FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023: Who are the finalists?
After four weeks of football, we have just two matches remaining and two finalists about to go head to head to lift the 2023 World Cup. In partnership with Media City Qatar,
Transcript
00:00 Australia and New Zealand have been at the centre of the footballing world for the past month,
00:04 but after 63 matches it all comes down to this.
00:07 32 teams whittled down to just two.
00:10 The World Cup final is on the horizon,
00:13 so which team will be lifting the biggest prize in women's football?
00:16 Hello there and welcome to Football Now from Australia.
00:24 Now we thought we'd bring you something a little different on this week's show,
00:26 so where better than the home of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup final, Sydney.
00:32 And what a tournament we have had so far.
00:34 Over the past three weeks we've said goodbye to legends of the game,
00:37 we've seen young stars break through,
00:39 and my word, we have had some memorable matches as well.
00:42 There's been all the drama, all the heartbreak,
00:44 all the ecstasy that you'd hope,
00:46 and the fans here have absolutely loved it.
00:48 Welcome, welcome everybody to this historic moment at the FIFA Men's Festival in Sydney.
00:55 It's just been for women's football,
00:56 I know Australia is not particularly known for being a football nation,
01:00 we don't have the strongest national league for the men's or women's,
01:03 pretty much all our Matildas actually do play overseas.
01:06 So to now have this level of growth,
01:08 this level of, you know, so many eyes on us across the world,
01:12 and for our girls to do so well,
01:14 it's just been the most incredible thing for the growth of the game.
01:18 And I think there'll be so many more football fans now in Australia for years to come,
01:23 and I guess that's been the main aim of having the entire tournament here in the first place.
01:28 So World Cup to remember here,
01:34 and don't forget that New Zealand have played their part too.
01:37 With records broken both on the TV and in the stadiums,
01:40 it's a tournament that has resonated with two sets of nations
01:42 that supposedly don't like football.
01:44 But to host a memorable World Cup,
01:46 you need your players to perform on the pitch,
01:48 and it's fair to say that we've had our fair share of that here.
01:50 So what have some of the standout moments been so far?
01:53 You can't go past the fact that so many heavyweights have gone out.
01:57 I mean, seeing USA go out in the round of 16
02:00 is something that we all did not expect at all.
02:03 And then heavyweights Germany crushing out in the group stage with Jamaica, Morocco.
02:08 I mean, there's so many empowering stories there.
02:11 It's just everything's exceeded those sort of expectations.
02:15 Of course, we can't not talk about that penalty shootout in the quarterfinals,
02:18 Australia winning.
02:19 I mean, it's the longest penalty shootout ever in a World Cup.
02:22 Men's or women's.
02:23 I've never seen so much passion for football in this country before,
02:26 like during that penalty shootout.
02:29 And so it was just unbelievable.
02:31 Now, this is where Sunday's final will take place.
02:39 Stadium Australia has played host to four matches so far,
02:42 and at a capacity of 80,000,
02:43 it's an arena fit to grace the world stage.
02:46 In fact, that's exactly what it did 23 years ago
02:49 when it opened its doors for the first time at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
02:53 On Sunday, it will become the place of devastation and heartbreak for one side
02:57 and the place where dreams became a reality for the other.
03:00 Either way, getting down to the last two teams deserves some serious respect.
03:04 So let's remind ourselves of both sides' journey to the final.
03:07 After a tricky build-up to the tournament that involved 15 players going on strike,
03:12 Spain have surpassed the expectations of many.
03:14 La Raja got themselves off to a flying start
03:17 with 3-0 and 5-0 group stage wins against Costa Rica and Zambia, respectively.
03:22 But they were undone by the counter-attacking threat of Japan,
03:25 who punished them with three goals before half-time
03:27 and another in the second half for good measure.
03:30 Six points was, though, still enough to progress,
03:32 with their first knockout round serving up a 5-1 win over Switzerland,
03:36 before a tight extra-time victory over 2019 runners-up the Netherlands,
03:40 which set up a final against Sweden in Auckland.
03:42 Their appearance in a first-ever FIFA Women's World Cup final,
03:46 despite the disruption to their preparations, is quite the achievement.
03:49 As for England, the European champions opened their campaign
03:53 with straight wins against Haiti, Denmark and China,
03:56 but their round of 16 victory was the one that they really had to work for.
04:00 Despite star player Lauren James' moment of madness that saw a red card for violent conduct,
04:05 they survived 120 minutes of Nigerian pressure to progress on penalties.
04:10 Having gone 1-0 down to Colombia, the quarter-finals also proved to be a scare,
04:14 but a quick response had them level before half-time,
04:17 with Arsenal striker Alessia Russo scoring the winning goal.
04:20 A semi-final against the hosts and 80,000 in the stands would prove to be their toughest test yet,
04:25 but it didn't stop the Lionesses reaching their first-ever FIFA Women's World Cup final.
04:30 Right then, the sun is starting to set on another evening here in Sydney.
04:40 We've come to the FIFA Fan Festival.
04:42 This place has been an absolute hive of activity throughout the competition.
04:46 Let's head in and speak to some fans to get their thoughts on who they think will win Sunday's big game.
04:51 I think we have an amazing midfield, great forwards, a little iffy on the back end,
05:03 on the defense side, but overall confident. I think they're going to come through.
05:07 I think we are the World Cup favorites,
05:10 and I think we've been playing really well the whole tournament.
05:13 There is a real passion in Spain for soccer,
05:18 and I think this will elevate women's soccer to the top.
05:21 Yeah, super confident. I mean, we're European champions,
05:26 and the next step from that is World champions, so yeah, I'm very confident going into it.
05:30 Yeah, I think the Euros proved that we're a force to be reckoned with.
05:34 This tournament's been a bit different, missing a few key players,
05:37 but we've proved that each game that we can change, we're fluid in what we adapt to.
05:41 What a final we have got lined up. That brings us to the end of this week's show.
05:48 Do let us know your thoughts at home using the hashtag #FootballNowWWCFinal,
05:52 and we'll see you at the same time next week here from Sydney. Bye for now.
05:56 [MUSIC]