Spain won their first trip to the Women’s World Cup final after an outburst in a late back-and-forth match with Sweden. She scored three goals between the 81st and 89th minutes as Spain were knocked out 2–1.
Selma Baralelo, the 19-year-old winger who scored the winning goal in extra time for Spain in the quarter-final match against the Netherlands, got things started in the 81st minute. She capitalized on a deflected pass in front of the goal and tapped in for Spain’s first score of the match. Baralelo pressed her shot between two Swedish defenders to put Spain ahead with less than 10 minutes left in the match.
Sweden did not relent after conceding the late goal. Seven minutes later, Swedish striker Rebecca Blomqvist scored her third World Cup goal to even the match.
Blomqvist collected a header from Lena Hurtig and slotted in a shot to tie the match and keep Sweden’s hopes of a final World Cup appearance alive.
With injury time – and possibly extra time – looming shortly after Sweden’s equalizer, Olga Carmona scored the winning goal in the 89th minute.
She took a short corner pass from just outside the box and ripped an uncontested shot on goal past the outstretched hand of Swedish goalkeeper Zisera Mosović, off the crossbar and down the goal.
Even with five minutes of injury time, Sweden could not find another goal to send the match into extra time. It is the fourth time that Sweden has been eliminated in the semi-finals of the Women’s World Cup since 1991.
Spain are now heading into their first Women’s World Cup final in only their third appearance at the tournament. The Spaniards failed to qualify from 1991-2011 and only advanced to the round of 16 in 2019.
With the second semi-final between hosts Australia and England still to be played, Spain are the favorites to win the World Cup with -125 odds, per betMGM. None of the women’s teams in Australia or England have qualified for a World Cup final either
