England are through to their first Women’s World Cup final.
In a pulsating semi-final they beat host nation Australia 3-1.
It’s England’s first world final since the men’s team lifted the Jules Rimet trophy in 1966.
England will play Spain in the final on Sunday.
The team has lost its last two semi-final appearances to Japan and America.
Ella Toone opened England’s account.
She said:
“We were just walking round cheering with the fans there and I thought, wow, we’re going to a World Cup final, that’s what dreams are made of.
“Absolutely over the moon.
“We know that it’s massive and the World Cup is what everyone wants to compete at… we want to go out there and make the nation proud.
[On the goal] “I enjoyed that one, to be fair.
“Probably the best shot I’ve ever hit in my life.
“We had everything today.
“We had grit, determination, character, and belief.
“I think that’s the main thing, we always have belief.”
And Millie Bright said:
“The dream remains alive.
“Yet again we found a way but what an incredible semi-final.
“Mentality, honestly, I’ve said it a million times.
“The mentality of this group is something I’ve never seen before.
“We can play many different ways. That is the beauty of this squad.
“Just really proud of the girls.
“We could have had a few more but on the night it’s about who puts them in the back of the net. Crazy.”
Manager Sarina Wiegman said:
“The way we played… of course it was a hard game but we found a way to win.
“You’ve been talking about ruthlessness all the time, in this team there is ruthlessness.
“Whether it’s in attack or defence, we really want to keep the ball out of the net.
“We stuck to the plan.
“I think [Australia have] done an incredible job.
“They really grew into the tournament.
“They’ve had some setbacks too… they had to win the last game in the group stage. As a team they are really tough to play against.
“Yeah, what a performance.”
