Women’s World Cup Tips: Lionesses roar into Sydney for their date with destiny

England’s Lionesses have grown into the Women’s World Cup with each passing game, and now they find themselves just one win away from writing history.

Sarina Wiegman’s outfit were in scintillating form as they dumped the co-hosts Australia out of the tournament earlier in the week with Ella Toone, Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo getting the goals in a 3-1 victory to book their spot in the final.

Sunday’s tie will be a different proposition for the English though, as they go up against a Spanish side that were also seen amongst the early favourites to go all the way and within their ranks they have some of the best talents in the game at present.

Football expert, Joe Crann, is here to talk us through the tie as the Lionesses look to roar their way into the history books on their date with destiny.

First half could be key

Over the entirety of their time playing in WWCs England have never lost after scoring first, it’s a trend that continued against the Aussies and stretched their record to 16 wins in 18 at the tournament having scored first. They’re at 2.2 to get the opener in this one.

They often come flying out of the blocks too and have scored first-half goals in 13 of their 14 wins since becoming European Champions – the only team to stop them doing so was Nigeria – so they’ll be looking to do the same at Stadium Australia against a Spanish side that have conceded in all of their last four matches. La Roja haven’t completed a come-from-behind win in over a year. 

Spain score goals

The Spanish have only failed to find the back of the net in three of their last 47 matches across all competitions, and with 17 goals to their name in the current edition of the WWC there isn’t a single side that’s scored more than them. They also average the most shots per-game of any nation.

On the flip side of that, the English have conceded just three goals all tournament - one of which was a penalty - and have the best defensive record of any team that made it past the Round of 16. Both teams to score in this one? 2.1.

A Golden Boot push?

The tournament’s current top scorer, Hinata Miyazawa – of Japan – with five, won’t be adding to her tally, nor will any of those with four, but England and Spain both have three players each that will have at least small hopes of catching up with the player presently about to claim the Golden Boot.

Jennifer Hermoso (at 3.4 anytime goalscorer) is seen as the most likely to add to her tally, followed closely by Russo (at 3.7). Alba Redondo, also on three goals, is at 3.9 and Hemp - arguably England’s best player at the tournament - finds herself at 4.7 despite getting three in her last four in Australia. Carli Lloyd of the United States is the only player in history to have scored a hat-trick in normal time in a World Cup final, doing so against Japan in 2015.

Recommended Bets:

Both teams to score @ 2.1
England to win either half – yes @ 1.99
England to lift the trophy @ 1.95