Spain will play for their first Women's World Cup championship after defeating Sweden in the Women's World Cup semifinal.
Spain will play tournament co-host Australia or England on Sunday in the final in Sydney.
“This is a historic day. We’re in the final, that’s what we wanted,” said Jorge Vilda Rodríguez, Spanish football coach
Sweden has now lost in four of five semifinals and will play for a fourth third-place finish.
Spain's Salma Paralluelo, the 19-year-old super-sub who also scored the game-winner in Spain’s 2-1 extra-time quarterfinals victory over the Netherlands, scored in the 81st minute to break a scoreless game. She gestured for the crowd to cheer, and the crowd thought it was celebrating Spain's winning goal.
But the celebration was brief. Rebecca Blomqvist tied it for Sweden in the 88th.
Then just 90 seconds later, Carmona beat Sweden goalkeeper Zecira Musovic with the game-winner.
“It was a very tough game. It could’ve been difficult to recover from their goal, but we’ve shown that his team can deal with everything.” said Paralluelo. “We deserved this. We took this little step, and now we need that final push."
The Swedes have never won a World Cup, but they’ve come close: they were the 2003 runner-up and have finished third three times. Sweden won silver medals at the Tokyo Olympics two years ago, and at the 2016 Games in Brazil.
Spain is making only its third overall World Cup appearance. Four years ago, La Roja advanced to the knockout round but lost to eventual champions the United States.
“Now it’s the final. I think we have to do what we’ve done in every match," said Paralluelo. "We’ve overcome every challenge and now we face the ultimate challenge, the big one”
The Swedes swept their opponents in the group stage before knocking out two-time reigning champion the United States on a penalty shootout after a scoreless draw.
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