00:00 Australia and New Zealand have been at the centre of the footballing world for the past month,
00:04 but after 63 matches it all comes down to this.
00:07 32 teams whittled down to just two.
00:10 The World Cup final is on the horizon,
00:13 so which team will be lifting the biggest prize in women's football?
00:16 Hello there and welcome to Football Now from Australia.
00:24 Now we thought we'd bring you something a little different on this week's show,
00:26 so where better than the home of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup final, Sydney.
00:32 And what a tournament we have had so far.
00:34 Over the past three weeks we've said goodbye to legends of the game,
00:37 we've seen young stars break through,
00:39 and my word, we have had some memorable matches as well.
00:42 There's been all the drama, all the heartbreak,
00:44 all the ecstasy that you'd hope,
00:46 and the fans here have absolutely loved it.
00:48 Welcome, welcome everybody to this historic moment at the FIFA Men's Festival in Sydney.
00:55 It's just been for women's football,
00:56 I know Australia is not particularly known for being a football nation,
01:00 we don't have the strongest national league for the men's or women's,
01:03 pretty much all our Matildas actually do play overseas.
01:06 So to now have this level of growth,
01:08 this level of, you know, so many eyes on us across the world,
01:12 and for our girls to do so well,
01:14 it's just been the most incredible thing for the growth of the game.
01:18 And I think there'll be so many more football fans now in Australia for years to come,
01:23 and I guess that's been the main aim of having the entire tournament here in the first place.
01:28 So World Cup to remember here,
01:34 and don't forget that New Zealand have played their part too.
01:37 With records broken both on the TV and in the stadiums,
01:40 it's a tournament that has resonated with two sets of nations
01:42 that supposedly don't like football.
01:44 But to host a memorable World Cup,
01:46 you need your players to perform on the pitch,
01:48 and it's fair to say that we've had our fair share of that here.
01:50 So what have some of the standout moments been so far?
01:53 You can't go past the fact that so many heavyweights have gone out.
01:57 I mean, seeing USA go out in the round of 16
02:00 is something that we all did not expect at all.
02:03 And then heavyweights Germany crushing out in the group stage with Jamaica, Morocco.
02:08 I mean, there's so many empowering stories there.
02:11 It's just everything's exceeded those sort of expectations.
02:15 Of course, we can't not talk about that penalty shootout in the quarterfinals,
02:18 Australia winning.
02:19 I mean, it's the longest penalty shootout ever in a World Cup.
02:22 Men's or women's.
02:23 I've never seen so much passion for football in this country before,
02:26 like during that penalty shootout.
02:29 And so it was just unbelievable.
02:31 Now, this is where Sunday's final will take place.
02:39 Stadium Australia has played host to four matches so far,
02:42 and at a capacity of 80,000,
02:43 it's an arena fit to grace the world stage.
02:46 In fact, that's exactly what it did 23 years ago
02:49 when it opened its doors for the first time at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
02:53 On Sunday, it will become the place of devastation and heartbreak for one side
02:57 and the place where dreams became a reality for the other.
03:00 Either way, getting down to the last two teams deserves some serious respect.
03:04 So let's remind ourselves of both sides' journey to the final.
03:07 After a tricky build-up to the tournament that involved 15 players going on strike,
03:12 Spain have surpassed the expectations of many.
03:14 La Raja got themselves off to a flying start
03:17 with 3-0 and 5-0 group stage wins against Costa Rica and Zambia, respectively.
03:22 But they were undone by the counter-attacking threat of Japan,
03:25 who punished them with three goals before half-time
03:27 and another in the second half for good measure.
03:30 Six points was, though, still enough to progress,
03:32 with their first knockout round serving up a 5-1 win over Switzerland,
03:36 before a tight extra-time victory over 2019 runners-up the Netherlands,
03:40 which set up a final against Sweden in Auckland.
03:42 Their appearance in a first-ever FIFA Women's World Cup final,
03:46 despite the disruption to their preparations, is quite the achievement.
03:49 As for England, the European champions opened their campaign
03:53 with straight wins against Haiti, Denmark and China,
03:56 but their round of 16 victory was the one that they really had to work for.
04:00 Despite star player Lauren James' moment of madness that saw a red card for violent conduct,
04:05 they survived 120 minutes of Nigerian pressure to progress on penalties.
04:10 Having gone 1-0 down to Colombia, the quarter-finals also proved to be a scare,
04:14 but a quick response had them level before half-time,
04:17 with Arsenal striker Alessia Russo scoring the winning goal.
04:20 A semi-final against the hosts and 80,000 in the stands would prove to be their toughest test yet,
04:25 but it didn't stop the Lionesses reaching their first-ever FIFA Women's World Cup final.
04:30 Right then, the sun is starting to set on another evening here in Sydney.
04:40 We've come to the FIFA Fan Festival.
04:42 This place has been an absolute hive of activity throughout the competition.
04:46 Let's head in and speak to some fans to get their thoughts on who they think will win Sunday's big game.
04:51 I think we have an amazing midfield, great forwards, a little iffy on the back end,
05:03 on the defense side, but overall confident. I think they're going to come through.
05:07 I think we are the World Cup favorites,
05:10 and I think we've been playing really well the whole tournament.
05:13 There is a real passion in Spain for soccer,
05:18 and I think this will elevate women's soccer to the top.
05:21 Yeah, super confident. I mean, we're European champions,
05:26 and the next step from that is World champions, so yeah, I'm very confident going into it.
05:30 Yeah, I think the Euros proved that we're a force to be reckoned with.
05:34 This tournament's been a bit different, missing a few key players,
05:37 but we've proved that each game that we can change, we're fluid in what we adapt to.
05:41 What a final we have got lined up. That brings us to the end of this week's show.
05:48 Do let us know your thoughts at home using the hashtag #FootballNowWWCFinal,
05:52 and we'll see you at the same time next week here from Sydney. Bye for now.
05:56 [MUSIC]
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