England are through to the final of the Women's World Cup 2023 after beating Australia 3-1 in their semi-final clash, with Ella Toone, Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo all scoring for the Lionesses.
England will meet Spain in the Women's World Cup final at Stadium Australia on Sunday, who they themselves beat Sweden 2-1 on Tuesday. Australia, meanwhile, will play Sweden in the third-place play-off on Saturday.
The second semi-final of the tournament started at a high intensity, with both teams having chances in the opening stages of the game.
Australia forward Sam Kerr was denied by Mary Earps after going clean through on goal, though she was later adjudged to have been offside, while Alex Greenwood expertly found Georgia Stanway in the box, but the Bayern Munich midfielder failed to slot the opportunity home.
Australia continued to defend resolutely in the first-half, but that all changed when Ella Toone smashed a thunderbolt into the top corner of Mackenzie Arnold's goal in the 36th minute, opening the scoring in the game.
While England managed to see the first half out 1-0, Sam Kerr proceeded to stun the opposition by scoring an incredible 25-yard strike straight into the top corner. A slight deflection from Millie Bright meant Mary Earps could do nothing to stop the goal going in, but take nothing away from the finish.
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The 1-1 scoreline didn't last long, however. Just eight minutes after finding the net, Australia failed to deal with a long ball from Millie Bright. Ellie Carpenter couldn't clear it after the ball was stuck under feet, allowing Lauren Hemp to steal in and slot it straight past Arnold.
Then, with less than five minutes remaining of normal time, Hemp slotted Alessia Russo through on goal after dribbling half the length of the pitch. Capitalising on the through ball, Russo struck first time into the far corner of the net and past of the reach of Arnold, handing England a 3-1 lead and all but sealing their spot in the World Cup final.
Just a year after winning the European Championships at Wembley, England will play in their first-ever World Cup final against Spain on Sunday. Facing the same opponents they beat 2-1 a.e.t. in the quarter-finals of that aforementioned tournament win, England will head into the game confident.
They haven't lost a single knockout game under Sarina Wiegman since she took charge in September 2021, while Spain were beaten 4-0 by Japan in their third group game.
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Lauren James will be available for the final, after missing the last two games through suspension following her petulant stamp on Nigeria's Michelle Alozie.
Alex Greenwood tells FourFourTwo that England have changed more mentality-wise than ability-wise, with manager Sarina Wiegman imperative to that.
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