{"id":324066,"date":"2023-08-16T20:21:09","date_gmt":"2023-08-16T20:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=324066"},"modified":"2023-08-16T23:00:36","modified_gmt":"2023-08-16T23:00:36","slug":"sweet-revenge-piers-swipe-amid-england-fairytale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=324066","title":{"rendered":"'Sweet revenge': Piers' swipe amid England 'fairytale'"},"content":{"rendered":"

English<\/a> fans are living a FIFA Women's World Cup<\/a> "fairytale" as Australia<\/a> wades through a mix of pride and heartbreak following a tense 3-1 semi final loss to the old enemy.<\/p>\n

The mood was overwhelmingly one of jubilation as the country that developed football began to truly believe that, for the first time since 1966, a FIFA World Cup trophy was truly "coming home".<\/p>\n

But this being a showdown between England and Australia, particularly fresh off the back of a hotly contested and at-times-controversial Ashes\u00a0series, there were also a few Brits who chose to sink the boot into the "weeping" or "wilting" Matildas.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: \ufeff<\/strong>'Absolute heartbreak': Matildas crushed by England<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Sam Kerr's World Cup wondergoal leaves Australia stunned\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

IN PICTURES:<\/strong> Images that defined the World Cup semi final<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Lionesses coach Sarina Wiegman, who just days ago needed to have the significance of one of sports great rivalries explained to her, was not one of them.<\/p>\n

She described the Australians as "incredible" and heaped praise on star forward Sam Kerr, whose wonder goal in the 63rd minute<\/a> dragged the Matildas back into the match and seemed at one point like it would spark the home side on to a famous victory.<\/p>\n

Of course, it wasn't to be, and Lauren Hemp put the visitors back in front before Alessia Russo punished a couple of Kerr misses with the sealer in the 86th minute.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

Speaking to the BBC after the match, the Dutchwoman who led the Lionesses to glory in the Euros last year wondered if she was "in the middle of a fairy tale or something".<\/p>\n

'Asked at the end of the match what the difference was, Wiegman was typically blunt.<\/p>\n

"Well, we scored three goals," she said.<\/p>\n

"I think at the end \u2014 you've been talking about ruthlessness all the time, I think in this team there's ruthlessness, whether it's up front, whether it's in defence, we really want to keep the ball out of the net, we really want to win.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"And we stick together and we stick to the plan. And it worked again."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

England defender Lucy Bronze, forward Alessia Russo and retired record caps holder Fara Williams all described a spot in the FIFA Women's World Cup final as a dream come true.<\/p>\n

Asked if they could go all the way, Russo said: "Yeah, why not?".<\/p>\n

"Obviously, Spain's gonna be even tougher. I think obviously, every single game that we've come into this tournament has been of the highest level so we have to be ready," she said.<\/p>\n

"But we've been dreaming since we were little girls. So yeah, we're excited. We'll get recovered and be ready."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

While Socceroos star Tim Cahill was criticised for striking the wrong note<\/a> in his attempt to get behind the Tillies before the match, there were no such problems for England's male greats.<\/p>\n

Men's captain Harry Kane called the win brilliant, while former stars Gary Neville and Gary Lineker called the victory an "incredible achievement" and an "absolutely superb performance".<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/GaryLineker\/status\/1691780762884788407<\/a><\/p>\n

England's famously catty tabloids were predominantly positive but The Independent<\/em> dubbed the Australians the "Weeping Matildas", The Telegraph<\/em> called out "Australia's sour grapes" \u2014 based on media coverage, not the players \u2014 and The Guardian<\/em> said England "swatted aside the co-hosts" in what was "less of a rivalry after all".<\/p>\n

Television host and professional provocateur Piers Morgan was also on hand to gloat long and loud.<\/p>\n

He even managed to tie the victory back to the most controversial dismissal of the cricketing summer, when England's wicketkeeper was stumped after walking out of his crease when he thought the ball was dead.<\/p>\n

"England's fabulous Lionesses crush Australia's wilting Matildas 3-1 in their own back yard to reach the Women's World Cup Final," Morgan wrote on X, the social network formerly known as Twitter.<\/p>\n

"Sweet revenge for the Jonny Bairstow Ashes runout debacle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"Congrats ladies – you've made your country proud!"<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/piersmorgan\/status\/1691780766404145512<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

English fans are living a FIFA Women's World Cup "fairytale" as Australia wades through a mix of pride and heartbreak following a tense 3-1 semi […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":324072,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324066"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=324066"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":324082,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324066\/revisions\/324082"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/324072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=324066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=324066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=324066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}