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In this episode, Santiago and Hal recap Spain winning the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup by beating England 1-0; and Messi winning the Leagues Cup with Inter Miami.
Contributors
Santiago Leon – @sleon
Hal Phillips – @mandarinhal
Spain wins 2023 FIFA Women’s World cup by defeating England 1-0
- Spain have won the World Cup, defeating England 1-0.
- The Spanish took the lead with a great strike from Captain Olga Carmona who drove into the England penalty area and hit a hard and low shot into the bottom left corner in the 29th minute.
- Spain’s Jennifer Hermoso had a penalty saved by England goalkeeper Mary Earps in the second half.
- Spain, a first-time winner, join previous champs the United States (1991, 1999, 2015, 2019), Norway (1995), Germany (2003, 2007) and Japan (2011) in this elite club.
- Australia lost the bronze medal match to Sweden on Saturday. Fridolina Rolfo and Kosovare Asllani scored in the clinical 2-0 win.
La Roja beat England, 1-0, in Sunday’s finale, in Game 64 of a wildly successful World Cup that highlighted the sport’s evolution. It has become a more technical, tactical game. And no team has shaped that game, or driven the evolution, more than Spain, whose new-age prowess was on full display at Stadium Australia.
just as she’d won the semifinal, Carmona gave Spain the lead.
England coach Sarina Wiegman responded with two halftime substitutions and a formation switch, from her auxiliary 3-5-2 back to her standard 4-2-3-1. And the second half, as a result, was more balanced.
But it was still Spain’s game. It could have been 2-0 when La Roja earned a penalty after a lengthy video review. England’s Mary Earps, though, sprang to her left to deny Jenni Hermoso and keep the score at 1-0.
La Roja were rocked by a locker room dispute between the squad and coach Jorge Vilda and the Spanish football federation, with some of their best players absent from the tournament as a result.
Ball possession
Spain 57%, England 43%
Total Shots
Spain – 13, England 8
Inter Miami wins Leagues Cup by defeat Nashville in penalties
Inter Miami edges Nashville SC in an 11-round penalty-kick shootout to win Leagues Cup after 90-plus minutes of wild, achingly dramatic soccer that epitomized the jittery euphoria of a tight cup final.
Messi scored in the 23rd minute. Nashville’s Fafá Picault scored in the 57th minute. And both sides were inches away from winning it in the final minutes of regulation before needing 22 total penalty kicks to decide it.
Messi – who scored 10 goals in his first tournament action with Inter Miami – won the Leagues Cup top scorer and best player awards.
Inter Miami’s Drake Callender won best goalkeeper of the tournament after blocking two kicks in the final minutes by reigning MLS MVP Hany Mukhtar, and Nashville goalkeeper Elliot Panicco’s final penalty kick to end it.
Messi 23’, Picault 57’
Top Stats
Ball Posession: Nashville 042%, Miami 58%
Total Shots: Nashville – 11, Miami 58%
Tottenham Hotspur 2 Manchester United 0
Goals Sarr 49’, Martinez 83’ (OG)
New Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou celebrated his first home game in charge with a 2-0 victory over Manchester United on Saturday, thanks to Pape Matar Sarr’s maiden Premier League goal and a late own goal by Lisandro Martinez.
Senegalese Sarr seized on a deflected cross in the 49th minute to shoot high into the net past André Onana, and Martinez then sealed his side’s fate by deflecting Ben Davies’ scuffed effort past his own keeper in the 83rd minute.
Top stats
Ball Possesion: Tottenham -56%; Manchester United 44%
Total shots: Tottenham – 17; Manchester united 22
PREDICTIONS
Crystal Palace vs Arsenal
HP: Crystal Palace
Bournemouth vs Totenham
HP: DRAW
Newcastle vs Liverpool
HP: NEW
