In preparation for the biggest game of their lives, the World Cup Final against Spain, the Lionesses don their boots for a training session.
The Women’s World Cup Final will be played on Sunday in Sydney between England and Spain.
Before the game, Sarina Wiegman’s squad has been attempting to win over the boss.
The Lionesses of England trained today in preparation for what could be the biggest match of their lives when they face Spain in the World Cup Final on Sunday.
The players had the chance to impress the manager and earn a spot among the 11 who will line up on Sunday as Sarina Wiegman put the team through its paces.
Since West Germany was defeated at Wembley Stadium in 1966 by Alf Ramsey’s team, England has entered the game as the favorite to win the Fifa World Cup.
The English senior women’s team has never advanced to the World Cup final, despite the fact that a large portion of the squad was a part of the group that won the UEFA European Women’s Championship at Wembley Stadium in July 2022.
While training has gone smoothly on the field, there has been controversy in England since Prince William, the Football Association’s president, will not be heading to Sydney this weekend.
In the semifinals, the Lionesses defeated the co-hosts Australia 3-1, and Spain qualified for the championship match by defeating Sweden 2-1.
Both sides are competing in their first final, with Spain having won just one World Cup game prior to this year while England had lost back-to-back semifinal matches in 2015 and 2019.
The Lionesses are undefeated in the competition after winning Group D, while Spain finished second in Group C after losing to Japan 4-0.
Spain is just the second side in World Cup history to advance to the championship game after suffering a setback of four goals or more, Norway having done so in 1991 after suffering a 4-0 loss to China in the tournament’s opening match.
Regardless of the outcome, Europe will finally break its 16-year World Cup drought. Germany last claimed the trophy in 2007, and it has been 20 years since a final between two European countries (Germany vs. Sweden in 2003).
England, the current European champions, is attempting to follow in the footsteps of the aforementioned German squad by accomplishing a historic double after already matching Sarina Wiegman’s 2019 Netherlands team by making it to the final and winning the Euros.
In 25 games at significant international competitions, Wiegman has only suffered one defeat, which came against the United States in the 2019 final of the Netherlands.
Consistency in selection has enabled that exceptional record to be achieved.
England has only used 17 players at the World Cup so far, the joint-fewest of any side to advance to the knockout rounds after starting with the same 11 in every Euro 2022 encounter.
In comparison, only Enith Salon, Spain’s third-choice goalkeeper, has yet to play despite having a 23-player roster.
In addition, Wiegman has utilized her bench much less than Jorge Vilda, her Spanish counterpart, with England making 17 substitutions as opposed to Spain’s 29.
According to statistics, Spain has fared better than England overall at this year’s World Cup.
They tried noticeably more shots (143 to 81), passes (4,137 to 3,605), crosses (214 to 129), and ball progressions (181 to 99) than their final opponents, who only managed to score 13 goals.
Wiegman’s team has depended on their defensive toughness to advance rather than consistently finding the rhythm that propelled them to the Euro 2022 title—when they scored 22 goals in six games.
Spain has proven to be more prone, having allowed seven goals from just 36 shots faced, while England has only allowed three goals from 64 attempts on Mary Earps’ goal.
Following their most recent meeting in the quarterfinals of the Euro 2022 tournament, both teams will be ready for a close contest.
On that occasion, the Lionesses won 2-1, but only after a late comeback.
Spain took a merited lead thanks to Esther Gonzalez before Ella Toone tied the score in the 84th minute and Georgia Stanway won it in extra time.
In the end, Spain had 56% of the possession and had 17 shots compared to the Lionesses’ nine.
It is still the only game in a tournament under Wiegman where England’s opponents had the bulk of the ball.
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