Soccer rarely cares about happy endings, and the 2023 women’s World Cup final is no different. If this tournament were a fairy tale, the match probably would not feature these two particular teams. Spain and England will face off on Sunday in a game that will presumably leave many people wondering, “How can I root for them both to lose?”
After all, England is, well … England. They’re like a grandparent who continually insists that things used to be different in their day: The only way they’ll be convinced they don’t have a divine right to win soccer matches is if they continue losing. Knocking out cohost Australia only adds to the sense that the English are set on being party poopers. Spanish players, meanwhile, have been locked in a complicated, psychodramatic battle involving themselves, their coach, and the federation for the past year. Some of the country’s most talented internationals remain at home in protest, watching teammates who were unwilling to sacrifice a World Cup for the greater good of Spanish soccer.
It marks a first World Cup final appearance for both sides, and it’s the first all-European final since 2003. England can argue they have plenty of experience at the international level, even if this is their first time making it this far at a World Cup; the Lionesses have now played in three consecutive World Cup semifinals, and they lifted the European Championship trophy at Wembley last summer. There is a sense that this was bound to happen for them at some point.
Spain’s achievement, on the other hand, would be seen as a natural outcome of their talent were it not for the fact that they have severely underperformed in the past. Before this World Cup, La Roja had never won a knockout game at an international tournament, despite having a talent pool that contained the vast majority of the world’s best club team, Barcelona.
That failure was part of the reason why, last September, 15 players published an open letter complaining about their treatment at the hands of the federation. They claimed that low-quality training sessions, a lack of emphasis on tactical analysis, and insufficient resources around fitness were holding them back on the international stage. The signatories said they would not play for the national team until the situation changed, but three of them (Mariona Caldentey, Ona Batlle, Aitana Bonmati) will be participating in the final on Sunday. Comments made by Caldentey after Spain’s quarterfinal against the Netherlands implied that winning a World Cup would make what they have gone through worth it. Another way of looking at it is to ask what that success has cost.
On the pitch, both teams will have decisions to make about how they line up.
For England, all eyes will be on Lauren James. The 21-year-old attacker was one of England’s biggest threats in the early part of the tournament until she received a two-match ban for stamping on Nigeria’s Michelle Alozie. Ella Toone replaced her, to negligible effect, against Colombia, but Toone’s goal against Australia in an improved performance now leaves England manager Sarina Wiegman with a tough decision on her hands.
Spain coach Jorge Vilda has regularly rotated his team throughout the tournament, using a wide variety of midfield combinations. There remain question marks about how fit two-time Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas actually is. She’s averaged 35 minutes across six World Cup matches, leaving it unclear how much fuel she has left in the tank. Her performances themselves have been fairly anonymous, and midfielder Aitana Bonmati—the favorite to relieve Putellas of her Ballon d’Or mantle—has been making the majority of the headlines.
How England deal with the Spanish midfield could be the key to this final. The threat of Bonmati has seen sides like the Netherlands attempt to mark her out of the game, only to disrupt their own setup as a result. That does not feel very Wiegman-like; she will instead surely trust Georgia Stanway and Keira Walsh to cover the space rather than attach themselves to Bonmati’s coattails. England’s success in taking control of the midfield might depend on who ultimately plays up front for Spain. Esther Gonzalez, Jenni Hermoso, Alba Redondo, and Salma Paralluelo have all had minutes in a central attacking role, with Paralluelo making the strongest case to start.
Paralluelo scored the winner on the counterattack against the Netherlands in extra time, and she changed the game when she came on against Sweden, scoring the opener that time. England have done well in closing down pacey players since they switched to a back three, but there is no doubt that Paralluelo is Spain’s most in-form attacker right now.
If Hermoso plays, however, her ability to drop into midfield could create an overload against England. Defender Millie Bright will know all too well how much trouble Hermoso’s movement can cause, having been part of the Chelsea defense that conceded four in the first half of the Champions League final against Barcelona.
But the most important refrain to bear in mind when it comes to watching this Spain team is that it is not Barcelona, something that has become only more true in the absence of Patri Guijarro and Mapi Leon, two players who did decide to stand their ground and stay at home. Without them, Spain’s defense has on occasion looked a bit ragged. Their 4-0 defeat to Japan in the group stages highlighted a side that struggled to play a tight defensive line.
That is something England’s new-look attacking duo of Alessia Russo and Lauren Hemp will be keen to exploit. By playing in a two, they have become much more unpredictable, with both players more than capable of taking on a defender one-on-one. Both are also happy to drop deep, opening up room for runs from midfield for Stanway and Toone, something that Australia struggled with in the semifinal.
Russo and Hemp’s form in front of goal has been scintillating; no team at this tournament has overperformed their expected goals as much as England, while Spain have underperformed despite scoring the most goals overall. England takes its chances—but Spain creates better ones.
This fixture offers pretty much everything you want from a World Cup final: off-field drama, tactical intrigue, and a battle on the sidelines as the universally admired Wiegman takes on Vilda. There’s also some previous bad blood between these teams after England knocked Spain out of Euro 2022 in extra time.
England probably go into the match as slight favorites. The Lionesses’ experience in winning last year’s Euros should stand them in good stead, and against Australia, it was clear that they were much more relaxed about the occasion than their opponents. But Spain have shown a steely determination that is far removed from past iterations of this team. Both sides have found ways of winning when matches looked like they could slip out of their reach.
Whoever wins on Sunday will hope that this can be the start of a sustained period of success. Both squads blend youth and experience, and both look set to continue to dominate at the top end of women’s soccer for years to come. The last all-European final in 2003 was also the last time two first-time finalists met—Germany and Sweden. Twenty years later, a new era might be ushered in.