In the first Women’s Finalissima at Wembley, Sarina Wiegman commended England for their tenacity as they overcame a late equaliser to defeat Brazil on penalties.
Up until the third minute of stoppage time, the Lionesses were up thanks to a goal from Ella Toone in the 23rd minute. However, after Mary Earps mishandled a cross, substitute Andressa Alves scored to tie the score at 1-1 and force a penalty shootout.
Toone was the first player to miss in the shootout, seeing her effort saved by Leticia, but Earps produced a great save to deny Tamires moments later.
And after Rafaelle hit the bar, Euro 2022 hero Chloe Kelly converted the decisive penalty as England claimed a 4-2 victory and the trophy in front of a crowd of 83,132.
Boss Wiegman said: “It was a very exciting night. I think the first half we played really well.
“We had a lot of possession, created lots of chances, we scored an incredible goal, we hoped to score more than one.
“The second half they went back to 4-4-2 with a very high press and we were struggling to keep the ball in possession. They became dangerous and at the end we conceded, which can happen.
“I think the team did really well by just showing resilience. We had to do a job and take the penalties as good as possible, or stop it as good as possible, and that’s what we did.”
It was the first time Wiegman’s European champions had been involved in a shootout during her now 30-game unbeaten tenure.
And the Dutchwoman, whose side open their campaign at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand on July 22, said: “I’m really happy with the penalties.
“We have had some hard moments [before[ but we didn’t have a shootout yet in an environment like this.
“Of course, you practice and try to get as close as possible to a real game but it can’t get more real than this, so I think that really helps.”
Another match winning @Chloe_Kelly98 moment at Wembley. 💫#Finalissima 🏆
— Lionesses (@Lionesses) April 7, 2023