might have crumbled here. Under the heat and light, the Matildas resurgent, Kerr on a mission, lead snatched away by an act of Goddess. But not these Lionesses. They aren\u2019t merely made of sterner stuff, they\u2019ve been forged into adamantium by master smith Wiegman. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eight minutes later, they had their lead back. And it wasn\u2019t a good one for the Aussies. Bright hit a long, long, looooong ball forward. Hemp was chasing but Ellie Carpenter was there first. Nothing was on. All Carpenter had to do was pass it to one of her defending colleagues, back to her keeper, smash it into touch. And she tried. And she failed. Twice. Semi-final football can be like that. Even then, it shouldn\u2019t have mattered. Late in a game, legs tired, most forwards would have given up on the opportunity. But Hemp had chased this lost cause down, and down and was still there to muscle Carpenter off and slot past Mackenzie Arnold. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Australia came roaring back and had two moments that could have levelled it. One, Kerr got in between two centre-backs and onto a header only feet from goal but could only send it over. Two, Earps weak punch fell to Kerr unmarked inside the box, but her volley flew wide. Both were tough chances. Both, you imagine a match fit and sharp Kerr might have buried. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead, it was time for the dagger. Hemp ran at the Australian defence and drew their attention. Toone was busting a gut to get down the left flank, the direction Hemp was travelling, the whole balance of the pitch shifting inexorably towards that side. Except Russo. Except Hemp\u2019s no-look reverse pass. Russo was free inside the area, at an angle. Five minutes earlier, Cortnee Vine had had a similar chance in a similar position. She\u2019d fired a good low shot that Earps had sprawled to save. And here, another illustration of the quantum gap – in the most literal sense, a small but absolutely fundamental difference – between the two sides. Russo fired a brilliant low shot that Arnold had no chance of saving. 3 – 1. Game over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And so, the Matildas\u2019 run ends. It was amazing. It was glorious. And it did what so many unexpectedly deep World Cup runs have done in the past – get crushed under the wheels of a ruthless winning machine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But we\u2019ll always have Vine\u2019s penalty against France.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Foord racing away from the Denmark defence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Catley\u2019s opening day penalty against Ireland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Raso\u2019s double to set us on our way against Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And Sam Kerr absolutely hammering one in a World Cup semi-final. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Til it\u2019s done. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spain had one bad day against Japan but since then, have tightened up defensively and got past a lot of very good teams in fairly ruthless fashion to get here. In Paralluelo, they have a true gem of a wildcard; but more importantly, although this Spanish team have never been anywhere near this level before, a huge proportion of the team have been winning Champions Leagues with Barcelona in the last three years. They have defied expectations and proven themselves more than good enough to compete for the crown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But they\u2019re up against England. And if the second half of the 2010s belonged firmly to the USA, the first half of the 2020s is one win away from belonging to England. This team has seen it all. They\u2019ve won big games in big tournaments. Last year they beat Spain, Sweden and Germany on the way to their Euros triumph. This year they\u2019ve beaten Brazil in the Finalissima and gone on a world tour in this World Cup, knocking out teams from every continent. They are steely eyed winners who have taken everything thrown at them and remained standing. They are the deserving favourites for this title. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And yet. 90 minutes, 120 minutes, penalties. Anything can happen. This World Cup has been brutal for keeping us all on our toes, for unceremoniously turfing out highly ranked teams who haven\u2019t managed the pressure (Germany), who haven\u2019t executed perfectly (USA), who\u2019ve just got damned unlucky (Japan). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s the World Cup Final. It\u2019s the ultimate game in the only truly world sport. Get yourself in front of a TV and watch this. I promise, you will never regret it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah ok, it\u2019s the 3rd place play-off. It\u2019s a bit of a joke that probably comes from the Olympics. I get it – the Olympics originated as a series of athletic competitions where 4-16 individuals or teams all compete at once and you can easily rank them first to last and hand out medals to a podium of the top three. We love the number three, it\u2019s a nice number. But when you get into a knockout 1v1 style competition, it feels a little silly. Some sports simply count both losing semi-finalists as having finished on a four-person podium, which I think is an elegant way to avoid forcing two teams who\u2019ve just seen their dream evaporate at the penultimate hurdle to play out a largely stakes-less match for our amusement. But the World Cup isn\u2019t there yet, so these two teams have to go at it once more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And for one of these teams, that\u2019s probably quite a nice thing. Australia will get one more run out, in front of a cheering home crowd. They have the opportunity to win a game against a very good team and finish this magnificent tournament on a high, 3rd best team in the world. That\u2019s something to play for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sweden probably can\u2019t get home fast enough. They\u2019ve won a single major trophy. The first ever women\u2019s Euros in 1984. Since then, six lost finals and ten <\/em>lost semi-finals across all major competitions. They know this feeling too well and really have nothing to gain. They know the pointlessness of 3rd v 4th and it\u2019s hard to imagine they\u2019ll be able to get as up for it as Australia will. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But also, maybe they will! And who cares. Because other than for the fans who get a fun day out, this is a footnote. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Once more unto the breach dear friends, once more. I\u2019ve said everything I wanted to say by now. It\u2019s time to find out whose name will be engraved for the very first time on this trophy. In a sort of pleasing symmetry, both these countries hold a single World Cup trophy already from the men\u2019s game, so one of them will be able to perfectly align their crests: with that single glorious star, floating above it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Good luck, buena suerte. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The It\u2019s-coming-home-ometer: 9 BOXPARKs packed with shirking workers at 11am out of 10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Alright you lot. It\u2019s come to this. 172 teams. 567 matches. 2,304 goals. It\u2019s easy to forget that the World Cup is just the ultimate culmination of a much longer, more gruelling qualifying competition covering all six federations and up to two years in length. But come Sunday, we reach the speartip. 2 teams. 1 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"WB4WB4WP_MODE":"","WB4WP_PAGE_SCRIPTS":"","WB4WP_PAGE_STYLES":"","WB4WP_PAGE_FONTS":"","WB4WP_PAGE_HEADER":"","WB4WP_PAGE_FOOTER":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8,20,21],"class_list":["post-94","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-football","tag-womens-world-cup","tag-wwc2023"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsthoughtsoughts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsthoughtsoughts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsthoughtsoughts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsthoughtsoughts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsthoughtsoughts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=94"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sportsthoughtsoughts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95,"href":"https:\/\/sportsthoughtsoughts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94\/revisions\/95"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsthoughtsoughts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=94"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsthoughtsoughts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=94"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsthoughtsoughts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=94"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n