The Lionesses of England overcame the equalizer in stoppage time to win the inaugural Finalissima on penalties following a 1-1 draw with Brazil at Wembley…with Ella Toone scoring in normal time before Chole Kelly struck the winning penalty
- Ella Toone had opened the score for England in the first half against Brazil
- But Alves da Silva struck deep into stoppage time to force a penalty shootout
- However, the European champions kept their nerve to win 4-2 on penalties
How many players can claim to have scored two winning goals in a Wembley final?
After England were pushed back by Brazil’s equalizer at the last minute, Chloe Kelly scored the penalty that concluded the first-ever women’s edition of the Finalissma – almost nine months after her winner against Germany in the Euros final.
It’s another trophy and another Wembley win in front of another sold-out crowd. Forget looking at Brazil, this is England under Sarina Wiegman. It is now 30 games unbeaten for the Lionesses boss.
‘I feel privileged [to have gone 30 games unbeaten],,I am very happy that I work here’, said Wiegman. “It’s such an incredible group.
‘We’ve been practicing [penalties] yesterday and before the European Championships we practiced a lot. We repeated it yesterday just in case. We knew what we had to do and we did it well.’
England are the first winners of the Finalissima after beating Brazil at Wembley on Thursday
England celebrate winning the first-ever edition of the Women’s Finalissima after beating Brazil
Chole Kelly hit the winning penalty to seal a 4-2 penalty shootout win at Wembley
Toone’s first-half goal came from a free-flowing team movement that any Brazilian side would have been proud of and the build-up was so slick that the normally composed Wiegman turned to her coaching staff and exclaimed ‘wow what a goal! ‘
This is an English side that continues to win on and off the field. The Lionesses, who recently received a government pledge for girls to have equal access to football and school sports, played in their new blue shorts after negotiating with Nike to scrap their all-white kit over concerns about playing while menstruating.
Seems like there’s nothing this team can’t do. With just over three months to go until the World Cup, Wiegman and England seem unstoppable.
This game against Brazil was always going to be a tougher test than February’s Arnold Clark Cup games against lower-ranked opponents. The South Americans are always intriguing opponents simply because it’s hard to know how good they are until you see them play – but they didn’t quite manage to give England a hand in the first half.
Lucy Bronze almost opened the scoring within 12 minutes, but her 25-yard strike was palmed away by goalkeeper Leticia. England’s continued dominance eventually led to a breakthrough midway through the first half.
Lauren James passed the ball to Bronze on the right, who played a one-two with Georgia Stanway before deflecting Toone to shoot into the bottom left corner. James looked to have doubled England’s lead as she broke a finish into the roof of the net, but was correctly flagged offside.
Ella Toone made the opening goal for England against Brazil on Thursday evening at Wembley
Toone celebrates scoring during the first half as England ran out of winners in the Finalissima
Alves da Silva scored a dramatic stoppage-time goal for Brazil to take the game to penalties
A packed crowd was in attendance for the game as England beat Brazil on Thursday
James continued to cause trouble for the Brazilian defense, almost creating a second when her cross found Lauren Hemp at the back post, but the winger was only able to send a header straight at Leticia.
Brazil looked much more menacing after two attacking half-time substitutions. Adriana should have equalized when she was singled out in the penalty area by Geyse, but missed her shot before England played away.
Earps then made a fantastic one-handed save to tag Geyse’s powerful effort over the crossbar. But just when it looked like the Lionesses were out for the game, a dramatic equalizer came in the third minute of stoppage time when Andressa tapped in from two yards out after Earps dropped the ball at her feet.
However, the goalkeeper was unaffected by that late mistake in the shoot-out and made an important stop from Tamires after Toone narrowly missed for England. Georgia Stanway, Alex Greenwood and Rachel Daly all converted before Kelly had a chance to win. She made no mistake.
“This feels like coming home,” said the competition winner afterwards. Wembley is now the special place of the Lionesses and Kelly.