Australia 1-3 England: Lionesses reach first Women’s World Cup final

England’s plan to stifle Australia’s intensity and quick counter-attacking football worked a treat.

From the first minute they showed they were not afraid to play with physicality, going in hard in 50-50 challenges and doing all it took to bring down Kerr and prevent her getting a run at England’s defence.

Keira Walsh set the tone with a crunching tackle on Kerr within two minutes and Alex Greenwood later came sliding in on the Chelsea striker, earning herself a yellow card, to prevent a dangerous break.

With each tackle came a ripple of boos from the home fans, while Earps was in no rush to get things going again on goal-kicks.

It was England who controlled things early on – although both teams created a few chances – as they had 70% of the ball in the opening 15 minutes.

Their control did not really waver as the first half wore on and the crowd became increasingly frustrated, whistling as England enjoyed prolonged periods of possession and passed through Australia’s press.

By the time the break arrived with England leading, the deafening roar which had greeted the players on their entrance had turned to polite applause as the Australians were still processing Toone’s superb strike.

The second half was a different story, however. Kerr’s sensational equaliser was followed by a dangerous strike from Cortnee Vine which called Earps into action.

Kerr headed another two chances over the bar, while Russo and Lucy Bronze came close at the other end for England.

However, it was the Lionesses who were more ruthless, keeping their composure in the big moments and delivering when it mattered.

“Knowing Sam, she will think that goal means nothing. She is a winner,” said Australia manager Tony Gustavsson.

“I know she’s upset that she missed those two chances at the end. We need to support her. She did everything she could tonight.

“The fact she played 90 minutes is unbelievable. It is a world-class goal and shows what Sam Kerr is about. We promised to leave every single thing out there and every player did.”

England will go into the final full of confidence having overcome every hurdle so far in the tournament.

But this has also been a World Cup to remember for the Matildas, who hope to change the perception of women’s football in this country forever.

It will be hard to ignore their impact and they were given a warm applause on a lap of honour at full-time.