After weeks of drama, upsets, and action, the 2023 Women’s World Cup is down to two teams: Spain and England. In the second and last semifinal on Wednesday, England took on co-host Australia to see who would be joining Spain in the final.
It was a highly anticipated battle as Australia was having a great tournament, but England was the better-ranked team. In the end, the latter proved more important, as the Lionesses took down the Matildas with relative ease, earning a 3-1 victory and punching their ticket to their first-ever World Cup final.
After England’s Ella Toone opened the scoring in the first half, Australia’s Sam Kerr responded with a thunderbolt of an equalizer in the 63rd minute. But then England took over, getting goals from Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo in the span of 15 minutes to seal the deal.
The Lionesses started off the tournament a bit shaky, beating both Haiti and Denmark 1-0 in unconvincing fashion, but a 6-1 win over China brought them back to life a bit.
They barely scraped by Nigeria in the first round of the knockout stage, winning via penalties, and the same can be said of their 2-1 quarterfinal victory over Colombia. But none of that matters now. All that matters is the final.
England should also get a boost heading into their tilt against Spain, as 21-year-old Lauren James will be eligible to rejoin the lineup after her two-game suspension for stomping on Nigeria’s Michelle Alozie.
Let’s see how Twitter reacted to England’s victory over Australia.