….Beat England By a Lone Goal in Final.
…Spanish Aitana Bonmati is Best Player of the Tournament.
La Roja Babes of Spain held on grimly to a first half goal to win their first women’s world cup title with an impressive lone goal victory.
Spain is the 5th team to lift the women’s world cup trophy after USA that won four times; Germany won twice while both Norway and Japan won once each. Spain won their first medal in the competition while England made a podium finish of 3rd place at the 2015 edition so it is their second medal.
It is also the first time; The Three Lionesses of England who were so devastated losing was clinching the Silver medal. English Coach, Saria Wiegman is the first coach to finish as Runners-up in two FIFA world cup tournaments having been beaten in the finals by USA while in charge of Netherlands in 2019.
Captain fantastic, Left Full Back for Real Madrid, Olga Carmona who scored in the 2-1 bashing of Sweden got a pass from overlapping Caldentey when Bronze of England made a mistake in defence and Carmona drove a low shot into the bottom-right corner in the 29th minute for the opening goal of the finals and Spain leads England 1-0.
Spain had an opportunity to make it 2-0 when Walsh handled the ball in the box and almost every Spanish fellow in the stadium including the bench protested. A VAR check gave the penalty to Spain but Jennifer Hermoso shocked everybody in the 66th minute as she kicked it straight into the hands of the English Goalkeeper who clutched the ball like a baby and mocked the Spain team with her tongue sticking acts.
Spain bagged two awards. Barcelonala’s player and Spain’s Aitana Bonmati was declared the BEST PLAYER of the tournament. The YOUNGEST TALENTED PLAYER of the tournament is 19 year old Barcelona Player, Salma Paralleuelo who scored two goals at the tournament against Sweden and Netherlands.
GOLDEN BOOTH for highest scorer went to Hinata Miyazawa of Japan with her 5 goals while Japan won the FAIRPLAY TROPHY. GOLDEN GLOVES AWARD for best Goalkeeper went to Manchester United and England’s Mary Earps.
England in their first match narrowly beat Haiti 1-0 on 22nd July; won against Denmark by the same margin on 28th July and on 1st August dazed China 6-1. England beat Super Falcons of Nigeria 4-2 on penalties after a goalless full time to move on to the quarterfinal from the round of 16. England spiked the Power-Puff Girls of Columbia 2-1 in the quarterfinal. The Three Lionesses moved majestically into the finals with a 3-1 drubbing of Hosts Australia in the semifinals.
England is in their 6th knockout stages. The country won two of their round of 16 matches, 2-1 against Norway in 2015 and 3-0 over Cameroon in 2019.
England was at the world cup six times and her best was a Bronze at Canada 2015 when she lost the semifinal 1-2 to Japan and beat France 1-0 in the 3rd place match. She had three quarterfinal appearances in Sweden 1995 when she was beaten by Germany 3-0; at China 2007 USA pounded England 3-0 and Germany came again while hosting in 2011 to beat England 4-3 on penalties when AET was 1-1.
Spain beat Costa Rica 3-0 on 21st July; refused Zambia freedom via 5-0 drubbing on 26th July and surprisingly lost to high tech, Japan 4-0 on 31st July. For the knockout stages, Spain hit Switzerland 5-1 in the round of 16. Spain is current highest team scorers with 15 goals in this tournament and has conceded 5 goals now. She defeated Netherlands 2-1 in the quarterfinal and also hit Sweden 2-1 in the semifinal.
Spain on 16th February 1983 defeated Netherlands 1-0; but Ned won 2-1 on 16th November 1983; at the 2010 world cup played 11th July Spain won 1-0; the highest win for Netherlands against Spain was at the 2014 world cup played 3rd June with a 5-1 win; Ned was superior again on 31st March 2015 beating Spain 2-0 and on 11th November 2020 they played 1-1 draw.
The Spanish side had beaten Slovenia 17-0 at Palamos on 20th March 1994 but the country suffered heavy defeat from Sweden 0-8 on home ground at Ganalia, Spain on 2nd June 1996. The Spanish women are making their 3rd appearance at the world cup finals. Their best performance was getting into the Round of 16 at Canada 2019 where USA beat the country 2-1 at Reins on 24th June.
Spain and England are meeting for the first time at the world cup. England has only lost two of her last 13 games in all competitions against Spain as she won 7 and drew 4 with their most recent encounter at the quarterfinal stage where England won 2-1 on her way to lifting the trophy.
On 7th February 2007 Spain won 1-0; also won 2-0 on 11th February 2009; on 12th November 2011 England piped Spain 1-0; Spain won 2-0 on 13th November 2015 but they played 2-2 draw on 15th November 2016. Twice they met in 2018 on 8th September England lost to Spain at home1-2 and 15th October England won 3-2 in Spain.
Excluding the inaugural edition in 1991, this will be the first world cup final to see both sides make their first ever final appearance at the world cup. It is also the third final appearance between teams from Europe after the Norway versus Germany match of 1995 won by Norway 2-0 and the Germany versus Sweden match that ended 2-1 in favor of Germany in 2003.
Spain conceded 7 goals at this tournament which is the highest by a team to reach the final since Norway in 1991 that conceded 8 goals on the way to the final.
Eniola Olatunji reporting for Patmos Media Line.
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