We have our first Women’s World Cup finalist, with Spain’s remarkable victory coming on the back of a frantic final few minutes and at the expense of Sweden, who suffered another brutal heartbreak.
Tonight we will find out if Australia can make it through to face La Roja, or if England will cut short the Matildas’ dream run.
Here are five quick hits after the first semifinal at Eden Park.
1. Three goals in final 10 minutes
The first 80 minutes of Sweden and Spain’s semifinal was a slog.
Both teams looked frantic and below their best as they tried desperately to break the 0-0 deadlock, but failed to find the incisive moment up front.
Then a cross fell to the feet of Salma Paralluelo, who had ignited Spain with her arrival on the pitch around the hour mark, and she finished expertly off her non-preferred right foot.
Even so, we looked set for yet another extra time match when another sub, Rebecka Blomqvist, side-footed home in the 88th minute to make it 1-1.
But that only lasted for 90 seconds before Spain captain Olga Carmona latched onto a short ball from a corner and laced a ball into the crossbar and over the line as the clock ticked into the 90th minute of the match.
Despite eight minutes of stoppage time, Sweden couldn’t muster another comeback.
2. Unparalleled Paralluelo
Paralluelo was “dropped” from Spain’s starting XI after the round of 16, but it may have been the best thing for the 19-year-old star.
After failing to score a single goal as Spain put 13 on their first four opponents combined, the former track star was a game-changer off the bench in the quarterfinal and semifinal.
She came on in the 71st minute and scored a majestic match-winner in extra time against the Netherlands, and had a similar impact after her 57th-minute arrival against the Swedes.
Although she didn’t deal the decisive blow that launched Spain into the final, she put constant pressure on the defence, kickstarted the goal-scoring with La Roja’s first shot on goal and was a deserving player of the match despite only playing about a third of the game.
3. Sweden can’t stop losing heartbreakers
Nobody does football heartbreak quite like Sweden’s women’s team.
The blue and yellow have reached the semifinals at the Women’s World Cup five times now and only won once.
And in the only semi the did win, in 2003, they ended up losing to Germany in the final. In golden-goal extra time, no less.
Oh, and they lost the gold-medal match at the last Olympics 3-2 in a penalty shootout against Canada.
And Germany beat them 2-1 in the Rio 2016 final after Sweden scored a second-half own goal.
Just brutal.
“I’m so tired of crying championship tears,” Sweden midfielder Kosovare Asllani said.
“I don’t think people understand the energy and the passion that is behind this. It really sucks, we dreamed of a World Cup final … but that’s how football is.”
But hey, they’ve won all three of their third-place playoffs at the World Cup. So that’s … something, I guess.
4. Lionesses learn after April loss to Matildas
England’s Lionesses have only been defeated once in their past 37 games, but that one defeat came against the Matildas in April this year.
However England skipper Millie Bright says that doesn’t matter ahead of tonight’s semifinal.
“The past is the past,” she said.
“We can’t influence the past, it is important to stay present on the task ahead and we are fully prepared go.”
Coach Sarina Wiegman said that April match gave England “a lot of information” they would take into the final-four showdown, where she refused to accept the idea of the Matildas as underdogs.
“They are playing at home and the stadium will be very full. There’s two teams that are very strong and have grown into the tournament, it’s going to be very tight and competitive,” she said.
5. Half an eye on the final
The Matildas are potentially 90 minutes away from a World Cup final and, without wanting to get too far ahead of ourselves, it’s hard not to be having a sneaky peek over the fence, right?
The Matildas have happy recent memories against Spain, beating La Rojas 3-2 in the Cup of Nations in February.
Spain demolished an understrength Australian side 7-0 during a European tour eight months earlier, so there was a sense of revenge, and it went some way towards suggesting the Matildas were coming good at the right time.
In fact, it seems Football Australia picked their opponents pretty well this year, with the Matildas beating quarterfinal opponents France in their final warm-up match and taking down semifinal rivals England in April.
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