FIFA Women's World Cup 2023: Spain reach maiden final with dramatic victory over Sweden
Olga Carmona's late winner, after Rebecka Blomqvist had cancelled out Salma Paralluelo's 81st minute opener, saw Spain through to a first major final.
Football
Spain are through to the final of the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 thanks to a 2-1 victory over Sweden on Tuesday (15 August).
An evenly contested affair exploded in the final 10 minutes, as second-half substitute Salma Paralluelo fired La Roja ahead at Eden Park in Auckland.
Rebecka Blomqvist equalised two minutes from time, but Sweden's joy was short-lived as Olga Carmona found the net with a dipping shot from a short corner.
Spain will now face either Australia or England in the final on Sunday (20 August).
Spain come through after heartstopping finale
As to be expected in a game of such magnitude, this one was something of a slow starter.
Carmona was responsible for Spain's first sight of goal, but her effort from range zipped just past Zecira Musovic's goal.
The best chance of an otherwise subdued half came towards the end, when Sweden's Fridolina Rolfo force a fine save out of Cata Coll down at her near post.
The second 45 saw a turn in the tide with Jorge Vilda's Spain side enjoying plenty of the ball and creating more goalscoring opportunities.
Their best fell to forward Alba Redondo, who have two chances to fire them ahead but to no avail. The first came from Jenni Hermoso's teasing cross, but she failed to direct her effort on target.
Paralluelo kept the ball alive and poked it back into the direction of Redondo, but her attempt to curl the ball around Musovic saw it hit the back of side of the net.
The game sprang to life in the final 10 minutes when Sweden failed to clear their lines and the ball fell to Paralluelo, whose sweeping finish broke the deadlock late on.
Paralluelo had scored Spain's extra-time winner over 2019 runners-up Netherlands in the quarter-finals.
Blågult went in search of an equaliser, and they were rewarded in the 88th minute when second-half substitutes Lina Hurtig and Blomqvist combined. The former headed down Rolfo's excellent ball into the box with Blomqvist providing an expert finish into the top corner.
But Sweden were on level terms for just over a minute as Teresa Abelleira played a corner to Carmona on the edge of the area, and the Spain captain - with the defence slow to close her down - produced a left-footed strike which Musovic could only touch on its way into the net.
The Swedish goalkeeper was just a couple of metres off her line and therefore unable to keep out Carmona's floated shot.
Spain survived a nailbiting seven minutes of injury time as the Blågult failed to convert a fourth consecutive major tournament semi-final appearance into a trophy.
They will have to settle for a place in Saturday's third-place play-off while Spain, despite several players going on strike earlier this year in protest at Vilda's methods, can look forward to Sunday's final against either Australia or England.