England Lionesses defeated by Spain in Women's World Cup final

Football will unfortunately not be coming home this year, as the Lionesses fall short of World Cup triumph in Australia at the hands of Spain.

In a topsy-turvy game, Spain have came out on top with a narrow 1-0 win thanks to a 29th minute goal from Olga Carmona at Stadium Australia.

The final also saw England goalkeeper Mary Earps save a penalty, but England were unable to capitalise from there.

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The 2023 Women's World Cup, jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand, has certainly been an eventful one for Sarina Wiegman's team.

England progressed through the group stages relatively easily, starting off with a 1-0 win against Haiti during the opening round of fixtures.

Another 1-0 win followed against Denmark on 28 July, while they thumped China 6-1 just three days later.

The knock-out rounds is when things got tough for England though, particularly the round of 16 clash against Nigeria.

After star player Lauren James was shown a red card in the 87th minute, England managed to hold out for a goalless draw after 30 minutes of added time.

Ane Frosaker/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images

And while England fans may fear the 'P' word - yep, penalties - the Lionesses managed to beat Nigeria in a shootout to progress to the Quarter finals.

A tie against Colombia awaited England next, on paper a tougher test than the Nigeria clash.

But as we all know, football is not played on paper - so the Lionesses were going to face a challenge no matter who they were playing, it is a World Cup after all!

Fortunately, the Lionesses managed to go through to the semi-finals thanks to goals from Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo, despite the South American side taking the lead in the first half.

The hosts Australia were next up for England, a tough task in front of a loud Aussie crowd.

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Despite taking a halftime lead through Ella Toone, the Aussies hit back in the second half thanks to a cracker from Sam Kerr.

However, Hemp got onto the scoresheet shortly after, and England's place in the final was confirmed in the 86th minute thanks to Russo.

That set up a date with destiny on Sunday, the Lionesses second major final in the space of just a year.

Whether England came out victorious or not, it was already decided that there would be no bank holiday to mark the momentous occasion.

Topics: Football, Sport, World Cup

Callum Jones

@CallumJ2709