Australia 1-3 England: Lionesses book their place in Women’s World Cup final after Lauren Hemp, Ella Toone and Alessia Russo strike to sink the hosts

• Sarina Wiegman’s England side will play Spain in the Women’s World Cup final
• They secured a 3-1 win over hosts Australia thanks goals from Toone and Hemp 
• WATCH: ‘It’s All Kicking Off’ – Episode 1 – Mail Sport’s brand new football show 
• England vs Australia LIVE: Follow MailOnline’s live blog 

This was supposed to be Australia’s tournament, their chance to reach a World Cup final, their chance for history. England decided that was not how the script was going to be. The Lionesses delivered the performance of their lives to beat the Aussies 3-1 in their own backyard set up a showdown final with Spain.

When Sam Kerr scored her first goal of the tournament to cancel out Ella Toone’s first half strike, the momentum looked to be with the hosts. But this England team does not back down. Lauren Hemp responded eight minutes later to restore the Lionesses’ lead before Alessia Russo finished the job four minutes from time.

England’s journey to the World Cup final has been a two-year journey, since Wiegman took over in 2021. But a key moment came four months ago when the manager suffered her first ever defeat in April at the hands of Tony Gustavsson’s Australia. 

It was arguably the best thing that could have happened to the Lionesses and Wiegman. While she was missing two key defenders in Millie Bright and Alex Greenwood, Wiegman did not have a plan B in that game. 

It was the worst performance of her reign and she knew she needed to come up with a solution should England face Australia in this tournament. Wiegman, as she has done time after time, delivered again.

England’s Lionesses booked their place in the World Cup final after beating Australia 3-1

Lauren Hemp wheeled away in celebration after restoring England’s lead in the match

The Lionesses will take on Spain in the finale after their thrilling win over the hosts

Australia battled hard but, ultimately came up short when facing up against the Lionesses

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The build-up to this semi-final had focused on whether Kerr would make her first start of the tournament. The striker missed all three group stage games after sustaining a calf injury on the eve of the tournament but returned for the knockouts, coming off the bench in the last 16 and the quarter-final. 

Kerr had declared she was fit to start but Gustavsson had remained coy ahead of the game. There was a risk in both options. Starting her meant she may not last 90 minutes. Not starting her meant they risked going behind and bringing her on too late. Gustavsson clearly decided the latter was a risk too great. With a World Cup final at stake, Kerr had to start.

England decided she would not get an easy ride and within 20 minutes, the forward had been wiped out three times. Keira Walsh was the first to commit a foul, clattering into the forward after just two minutes. Alex Greenwood was next, wiping Kerr off her feet inside Australia’s half before Jess Carter caught her with a boot to the face.

The Australian press had built up a narrative that this game was some sort of war between Kerr and England goalkeeper Mary Earps. The Chelsea forward has regularly scored against the Manchester United goalkeeper and has chipped her in successive seasons. 

Earps had been lobbed in England’s quarter-final with Colombia and was therefore a possible weak link, they had said. But in the battle of Kerr v Earps, the goalkeeper took a 1-0 lead in the eighth minute.

A long ball over the top sailed over the heads of both Bright and Jess Carter, leaving Kerr one on one with Earps. The goalkeeper stood tall to block the striker’s effort and while the offside flag was eventually raised by the assistant referee, it was a psychological boost for England’s boost for Earps. 

Minutes later England should have taken the lead at the other end Greenwood’s lofted pass over Australia’s defence for Georgia Stanway. The midfielder had time, but sent a volley to the near-post which was easy for Mackenzie Arnold to block with her foot.

Arsenal forward Alessia Russo wrapped up the win for England with a neat finish late on

Chelsea’s Sam Kerr scored a screamer to pull Australia level before England ran away with it

But England’s moment came in the 36th minute – a simple throw-in which ended in a thunderous strike. The ball went down the line to Hemp, whose flick was brought down by Russo. The forward held the ball up before cutting it back to where Hemp and Toone were waiting.

 Hemp dummied, Toone struck, the ball flew – fast and furiously into the top corner of the Aussie net. For the first time all night there was silence in the stadium. All that could be heard were the roars from the England bench.

The Lionesses were on top, and at the start of the second half nearly doubled their lead. Hemp forced Arnold into a fine save at the near post before Bright headed the resulting corner wide. It was a chance she should probably have scored.

Then came the moment Australia had been waiting all tournament for. Russo was caught in possession and the ball was played to Kerr. She was allowed to run and run and then strike. 

The ball took a deflection off Bright’s knee and flew over Earps’ head and into the net. It was 1-1 on paper and 1-1 in the battle of Kerr v Earps. The Aussie crowd roared back into life.

Sarina Wiegman has now led her side to consecutive EUROs and World Cup finals

But eight minutes later they were silenced again. It was route one from England as Bright hoofed a ball forward. Ellie Carpenter misjudged it completely and Hemp pounced, shrugging the defender off before firing into the bottom right corner.

Earps then made a crucial save to deny Cortnee Vine before Greenwood diverted the ball away from Kerr, who was waiting to tap-in. Kerr then sent a shot over the bar as Australia pushed forward. Those missed chances proved costly as England went down the other end to make it 3-1.

Hemp drove forward at pace, releasing Russo down the right and the forward took one touch before firing a shot into the bottom left corner. Game over, history made.

Before every game at this World Cup teams have walked out to a dramatic version of Sweet Dreams by Eurythmics. At the end of the night, the winning team’s chosen song is played over the speakers. England’s is Sweet Caroline. Knocking the Aussies out of their own tournament, it does not get much sweeter than that.

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