England, Spain pursue history in Women's World Cup final

SYDNEY: History will be made at the Women's World Cup on Sunday (Aug 20) when England and Spain clash in the final in Sydney, with both bidding to win the tournament for the first time.

The game kicks off at 1000am GMT (6pm, Singapore time) in front of an anticipated sell-out crowd of about 75,000 at Stadium Australia.

It will be the final act of a tournament full of shocks which began one month ago and started with 32 teams, making it the biggest Women's World Cup ever.

Now they are down to the last two and it's a final too close to call. Neither team has ever got this far before.

The two sides last met at the European Championship last summer, when hosts England squeezed into the semi-finals 2-1 in extra time and went on to lift the trophy.

Coach Sarina Wiegman and defender Millie Bright said they were attempting to think of this as just another game, but the skipper admitted there was no getting away from the enormity of the occasion.

British media has been full of references to 1966 - when the country won the men's World Cup for the only time.

"We know how passionate our nation is back home and how much they want us to win," Bright said on Saturday.

"But for us there is a process, we have a game plan to execute and we need to play the game of our lives."

Chelsea attacker Lauren James is back from a two-match ban for stamping on an opponent in the last-16 victory on penalties over Nigeria.

It would be a surprise, however, if Wiegman makes any changes to the side that impressively saw off Colombia 2-1 and then disposed of co-hosts Australia in the semi-final.

England have been mostly ruthless and machine-like in reaching the final, especially in silencing the home crowd in the 3-1 victory over Australia.

Spain are more slick and