Prince William and Kate Middleton have led the messages of congratulations as the victorious Lionesses reached their first ever World Cup final.
England booked their place in Sunday’s final with a thrilling 3-1 win over co-hosts Australia in front of a crowd of 75,784 in Sydney on Wednesday. Ella Toone opened the scoring for the Lionesses after 36 minutes when she thumped the ball home from 10 yards when Australia failed to clear a Lauren Hemp cross.
England led at the break but Australia's superstar captain Sam Kerr justified the pre-match hype with a rocket of an equaliser for the Matildas on 63 minutes. However, England secured the victory thanks to goals from Lauren Hemp after 71 minutes and Alessia Russo on 86 minutes.
England will now face Spain in the final in Sydney after La Roja won the first semi-final 2-1 against Sweden on Tuesday. Neither team has won the competition before so history is guaranteed to be made on Sunday.
The Prince and Princess of Wales were among the first to celebrate the Lionesses victory against Australia. A tweet from their official account read: “What a phenomenal performance from the @Lionesses – on to the final! Commiserations to @TheMatildas, you've played brilliantly and been fantastic co-hosts of this World Cup. W.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak tweeted: “What a performance @Lionesses. Just one more game to go…Bring on Sunday.”
Carol Vorderman wrote: “Sweet Caroline. A great day for women. Congratulations Lionesses. And Congratulations to the Matildas.
"All of you, how you enjoy yourselves, how you give an inspiration to all young girls. When I was your age we couldn't ever have dreamed of these times. It's wonderful."
Labour leader Keir Starmer added: “Come on! Phenomenal semi-final win from the @Lionesses. World Cup Final here we come!”
Comedian Paddy McGuinness tweeted: “Absolute, stone cold, class!!! Love this team!!! Bring on the final.”
Meanwhile, Lionesses defender Lucy Bronze was overwhelmed after England’s victory. She told BBC One: “This is the one thing I’ve always wanted, to be in the final of a World Cup and after two times of getting such disappointment, I honestly can’t believe it.”
When asked what manager Sarina Wiegman said about the game in the post-match huddle, Bronze added: “We played the game how we wanted to, we were resilient, determined, I couldn’t hear much else she was saying, to be honest!
“We knew the crowd were going to be crazy tonight and she was saying about silencing them and I feel like we did that at the end after the third goal.”
Bronze also felt the support the Lionesses have received has been “unbelievable”.
She added: “We all dreamed of being in the final and all our family and friends booked here to stay until the final because they believed in us. To have everybody here and all that support is unbelievable.
“It’s been amazing to play against Australia, what a fantastic tournament they had, but I’m so happy to get to the final.”
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