How England beat Australia (2024)

• England to play Spain in Sunday’s Women’s World Cup final
• Ella Toone opened scoring with thunderous strike inside penalty box
• But Kerr levelled the score in the second half with a stunning strike
• Lauren Hemp restored England’s lead before Alessia Russo made sure
• Here’s where you can buy tickets to upcoming matches

• Wiegman's final headache
• England’s aggression, control and resilience
• The Sam Kerr Effect

Read The Athletic's instant analysis of England's famous semi-final victory against Australia below.

And then there were two. Two games, that is.

Firstly, on Saturday, Australia will host Sweden in the third place play-off before the main event on Sunday: The Women's World Cup final between England and Spain.

• Third place play-off – Australia vs Sweden – Lang Park, Brisbane – 6pm local time / 9am BST / 4am ET / 1am PT

• Final – England vs Spain – Stadium Australia, Sydney – 8pm local time / 11am BST / 6am ET / 3am PT

Millie Bright has progressed brilliantly throughout the tournament.

The first game of the Women's World Cup was her first since March after an injury, but she is certainly back to her best now.

She has been able to form an excellent partnership at the back alongside Chelsea team mate Jess Carter and Alex Greenwood with their respective unique skillsets.

Wiegman has put together the perfect defence and has an ideal leader to marshal it.

Rachel Daly came into the Women's World Cup as the WSL Golden Boot winner.

For Aston Villa, she is a striker yet, for England, she has shown how good she is at left wing-back.

She completely nullified the threat of Real Madrid's Hayley Raso and didn't allow Ellie Carpenter to get forward at all. Daly defended proactively throughout the game, while also having the ability to dig in getting several important headers away.

Oh, and she also provided a threat at the other end. A sublime performance.

Alex Greenwood has now created 14 chances at this year's Women's World Cup (including 5 today) — the most by an England player on record (from 2011) at a single edition of the tournament, surpassing the 13 created by Fara Williams in 2015.

And she's doing it from centre-back!

A semi-final victory is worthy of celebration, but the biggest task is yet to come for England.

Sarina Wiegman led the Netherlands to the final in 2019 and, after losing to the USWNT, will know that a lid needs to be put on any premature celebrations.

Next opponents: Spain.

With today's game bringing an end to Lauren James' two-game suspension, she will be available to play in Sunday's final.

However, her inclusion could not be further from guaranteed.

Toone retained her place in midfield today and turned in, by far, her best performance of the 2023 Women's World Cup.

Her inch-perfect opening goal set the wheels in motion for a famous win and it feels incredibly harsh that her position is even being questioned.

That said, James was England's best player in the group stage and there are few teams in the world that could leave her out.

A huge decision awaits Wiegman on Sunday.

It's not often a goal like that from Sam Kerr ends up going unrewarded.

The long-range effort took the slightest of deflections off Bright but Earps wasn't getting close to it regardless. Without a doubt, one of the goals of the tournament.

However, for Kerr, despite her excellent overall performance she will feel there is more that she could have done to get her nation into the final.

Kerr had missed a couple of half chances before the ball dropped to her from a corner in the 80th minute, but her volley somehow missed the target.

A replay of that chance may well haunt her for a long time.

England have big-game players and Alessia Russo is one of them.

Only Ellen White (10) and Fara Williams (8) have scored more goals for England at major women's international tournaments than Alessia Russo (7). An incredible statistic to go along with her sensational finish which helped sign, seal and deliver a World Cup final for England.

The European Championship success of last summer only inspired England to chase the big prize: the Women's World Cup.

"It's a moment that we've wanted for so long," Millie Bright told the BBC. "We had an amazing success last summer but we always knew there was something missing and it's always been the World Cup.

"It's incredible, now, to have that opportunity and, like Less (Russo) said before, the dream's alive."

She also commented on the belief within the group to follow up Euros success with another major final.

"I've said it a million times and I'll continue saying it, the mentality of this group is something I've never seen before," added Bright. "That comes from Sarina (Wiegman) as well with the belief that she gives us within ourselves."

Not the most memorable moment in a fantastic game but, in my mind, undoubtedly the most important moment of the match.

When Sam Kerr drove at the England defence and played in Cortnee Vine, Mary Earps did outstandingly to get a strong hand to the ball.

However, while Earps got the plaudits for the save the ball was bound for the path of Emily van Egmond for a tap in from a few yards, but for Jess Carter's divine intervention.

Carter's anticipation to read the game, get back and flick the ball away was remarkable. If she hadn't done that, Australia would've equalised and a period of extra-time would've loomed large.

By winning today, Wiegman is the first coach to take two nations to a Women's World Cup final and she was ecstatic after the game.

"We have achieved (a place in) the final, it's unbelievable," she said to the BBC. "It feels like we've won it (the tournament) and we haven't. But we won this game at this incredible stadium, an away game. It was, of course, a hard game but we found a way to win.

It was the endeavour of her team at both ends that proved the difference.

"In this team, there's ruthlessness whether it's up front or in defence, we really want to keep the ball out of the net and we really want to win," added Wiegman. "We stick together and we stick to the plan, it worked again!"

Lauren Hemp was simply outstanding for England, especially in the second half.

When she wasn't getting chances in and around the area, she was happy to drop deeper and drift out into wide areas to find space and look to make things happen.

Her goal was a credit to her tenacity, harrying Carpenter when it looked like a lost cause, forcing a mistake and taking her chance so clinically.

Even better than her goal was her assist, carrying the ball 45 yards up the pitch, forcing Hunt to step up. opening the pocket of space for Russo to run into before supplying a perfectly-weighted pass.

There's no better argument than that to keep her place in the line-up for the final.

Russo's goal rubber-stamped England's victory and allowed them to take their collective foot off the gas in the closing stages.

"I'm over the moon," she told the BBC. "Incredible. We've been saying we've been dreaming of the semi(-final) but, now, this is what it's all about. A World Cup final with this group, I'm buzzing.

She was then asked if her and her team mates can go all the way.

"Yeah, why not?" replied Russo. "Spain are going to be even tougher, every single game at this tournament has been of the highest level so we have to be ready.

"We've been dreaming since we were little girls, we're excited, we'll get recovered and then we'll be ready."

Goalkeeper

• Earps: 6 — Commanded her area and managed the game well.

Defenders

• Bronze: 7 — Penned Catley in well and neutralised Foord.
• Carter: 7 — Amazing anticipation to get back and flick the ball away from the path of Van Egmond for a certain equaliser.
• Bright: 7 — The rust from the early stages of the tournament is truly gone.
• Greenwood: 7 — Excellent long-range passing, but disappointing to receive a yellow so early.
• Daly: 8 — Provided a good attacking threat and defended bravely.

Midfielders

• Walsh: 7 — Central to England’s ability to hold the ball, so important transitioning from defence to midfield.
• Stanway: 8 — Passed well in tight areas, brushed off the disappointment of the first half miss and grew into the game.
• Toone: 7 — Picked up good pockets of space and looked to make things happen. Great to see her score after a tough tournament.

Forwards

• Russo: 8 — An excellent assist to set up Toone’s opener and a superb goal to seal England’s place in the final.
• Hemp: 9 — Looked bright, dropping deep and drifting to England’s left side. Supported the team transitioning from midfield to attack well. Earned her goal and set up Russo’s finish beautifully. Player of the match.

Subs

• Kelly: N/A
• Charles: N/A

Goalkeeper

• Arnold: 6 — Hard to hold the goals against her, well beaten by a clinical England.

Defenders

• Carpenter: 4 — Would have been disappointed to stop the first goal and even more disappointed to not stop the second when she should've cleared.
• Hunt: 6 — Lost track of Hemp and Russo more as the game progressed but generally solid.
• Polkinghorne: 6 — Organised and retained possession well.
• Catley: 6 — Got forward more often than in the first half but lacked precision in the final ball.

Midfielders

• Raso: 5 — Wasn’t able to impact the game too heavily, Daly dealt with her superbly.
• Gorry: 7 — Excellent vision, always playing with her head up looking for Kerr’s run.
• Cooney-Cross: 7 — Looked dangerous in possession, very progressive.
• Foord: 6 — Had good energy, at her best when Catley got around her but that didn't happen enough.

Forwards

• Kerr: 8 — Led the line excellently and scored an outstanding goal, should have definitely scored another.
• Fowler: 6 — Grew into the game, drifting around the edge of the area in a similar style to Hemp.

Subs

• Vine: 7 — Brought good energy upon her introduction.
• Van Egmond: N/A
• Chidiac: N/A

Lots of Australia fans have filtered out of the ground already, but plenty have stayed to cheer and applaud their team who, on another day, may well have been heading to their first ever World Cup final.

They've had quite the tournament, from the announcement that Sam Kerr wasn't fit ahead of the opener against Republic of Ireland, looking like they might not make it out of the group after that dramatic defeat against Nigeria, to turning it around to beat Canada 4-0 and then go on to beat Denmark and France in the knockout stages... and THAT penalty shootout.

The co-hosts have done their country proud.

Lucy Bronze has been at the heart of an England team who have had to deal with consecutive semi-final disappointments.

"This is the one thing I've always wanted, to make the final of the World Cup," she told the BBC. "After two semi-final disappointments, I can't believe it."

She was then asked what Wiegman had to say in her post-match huddle on the pitch.

"(She said) that we played the game how she wanted us to, that we were resilient and that we were determined," said Bronze. "I couldn't hear much else that she was saying, to be honest!"