Spain beat England 1-0 in the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 final at the Stadium Australia in Sydney and won the title for the first time in history.
Olga Carmona scored the only goal of the match in the 29th minute of the first half and put her side in a comfortable position.
Aged 23 years and 69 days, Olga Carmona is the second-youngest player to score in both the semi-final and final of a single edition of a FIFA Women's World Cup tournament, behind only United States’ Alex Morgan in 2011 (22y 15d).
The tournament was a massive success in terms of crowd attendance as nearly two million fans passed through the gates in nine host cities after Sunday's final crowd of 75,784 is added to the tally.
It must be noted that more than 1.1. million fans came to the stadiums for 52 matches, with an average crowd of 21,756, during the last Women's World Cup in France four years ago.
After taking the lead in the first half, the Spaniards did not hold back and kept on playing an attacking game which did not give much room to the English players to find the rhythm.
Spain dominated with the ball with 58 percent possession and also attempted more shots than their opponents.
In the second half, Spain had their chances but Mary Earps put on an excellent display with the gloves.
In the 68th minute, after a two-minute review by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR and the match referee, a penalty was awarded to Spain.
Spain’s experienced striker Jennifer Hermoso — all-time top-scorer for her country — stepped inside the box to take the penalty and double her team’s lead but her low shot to the bottom right corner was stopped by Earps.
After the penalty miss, the Lionesses tried to make it 1-1 but La Roja were organised at the back as they only allowed three shots on target.
After the end of the normal 90 minutes, 13 additional minutes were added but the score remained the same and Spain were crowned champions.
Spain became the fifth team to win the Women’s World Cup, after USA (4), Germany (2), Norway (1), and Japan (1). Prior to this year’s edition, they had only ever won one match at the tournament.
Spain were embroiled in a controversy last year when 15 players said that they no longer wanted to be considered for selection due to coach Jorge Vilda’s strict personality.
However, the Spanish side, despite missing 12 of those 15 players, has achieved World Cup glory.
