By ANNE M. PETERSON (AP Sports Writer)
SYDNEY (AP) — Spain wished to rejoice its first Women’s World Cup trophy, not dredge up the turmoil that surrounded the staff.
Olga Carmona scored within the first half and Spain held on for a 1-0 victory over England on Sunday to cap the month-long match.
The victory made La Roja the primary staff to carry the under-17, under-20 and senior world titles on the identical time. Spain is the fifth winner in 9 editions of the Women’s World Cup and joined Germany as the one two nations to win each the lads’s and ladies’s titles.
At the ultimate whistle the Spanish gamers piled on one another in entrance of their purpose. They have been nonetheless dancing on the sphere till the trophy displays, the place they kissed the trophy and raised their arms triumphantly as golden glitter fell from above.
“We’ve suffered a lot throughout the past 12 months but I think everything has a reason to be. This has made us a stronger team,” Carmona stated. “And it’s really incredible. I don’t know just why Spain is the world champions, but I think that we deserved it.”
The Lionesses have been making an attempt to carry a World Cup again to England for the primary time for the reason that males received it in 1966. The wait will go on.
“At first you feel like you failed with not winning,” England captain Millie Bright stated. “I think in a couple of weeks and it settles, (we) will be really, really proud.”
In an open sport that includes a number of probabilities for each groups, Carmona’s left-foot strike within the twenty ninth minute — ending off a fast-breaking counterattack after England’s Lucy Bronze misplaced possession — remained the one purpose.
Carmona additionally scored the game-winner within the 89th minute of Spain’s 2-1 semifinal victory over Sweden, turning into the primary participant since Carli Lloyd in 2015 to attain in a World Cup semifinal and closing.
Spain had an opportunity to double the lead within the 68th after a VAR assessment awarded a penalty for Keira Walsh’s handball, however Jenni Hermoso’s penalty try was saved by Mary Earps.
Spain’s victory comes regardless of a near-mutiny by gamers final 12 months. Fifteen gamers stated they have been stepping away from the nationwide staff for his or her psychological well being whereas additionally calling for a extra skilled surroundings.
Three of these gamers — Ona Batlle, Aitana Bonmatí and Mariona Caldentey — reconciled with the federation and have been on the World Cup.
The victory was additionally a little bit of redemption for La Roja, which fell to England 2-1 within the quarterfinals of the European Championship final 12 months. England went on to win the Euros on residence soil.
“I think all of us, we felt that this team had something special,” Carmona stated. “I imagine that we’ve proven this on the sphere, we’ve proven this within the group stage, within the knockout stage. We’ve been preventing till the tip. We by no means stopped.
“Last year was different, but football gives you second chances What better chance than in a World Cup final and to be able to call ourselves world champion.”
Spain grew over the course of the match. After a 4-0 loss to Japan within the group stage, Spain changed Misa Rodriguez with Cata Coll in purpose. La Roja rebounded rapidly by trouncing Switzerland 5-1 to kick off the knockout spherical and constructed from there.
“When we found out that we had England in the final, we analyzed them and saw how they played,” Bonmati stated. “We prepared it well, we came out confident of what we were doing, of our game, of our fight, of our dedication.”
England had momentum going into the match after successful the Euros, however three of the staff’s greatest gamers, captain Leah Williamson, Fran Kirby and Beth Mead, all had knee accidents that saved them off the World Cup squad.
Sarina Wiegman was the primary coach to take her groups to back-to-back World Cup title matches. She led the Netherlands to the ultimate in 2019, however fell 2-0 to the United States. She’s now 0-2 within the championship match.
One of England’s greatest probabilities was within the sixteenth when Lauren Hemp’s blast caromed off the crossbar. A minute later, Salma Paralluelo raced towards purpose however couldn’t get a clear shot and Earps stopped Alba Redondo’s try within the scramble in entrance of the web.
England was coming off a 3-1 victory over host Australia within the semifinal. Lauren James, who was the staff’s high scorer with three targets and three assists, was compelled to sit down out two matches after being suspended for stomping on Nigeria’s Michelle Alozie to open the knockout stage.
While James was out there for the ultimate, Wiegman began Ella Toone and used the Chelsea winger as a second-half substitute in a double change to spark the assault.
Spain coach Jorge Vilda began 19-year-old Paralluelo, who scored the breakthrough purpose for Spain in opposition to Sweden, and the game-winner in additional time over the Netherlands within the quarterfinal. Those efforts helped her win the younger participant of the match award. Earps received the Golden Glove for greatest goalkeeper and Bonmati received the Golden Ball for greatest participant of World Cup.
Vilda had a problem in working round two-time Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas, who was nonetheless working her manner again from a torn ACL final 12 months. For the ultimate, Putellas was on the bench at first.
Putellas went into the sport with 15 seconds left in regulation, however there have been 13 minutes of stoppage time. After the match Putellas was in tears as her teammates danced in entrance of the flag-waving followers behind the staff’s bench.
There have been 75,784 followers on the closing at Stadium Australia, together with tennis nice Billie Jean King, rising the document attendance for the match to greater than 1.975 million.
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AP World Cup protection: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-womens-world-cup
Source: www.bostonherald.com”