England will lock horns with Spain in the final of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 on Sunday at Stadium Australian in Sydney.
A sell-out crowd at Stadium Australia is expected considering that this mega event has been the best-attended in Women´s World Cup history.
Both teams have met 11 times in international matches in the past with England winning six of those matches. Spain have tasted victory just twice, meanwhile three matches ended in a draw.
The last time these two teams met was in the quarter-final of Women’s European Championship in 2022 at the Falmer Stadium in Brighton, England. The home side won that clash 2-1 courtesy goals by Ella Toone and Georgia Stanway. England went on to win the tournament as well after beating Germany in the final for their first major title.
It must be noted that Spain beat Sweden 2-1 in the first semi-final with all three goals coming in the last 10 minutes of the match. Meanwhile, England beat co-hosts Australia 3-1 in the other last four clash.
Sarina Wiegman´s England came into the World Cup as one of the favourites but, like Spain, they had never reached the World Cup final before.
Wiegman has won the Euros with her native Netherlands and then repeating the feat with England.
The players consider her calm but direct, Wiegman took the Dutch to the World Cup final four years ago, where they suffered a 2-0 defeat to the United States.
"Having the chance as a coach or a player to make it to two finals is really special," the 53-year-old said.
"I never take anything for granted, but it´s like I´m living in a fairytale or something."
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, is now on the cusp of World Cup glory.
Vilda said that the turmoil that could have destroyed their World Cup campaign "made all of us stronger".
"Now we can file it away and put it behind us and think about the future, and think that we deserve to be where we are," he said.
