England Women vs Brazil Women. Women's CONMEBOL/UEFA Finalissima.
Wembley StadiumAttendance83,132.
England Women win 4-2 on penalties.
Match report as Ella Toone slots home in the 23rd minute; Andressa Alves scores equaliser in the 93rd minute; Chloe Kelly scores the winning penalty; England are now 30 games unbeaten under Sarina Wiegman and face Australia on Tuesday evening
Friday 7 April 2023 10:59, UK
Chloe Kelly was England's winning goalscorer once again as the Lionesses beat Brazil 4-2 on penalties in the inaugural Women's Finalissima, having drawn 1-1 in normal time.
Toone's 23rd-minute strike looked to have decided the result in front of over 83,000 fans at Wembley, but a fumbled save from Mary Earps allowed Andressa Alves to slot home with only minutes to play, taking the game to spot-kicks.
Tamires and Brazil captain Rafaelle Souza both missed their penalties - as did Toone for England - but Euro 2022-winning goalscorer Kelly did it again for the Lionesses as she coolly sealed the winning penalty.
England are now 30 matches unbeaten under Sarina Wiegman and won their first penalty shootout, adding the Finalissima to their Euro 2022 and Arnold Clark Cup trophies already in their rapidly-expanding cabinet.
Discussing the penalties, Wiegman told Sky Sports News: "We said 'we have to do a job here' and we were prepared. Before the Euros, we trained it a lot, we knew the plans. Now, we had to execute it.
"We had a circle and talked about the sequence we were going to take them and the players did really good and Mary (Earps) did well as well.
"It shows the team has resilience, we know the next step and we can't change what happens anymore so you have to move on. And they did that brilliantly."
It was a slow start from both sides, but England saw the better play. Lucy Bronze forced a superb save from Lele early on with a fierce strike from range. Then Geyse had Brazil's first shot of the game but it was blocked by Jess Carter
But in the 22nd minute, England took a deserved lead. It was sublime play that saw Bronze in down the left wing before cutting the ball back for an unmarked Toone. The Man Utd striker then hit home low and hard for yet another Wembley goal.
England thought they had scored a second soon after, but Lauren James' well-taken effort was rightly ruled for offside. Tamires too was flagged as her effort was palmed away by Earps. Lele also needed to be alert to late first-half shots from Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo.
Brazil made two half-time substitutions, switching to a 4-2-3-1 formation, and dominated the first 20 minutes of the second period. Just before the hour, an unmarked Andressa made horrible contract with a Geyse cross, bobbling the ball wide.
Earps was then called into a sensational save from Geyse's thunderbolt of a shot. The England No1 leaped acrobatically with one hand to palm the ball onto the top of the crossbar and behind for a corner.
England came through Brazil's period of pressure - Georgia Stanway forcing a fine save from Lele midway through the second half - but a spill from Earps late on saw Andressa smuggle the ball home from close range.
It sent the game straight to a penalty shootout - the first test of its kind under Wiegman. But the Lionesses stood up to the challenge, with Stanway, Rachel Daly and Alex Greenwood all scoring their efforts, before Kelly slotted home the decisive spot-kick.
England manager Sarina Wiegman to ITV Sport:
"An incredible atmosphere again. That will never be normal for me. I think it was a great game, two different phases, first half and second half.
"Great learning. Lots of learning from us in preparation for the World Cup. The learning thing is nice but we really wanted to win this one too.
"Brazil played two different formations. In the first half, we played very well. I think we should have scored a couple of more goals.
"Then Brazil switched to 4-4-2 because that's what they're used to. They pressed a lot higher and we had a lot of problems to get out of their press. That was a struggle, but it's good for us."
On going 30 matches unbeaten: "I feel privileged. I'm very happy working here. Such an incredible group. The team is so committed, they want to learn every day.
On whether she is happy where the team are ahead of the World Cup: "I'm happy. I think the first half was really good but we were challenged a lot in possession in the second half. I am happy, it is good that we have this information. We will take it from here, we have a game on Tuesday and then we will be ready."
Former England captain Faye White on Sky Sports News:
"What a test that is. When they look back that is perfect preparation. Obviously, you want them to win the game outright but to have that pressure, it means a lot for these players.
"I was expecting Leah Williamson to be one of the penalty takers, but when you look through the names we are blessed with some good penalty takers."
Asked how much confidence this will give England, White added: "It's huge for them. Every hurdle that's been put up in front of this team they are coping, they're adjusting.
"In the second period, a different Brazil came out and they took a while to get used to that but if you'd just gone through in the World Cup on penalties that would give you massive confidence.
"To have that preparation and that memory in their bank going into a World Cup, saying 'We did that at Wembley in front of 83,000 against a good Brazilian team'.
"You always as a player refer back to those good positive moments in your career to give you that belief that you can go again and go into the next challenge.
"It's another great challenge which has been passed by this team."
England are next in action on April 11 when they take on World Cup co-hosts Australia at Brentford's Gtech Stadium, kick-off 7.45pm.
The group stage will begin on July 20 and run over a two-week period finishing on August 3 and see group winners and runners-up progress to the round of 16, which takes place from August 5 to August 8.
The quarter-finals, which will be held in Wellington, Auckland, Brisbane and Sydney, are scheduled for August 11 and 12.
The first semi-final will then be played on August 15 in Auckland, with the other semi-final taking place on August 16 at the Accor Stadium in Sydney, which will then host the final on August 20.
A third-place play-off will be played the day before the final on August 19 in Brisbane.
