England are the first women’s final champions in the final, beating Brazil on penalties at Wembley on Thursday. Just like in last year’s EC Final, Chloe Kelly scored the decisive goal.
More than 83,000 spectators were in the stadium when European champions England faced off against Copa America champions Brazil in London on Thursday.
Ella Ton put England ahead after 20 minutes, but three minutes into extra time a goalkeeping error ensured Andressa Alves da Silva could level at 1-1.
No extra time was played on Thursday, and so the match had to be decided in a penalty shootout
There, Toone missed England’s second try, but it was leveled when Tamiris Gomez missed Brazil’s subsequent penalty. Then captain Rafael Souza missed and when England scored in all their last tries they could celebrate victory.
Last summer, the Finalissima concept was brought to life. It is a match between the EC title winner and the South American champion. On the men’s side, Argentina beat Italy 3-0. On Thursday, the women’s version was staged for the first time.
There England became historic as the first winners.
England won the European spot last year on home soil. On the other hand, Brazil beat Colombia 1-0 in the Copa America final. Later this year, both teams will take part in the World Cup finals in Australia and New Zealand.
England dominated the game at Wembley and put Brazil goalkeeper Letizia to the test early on, but the last chance came too late.
The goal came after 22 minutes. England played beautiful football and eventually Lucy Bronze got the ball over the edge. Then the Barcelona full-back found Toone with a wonderful pass, and the Manchester United player fired the ball into the net.
In the 29th minute, Lauren James put the ball in the goal, but it was ruled out for offside. England clearly had the upper hand in terms of play in the first half, but that would change after the break.
Brazil made two substitutions in the first half and came out stronger in the second half. They created great chances, but Geyse couldn’t top Manchester United’s Marie Erbis in the England cage.
The Barcelona striker came up with several chances, but England escaped in a panic. After three minutes of overtime they succeeded little out of nowhere. Erbes lost a cross from his hands and the ball ended up with substitute Andressa, who kicked the ball into the goal.
The match was then decided by a penalty shootout, which England won. The final, decisive penalty kick was scored by Chloe Kelly. She was also the winner of the match when England beat Germany 2-1 and won European place last summer.
Sundhage was very much looking forward to Thursday’s match.
– In my time, we didn’t have an audience at all. Women’s soccer has had an amazing journey. When I was a kid, there were no players to look up to. She told the BBC that now you know the names of many good players who have become great role models.
“Infuriatingly humble internet trailblazer. Twitter buff. Beer nerd. Bacon scholar. Coffee practitioner.”
