Only four teams can claim to be Women’s World Cup champions. In the eight editions held, the United States, Norway, Germany and Japan were crowned the most important tournament in world soccer. but this Sunday 20 AugustThe exclusive group will have a new member when Spain and England play the final of the tournament Accor Stadium to Sydney.
The meeting will start at 8 pm (local time), which is the time Seven o’clock in the morning in Buenos Aires and to Five in the morning from Bogota, Quito and Lima. The match is like all matches since the round of 16. He will get two more if there is a tie in the first 90 minutes.
The responsible judge will be the American thought Tori, 37 years old. The referee had already whistled the semi-final match between England and Australia on Wednesday, so the decision was surprising. Penso was transferred at the time of his appointment as the final World Cup designator.
“When (Pierluigi) Collina (Chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee) lifted the shirt with the names on it and turned it over to show my name, it melted,” Benso said. He added, “It’s been a lot of support for me and all ‘the crew’, that we’re embarking on something innovative that we’ll never forget.”
The Accor Stadium is expected to be full of crowds, in the World Cup tournament which is characterized by a huge attendance for matches. This week FIFA announced it 1.77 million tickets sold For the tournament hosted and attended by Australia and New Zealand 1,734,028 people participated in the first 60 matches.
A meeting between two old acquaintances
England and Spain know each other very well. But even though they played several matches in European Championships, They have never met in a World Cup. In the last five matches, “La Roja” has won only once, while “Las Leonas” has won three times and drawn once.
Spain is looking for revenge. He still remembers the quarter-final match in Falmer, UK. Just over a year ago, on July 20, 2022, the Iberians lost 2-1 to the British. A result that took them out of the tournament in which they expected to reach the final moments.
Also, some football players know each other well because they belong to the same European clubs. This is the case of Lucy Bronze or Keira Walsh who play for FC Barcelona, with almost half of the Spanish national team players participating.
Both teams is an unprecedented finalist: For the first time in their history they managed to qualify for the World Cup.
However, other European teams have already met in a world final: Norway faced Germany in 1995 and the Teutonic team repeated in 2003 when they faced Sweden. Thus, it is the third final of the Women’s World Cup with the participation of two from the old continent.
England, the undefeated European champions
England qualified for the final after beating hosts Australia 3-1 in Sydney. Another game in which they showed favoritism with which they stepped on the lands of the oceans. The team arrived with the momentum of victories by being Euro 2022 champions and also the final champions against Brazil.
lioness They have not lost a match in their entire World Cup journey They equalized in just 90 minutes against Nigeria in the round of 16, but managed to snatch victory from the penalty spot.
England scored 13 goals against Australia and New Zealand. His best scorers are Lauren Hempfrom Manchester City with three goals; Alicia RussoThree from Arsenal as well. like Lauren Jamesfrom Chelsea.
James, one of the Whites’ greatest figures, was sent off specifically in the match against Nigeria for standing on the back of one of the African players, Michel Alouzi. Because of this, he was unable to play the last two matches his team played, however, he had already been given the go-ahead to return to the field of play in the final.
Perhaps that was one of the key statements of the meeting England only conceded three goals against them. A character who talks about the solidity of its defensive lines and the good performance of its goalkeeper. Mary Erbes, from Manchester United. Earps also recorded three unbeaten hurdles at the tournament.
Sarina Wiegmann, twice World Cup finalist
There is no doubt that one of the keys to England’s success is off the field of play. Dutch Sarina Wegman achieves an achievement that no coach has achieved – whether in the women’s or men’s teams -; Take two different teams to two consecutive World Finals.
Wegman, 53, led his country to the 2019 World Cup final in France. On that occasion they lost to the United States 2-0 and came bitterly runners-up. This time with England he wants the result to be different.
The coach will assume her current position in 2021, replacing the previous selector, Phil Neville. The trainer won the “Best” award for the best female trainer on two occasions.
Spain, a world power in a crescendo
Spain qualified for the final after defeating Sweden in the quarter-finals, in a match with a painful goal in the 90th minute that made the score 2-1 in favor of the Iberians.
The La Roja World Cup was marked by a mass phase of ups and downs. Although Spain scored two wins in their first matches (3-0 against Costa Rica and 5-0 against Zambia) they lost an unexpected 4-0 against Japan. a result that cost him leadership of the group and called into question the team’s performance.
However, they managed to recover in the round of 16, beating Switzerland with a comfortable score of 5-1 and eliminating two favorites in the quarter-finals and in the semi-finals – the Netherlands and Sweden, respectively.
La Roja has scored 17 goals in the World Cup: the top scorer is Aetana Bonmati of Barcelona with three goals. Gini Hermoso from Pachucha and Alba Redondo from Levante with three as well. If any of the three can score two goals in the match against England, they can top the list of goalscorers now led by Japan’s Hinata Miyazawa (with five goals).
Spain conceded more goals than England, with seven conceded. However, there was one significant change to the arc. Real Madrid goalkeeper Mesa Rodriguez was substituted for Barcelona’s Kata Cole in the round of 16. Rodriguez conceded four goals in three games, while Cole conceded three.
The performance of the senior women’s team reflects a success also seen in the lower categories of the country. “La Roja” were champions of the U-20 and U-17 World Cups. One of his characters in recent matches, Selma Baralelo, has been part of the achievements. The 19-year-old scored two crucial goals in the quarter-finals and in the semi-finals.
Jorge Vilda, immersed in controversy
The coach of the Spain national team is Jorge Vilda, 42 years old. His leadership caused great controversy, as after the European Cup, 15 of the players declared themselves ineligible and asked for the coach to be sacked.
But the Spanish Football Federation supported the player from Madrid and after the fact that only three players from that group returned to the squad for the World Cup. Among the 23 names that were called up, such as Sandra Banos, Maby Lyon and Patry Guijaro, the columns of Barcelona Feminino, the current champion of the Champions League, did not appear.
In Sydney, everything is in place for two teams to meet, no matter what happens in the final, it has already shown that in-country football operations are essential to international results. England and Spain have two leagues that set the pace for the development of women’s football worldwide.
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