England beat Australia 3-1 in the Women's World Cup semi-finals; Ella Toone, Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo were on target for the Lionesses; Sarina Wiegman has guided a team to another major tournament final; England will face Spain in the final on Sunday; kick-off 11am
Thursday 17 August 2023 16:51, UK
England manager Sarina Wiegman has described reaching the Women's World Cup final as "living in a fairy tale" after guiding the Lionesses past Australia.
Goals from Ella Toone, Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo saw England win 3-1 at Stadium Australia, reaching a second major final in successive summers.
Individually, it represents a fourth successive tournament final for Wiegman. She led the Netherlands to the Euro 2017 title and 2019 World Cup final, as well as last summer's Euro 2022 victory.
Speaking after an enthralling semi-final, Wiegman told BBC Sport: "We achieved the final! It's unbelievable, it feels like we won [the tournament] which we didn't, we just won this game - in an incredible stadium, an away game, the way we played - it was a hard game, but we found a way to win again.
"I just said to [assistant manager] Arjan, having the chance as a coach or a player to make it to two finals is really special. I never take anything for granted, but it's like I'm living in a fairytale or something."
After a shaky start, England have grown into the tournament and put in a professional display to see off Australia as they showed a ruthless streak that had been lacking in some previous games - a quality that did not fall under the radar of the Lionesses boss.
"We've seen that we can adapt to situations we've never been in before and players can translate what we want to do to the pitch well. That comes with experience and a lot of intelligence."
However, the Lionesses did see their defences breached by a sensational strike from Sam Kerr, who returned to the Matildas XI after much speculation following an injury.
Wiegman added: "People have been talking about ruthlessness all the time, in this team there is ruthlessness, up front or in defence. We really want to keep the ball out of the net and we want to win.
"We stick together, we stick to the plan, and it worked again.
"Australia have had an incredible tournament, they grew into the tournament. They had some setbacks, they had to win their last group-stage game and then they got better and better.
"Sam Kerr came back, we saw today why she is the star of the team, but they are really tough to play against as a team too.
"I can hardly describe how proud I am of the team, and how they've adapted - before the tournament, during the tournament and during this game, how we came through and found a way to win is incredible.
"But tomorrow I'm just going to prepare for Spain! We just want to win the final."
Rachel Daly hit back at some of England's critics, who called for more goals after two grinding wins against Haiti and Denmark in the group stages.
But the Lionesses wing-back said the team always had an inner belief and have grown into the tournament.
She told Sky Sports News: "I'm delighted. It shows the absolute resilience and character of this squad. It was a tough game tonight, like our previous games. There was a lot of criticism early doors about England only winning 1-0 against Haiti and Denmark, but looking back, they weren't so bad after all, were they?
"But we're growing into the tournament, we've got one more to go, the biggest one, but we've got to enjoy it tonight and go again on Sunday.
"The inner belief we have in this team is frightening. We don't tend to listen to the outside noise and it proved tonight, with the atmosphere.
"Credit to Australia and the support, it's been fantastic, but as a team, we've got that inner belief. We know we're going to grow and come into this tournament and develop in each game and we showed that tonight.
"There's one more to go, we can't get ahead of ourselves. It's a massive game."
Perhaps the most deserving member of England's squad to reach the final, Lucy Bronze has suffered defeat in the previous two World Cup semi-finals, as well as the final four of Euro 2017 against Wiegman's Netherlands.
When asked how it felt to reach to a World Cup final, she told Sky Sports News: "Finally! There's a lot of emotions right now after such heartache in previous semi-finals.
"I don't know many players who have had to suffer semi-finals like myself and Alex [Greenwood] have had to go through. But to finally have got over that hurdle and to be in the final, I have no words.
"The stadium and the fans were incredible. After Sam Kerr scored that goal, it erupted and the next 10 minutes, the sound was deafening.
"Sarina said it was going to be loud, the Colombia game was loud as well, but nothing is louder than Wembley and we've played there a few times so we were well prepared for an atmosphere like that, although it was against us. But it's all part of the game, it made it more exciting."
Of course, Bronze will know many of the Spain team well, playing her club football at Barcelona, but says undefeated England will be confident heading into Sunday's match.
"It's going to be a good game. I started jumping at the end and Sarina said 'stop jumping, we need to prepare for the next game'.
"We're focused on recovering for that game, we know it'll be a tough game. Spain have been fantastic at this tournament, although they suffered a defeat so we're the only team still standing without a loss.
"We'll be confident going into the game, as will Spain."
England captain Millie Bright was given the unenviable task of marking Australia captain Sam Kerr on Wednesday. She scored a sublime goal as a reply for the Matildas, but also missed two late chances.
Bright paid tribute to her Chelsea teammate, who was wearing Kerr's shirt while telling Sky Sports News: "Sam was the enemy tonight, but she's a good friend of mine. I'm gutted for her but ultimately, my head is obviously with England.
"I have a huge amount of respect for her, I've wanted her shirt for a long time. I'm proud to have played against her. She's very hard to keep quiet, you have to keep your eye on her and if you don't, it's in the back of the net. She really tested us tonight. As a nation, we're respectful of our opponents, but we always get the job done."
Bright will now lead the Lionesses out in their first World Cup final on Sunday, adding: "It's crazy. It's something that we've dreamed of for so long and now we've put ourselves in a position where we've got a chance to go out and play in that final.
"As a player, I think I do that after the tournament has finished. We're in such a strong mindset where you're a little bit tunnel vision when it comes to tournaments.
"It's almost rest, recover repeat and go again. We'll celebrate with friends and family tonight and we have to take in these moments, you have to take them in because they don't happen often.
"But then it's straight back onto business, head down and get grafting."
It took fives games and 62 minutes for Sam Kerr to finally make her mark in this Women's World Cup, a stunning strike in the semi-final no less.
But superstars are the hardest on themselves, and after missing the chance to equalise again ahead of Russo's goal, Kerr had to contend with her immediate disappointment post-match.
"All I can feel is disappointment right now," said Kerr.
"I can't blame it all on myself but it's hard not to feel bad right now. I have to think of all the things the team have done, and I have done to be where we are now.
"That's kind of the only thing keeping me smiling right now, the fact that we inspired a nation, everyone's gotten behind us, the tournament has been amazing.
"I think for us, hopefully this has been life-changing for women's football in Australia.
"If you bring the product to the show, we've proven people will come out and support it. Now it is time for funding and all of that stuff to be invested in the game because we've shown we can play the game."
"A game of football in tournament football, I've said it before, it takes one moment and England were much more clinical than we were in the finishing tonight," said Australia head coach Tony Gustavsson.
"What I said to the team in the huddle [after the match], I said, we promised ourselves to leave everything out there and every single player did and I think that's why the fans thanked them.
"But then I said that we have no time to dwell on this. We have extremely limited time and if we get too emotionally dragged down with this one, we will have no chance in the bronze medal game, so we need to be strong now.
"We're very disappointed at the loss but hopefully we won something else. We won the heart and the passion for this game in this country, but I agree with the players. This is not the end of something, this needs to be the start of something."
England will play Spain in the Women's World Cup final on Sunday in Sydney with kick-off at 11am. Australia will face Sweden in the third-place play-off in Brisbane on Saturday with kick-off at 9am.
