Celebrations for Spain, Swedish pain

Olga Carmona netted an 89th-minute winner to send Spain through to the Women’s World Cup final for the first time ever with victory over Sweden.

Jorge Vilda’s side will meet either England or Australia, who will battle it out on Wednesday for a place in the final.

Spain snatch it

Extra-time loomed to close yet another fixture at this tournament as Spain failed to threaten the Swedish goal, but 19 year-old substitute Salma Paralluelo looked to have changed that when she drilled home from close range to put them 1-0 up with 81 minutes on the clock.

Sweden created very few chances throughout the 90 minutes but hit back with two minutes remaining when the ball fell to Rebecka Blomqvist inside the area and she finished expertly past Cata Coll in the Spain goal, as the game once again looked like it would go the distance.

But Spain had other ideas and regained their advantage one minute later when Carmona received a short corner on the edge of the box and unleashed an effort too strong for Zecira Musovic’s hands and Spain sealed a spot in their first ever final.

Sweden fall short

Sweden scored in all but one of their World Cup games, that being a 0-0 draw with the United States where they went on to win on penalties, so they were not out of the contest when Paralluelo broke the deadlock in the 81st minute.

Blomqvist’s third strike of the tournament came with two minutes to go but Swedish hearts were broken a minute later, as they fell short at the semi-final stage for a fourth time and will instead have to fight for third place with the loser of the game between England and Australia.

Boss Peter Gerhardsson insists his side will be ready to hit back in their final match, saying: “All of us that were in France (finishing third in 2019), we really bring that with us, the willingness to win the final game if we can.”