Spain survived a late penalty miss to beat England in the final of the Women’s World Cup
Spain overcame England 1-0 to win their first-ever FIFA Women’s World Cup in their first-ever final in the competition, surviving a penalty miss by the country’s leading goalscorer Jennifer Hermoso to deny the Lionesses a historic feat of their own.
La Roja’s winning goal came from captain of the side Olga Carmona, who scored just before the half-hour mark to give Spain the win.
How it happened
England came close to taking the lead after only 10 minutes as Lauren Hemp cracked the crossbar with a stunning effort from the edge of the 18-yard box.
After a topsy-turvy start, Spain started to control the proceedings and eventually took the lead when captain Carmona angled a drive to the far corner to make it 1-0 to La Roja.
At half-time, England made key substitutions, bringing on Lauren James and Chloe Kelly for Alessia Russo and Rachael Daly, hoping for more bite in attack as they looked to become the first team to beat Spain at the World Cup after being a goal down.
Spain had the chance to double their lead with 20 minutes left of normal time, after being awarded a penalty for a handball by Barcelona midfielder , but Jennifer Hermoso was denied by England’s Mary Earps from the spot.
Spain survived a late onslaught from England as well as 13 minutes of extra time, to hang on to their lead for a monumental victory in the county’s football history.