Ella Toone gave England the lead early on, but Sam Kerr quickly pulled them even. It wasn’t until Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo scored that England advanced to the final.
The damage was done late in the game in Sydney by Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo as England crushed Australia 3-1 to get to the Women’s World Cup final against Spain.
The European champions made no mistakes this time to get to the final for the first time after the Lionesses twice faltered at the same level.
With a third-place result at their previous World Cup, England had been in this situation twice before, losing 2-1 on both occasion.
However, coach Sarina Wiegman guided them to the European championship on home soil the previous year, and captain Millie Bright claimed before the game that they were now more equipped to handle high-stress games.
They showed their tenacity in front of a boisterous and enthusiastic crowd at Stadium Australia, successfully drowning out the clamour to quiet a waiting home nation.
Since this was the only team to accomplish so in 38 games since Wiegman took control, the victory was all the more sweeter coming against an opponent who had defeated them 2-0 in a friendly in April.
Australia played their finest World Cup ever despite losing, and they still have a third-place playoff match against Sweden on Saturday.
As soon as Kerr was back in the lineup, Australian coach Tony Gustavsson substituted Clare Polkinghorne for the sick Alanna Kennedy, moving Emily van Egmond to the bench.
