Ruthless England stun co-hosts Australia to reach Women's World Cup final

England crushed the dreams of co-hosts Australia to reach the final of the Women's World Cup in front of a sold-out crowd of almost 80,000 people in Sydney on Wednesday evening.

Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo scored vital second-half goals to secure a 3-1 win for the Lionesses, who were good value for their victory thanks to a combination of composed defending and ruthless finishing.

Australia's inspirational captain Sam Kerr briefly gave the Matildas hope when her stunning individual goal cancelled out Ella Toone's opener, however, she was also guilty of a pivotal miss when she spurned the chance to make it 2-2 shortly after Hemp's strike.

England will now return to Stadium Australia to face Spain in Sunday's final (2pm UAE time), while Australia will play Sweden for third place in Brisbane on Saturday (12 noon, UAE time).

It was a case of third time's a charm for England who will now contest their first world final having twice been beaten in the last four, in 2015 and 2019.

Remarkably, for Lionesses coach Sarina Wiegman, this result means she will have led teams in four consecutive major tournament finals. The Dutch coach led her homeland to Euro 2017 glory and then a runners-up spot at the 2019 World Cup before switching to England and orchestrating Euro 2022 success.

"We made it to the final, unbelievable," said Wiegman. "It feels like we won the whole thing but we didn't. Playing an away game at this incredible stadium, it was a hard game but again, we found a way to win.

"We scored three goals, in this team there is a ruthlessness, up front and in defence. We really want to win. We stick together and we stick to the plan and it worked again."

'Matildas mania' had built in Australia throughout the team's run to the