Spain reach their first Women’s World Cup final as late winner sinks Sweden

Spain have reached their first ever Women’s World Cup final after beating Sweden 2-1 in a dramatic semi-final encounter in Auckland.

The teenage winger Salma Paralluelo gave Jorge Vilda’s side the lead with 10 minutes to play, before Sweden levelled through Rebecka Blomqvist’s fine finish eight minutes later.

With extra time looming, the Spain captain Olga Carmona struck a last-minute winner, crashing the ball in off the bar to ensure La Roja made history in front of over 43,000 at Eden Park.

As the final whistle blew, Sweden dropped to their knees in despair while the Spanish celebrated around them. Vilda’s team now await the winner of Wednesday’s encounter between Australia and England in the tournament’s showpiece on Sunday.

The Spain manager has garnered plenty of attention in recent months due to the unrest that has consumed his team in the last year. While disquiet off the field remains, however, results on the pitch have told a different story. A 4-0 defeat to Japan in the group stage was the only blemish on their card to date.

That loss saw Vilda make wholesale changes to his team and he made two more on this occasion. While the return of Carmona was forced, returning for the suspended Oihane Hernández, Vilda made the decision to bring in Alexia Putellas for Esther González. The two-time Ballon d’Or winner has played limited minutes, still recovering from the ACL injury she picked up last summer. It was a roll of the dice from Vilda, as was leaving teenage sensation Paralluelo on the bench.

Conversely, Peter Gerhardsson opted to leave his Sweden line-up unchanged from the personnel that had performed so well against Japan in their quarter-final. This was Sweden’s fifth Women’s World Cup semi-final, and they were hoping to avoid becoming the first team to lose four times at this stage of the competition.

It was a first half that simmered with potential but little finesse. Both sides were clearly nervous, knowing they were just 90 minutes away from playing on the biggest stage of all. Spain, as expected, dominated possession but struggled to break down a well-drilled Swedish team who dropped into a traditional 4-4-2 formation out of possession, banking up defensively.

Chances did inevitably come for Vilda’s side as they advanced closer to the box, but they lacked the clinical touch. Jonna Andersson had to be alert to clear Alba Redondo’s header. Redondo was Spain’s most involved player early on, buzzing around the right flank and living up to her form of three goals and one assist so far this tournament. Spain’s rhythm and quality, however, were disrupted by a series of niggly fouls that made it a stop-start affair.

Sweden’s counter-attacking threat is well known and the pace of Johanna Rytting Kaneryd was causing concern, especially with Carmona getting caught high up the pitch. Blågult finished the half strongly and forced the only save of the first 45 minutes. Nathalie Björn cut out a ball on the right and swung in a cross towards the advancing Fridolina Rolfö at the back post. The Barcelona star caught it on the stretch, but clubmate Catalina Coll made a fine stop to parry it wide.

There was a scramble off the subsequent corner, but Spain managed to clear it away from the lurking Stina Blackstenius to ensure the score remained level at the break. There was more urgency from both teams in the second, both desperately seeking to avoid adding a second draining period of extra time to some already tired legs. Blackstenius had an angled shot saved while, down the other end, Redondo inexplicably fired wide of an open goal.

The game fully burst to life in the last 10 minutes, a blockbuster finish in front of a riveted Auckland crowd. The introduction of Paralluelo changed the game for Spain as she replaced the struggling Putellas. The 19-year-old brought renewed energy to proceedings with her pace and technical ability. It seemed fitting that she put her team ahead, pouncing with the kind of clinical finish that had been lacking.

Sweden were not about to give in quite yet and be consigned to the third-place play-off once again. They threw everyone forward in search of a leveller and thought they had sent the game to extra time with two minutes to play. It was two substitutes, a rare sight from Gerhardsson, who had an immediate impact. Lina Hurtig with her first touch, nodded the ball down for Blomqvist to curl home beyond Coll.

Their joy was short-lived, however, as Spain retaliated instantly. Catching their opponents asleep, Carmona broke onto a short corner. Her finish was spectacular, beating Musovic and crashing her shot off the underside of the crossbar and into the back of the net. It was a goal worthy of sending La Roja through to their first ever Women’s World Cup final.