Two teams who have never reached this stage of the tournament are within touching distance of being crowned champions of the world for the first time. Spain’s best run in the tournament was progressing to the knockout stage, whilst England’s recent success in the Euro might give them hope of getting it over the line.
It has been a truly remarkable tournament, with a lot of talking points and players proving their critics wrong. Time to write the last chapter in this epic journey, will it be Spain or will it be England to lift the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia?
ENGLAND
After managing to lift the European championship, England are eyeing the biggest prize of them all, the FIFA World Cup. The journey in Australia did not start as one would have expected, a very anticlimatic 1-0 win against Haiti and again against Denmark. They gradually increased the tempo, and the introduction of Lauren James helped demolish China in the last game of the group stage. England rode their luck against Nigeria as during long spells, they looked second best, but the penalty shootout went their way and so they advanced to the quarter-finals. Coming from behind to thanks to Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo, who are arguably the best-performing duo in this FIFA World Cup. In their way stood the hosts, Australia, who had Sam Kerr starting for the first time during the tournament after being sidelined due to injury.
The jubilant Lionesses will be ready for the challenge of Spain, and we are pricing their chances of lifting the trophy at 2.10, with both teams to score coming in at 1.95.
SPAIN
Impressive as it is for Spain to have made it to the final, they suffered one of the biggest losses against Japan in the last game of the group. They survived, thanks to their two victories against Zambia and Costa Rica. Next up, they sailed past Switzerland and narrowly advanced against the Netherlands who impressed this tournament. A mad seven minutes decided the faith of the semi-final against Sweden as substitute Salma Celeste gave Spain the lead, which was cancelled by Rebecka Blomqvist volley but the standout moment came when Olga Carmona shot blazed through, hitting the bar and nestling in, much to the joy of the Spanish contingent.
Despite the many issues with the squad and the manager, Spain still managed to steer the ship into uncharted territory and they might strike gold. We are pricing Spain to win the game at 2.65, with Salma Paralluelo to score anytime during the game at 3.75.
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*Odds subject to change. Odds correct at time of publishing