After a month of captivating action, the winners of the Women’s World Cup 2023 will be decided on Sunday when Spain Women face England Women in the final in Sydney.
Spain are looking to win their first major trophy, while both nations are hoping to lift the Women’s World Cup for the very first time.
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Spain have experienced a memorable journey through the tournament, which got off to a perfect start with comfortable victories over Costa Rica and Zambia.
However, a heavy 4-0 defeat to Japan in their final group game suggested that this Spain side would struggle to make a deep run into the competition.
They managed to pick themselves up from that disappointing result to produce a dominant performance in their last-16 tie against Switzerland, as they eased to a 5-1 victory which represented their first-ever win in the knockout rounds of a major tournament.
The European giants had to show their fighting qualities in the quarter-final against the Netherlands after conceding a stoppage-time equaliser, before Salma Paralluelo produced the winning goal in extra time, setting up a difficult semi-final encounter against a Sweden side that had beaten former winners USA and Japan.
Spain looked to have spurned a golden opportunity to progress when Rebecka Blomqvist cancelled out Paralluelo’s opener, but La Roja quickly retook the lead through Olga Carmona, who fired her country into the final with a sublime long-distance strike.
Having scored 17 goals at the Women’s World Cup, La Roja are the leading scorers at the tournament, proving that they have the firepower to trouble the European champions.
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England are preparing to appear in a major tournament final for the second year running after following their European Championship success with a memorable run in Australia & New Zealand.
After picking up maximum points in the group stage, the Lionesses were pushed all the way in their last 16 with Nigeria, with England holding their nerve to win the subsequent penalty shootout and book their place in the quarter-final.
Goals from Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo guided the European champions to a 2-1 win over Colombia, setting up a difficult semi-final tie against the tournament co-hosts Australia.
England took a narrow lead into half time thanks to Ella Toone‘s first goal of the competition, but Sam Kerr stopped the Lionesses in their tracks when she produced a long-range thunderbolt to level the contest just after the hour mark.
The Lionesses demonstrated the grit and determination that had earned them a place in the semi-final to retake the lead through Hemp, before Russo found the net late on to wrap up a 3-1 win and send England through to their first-ever Women’s World Cup final.
Sarina Wiegman has now reached four consecutive major tournament finals, but she will be looking to avoid a repeat of the 2019 final when her Netherlands side were beaten 2-0 by the USA.
England may be able to draw inspiration from the fact that they edged out Spain over 120 minutes to win last year’s meeting in the European Championships quarter-final.
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Despite struggling with knocks, Alba Redondo and Paralluelo are expected to be fit for the final, and the latter could be utilised as an impact substitute for the third consecutive game.
Oihane Hernandez, who started in the last 16 and quarter-finals, will return from suspension for the final, but she may have to settle for a place on the bench after Carmona impressed in the absence of the new Real Madrid summer signing.
After dropping to the bench for the semi-final, Esther Gonzalez is in contention to return to the Spanish forward line.
As for the reigning European champions, Wiegman will have to decide whether to start Toone or Lauren James, who is available after serving a two-match suspension.
After scoring in the semi-final win over Australia, Toone is likely to be given the nod, which would see England name an unchanged lineup.
Russo and Hemp have now scored three goals apiece in the tournament, and the dangerous front two will look to add to their respective tallies in the final.
Spain Women possible starting lineup:
Coll; Batlle, Paredes, Codina, Carmona; Bonmati, Abelleira, Hermoso; Redondo, Caldentey, Gonzalez
England Women possible starting lineup:
Earps; Carter, Bright, Greenwood; Bronze, Stanway, Walsh, Daly; Toone; Russo, Hemp
We think that Spain have enough quality in the final third to unlock the sturdy England defence, but the Lionesses boast their own attacking threat, and we believe that they will draw upon their experience from last year’s European Championship final win over Germany to edge out La Roja and lift the Women’s World Cup.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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