Spain wins Women’s World Cup Transcript

Spain has been crowned World Cup champion after a one-to-nothing win over England. Olga Carmona scored the lone goal in the 29th minute of the match. This is the first time Spain’s women’s team has won the World Cup. Joining us now to break it down is Lisa Carlin. She’s a CBS Sports Golazo Network analyst.

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I’m happy for Spain. All the dogs that I had in this fight went home a long time ago.

Yeah, exactly.

And I’m one of those people that’s just like, I hop around, right?

Yeah. Okay.

If my team’s gone, I’ll go on to another team I got a connection too. So, what did Spain do right?

Anne-Marie, they did everything right. At the end of this World Cup, a lot of pundits are saying that the best team won. And on the best day, Spain won. That’s how they beat England. They stuck to their game plan, and that was the cleanest thing about Spain’s run throughout this World Cup. They were a possession-oriented team. They could understand the tactics. They kept the ball well. They regained possession after they won it. And that was the consistency that led them to the World Cup final. They had done it previously at youth levels winning the U-17 World Cup, the U-20 World Cup. And now, averaging just over 25 years of age for this entire roster, they do it again. And this is only the third World Cup that Spain has been in. So they’re doing something right. There’s good things in the water there for the Spanish.

What was different about this team coming into the tournament that they were able to sustain through all the matches? Were they really good at doing something that other teams weren’t?

They were really good at keeping the ball. This Spanish side that led the entire World Cup in possession. Entering this final match, they average over 60%. England being the number two team that held possession. And if you just watch this 90 minutes of football between Spain and England, Spain dominated with the ball. That’s what they like to do. They want to keep it. And then as soon as they lose it, they get a lot of numbers behind the ball that makes it really condensed for their opposition to move down the pitch into their attacking end. They swarm players around the ball on defense. That way, as soon as their opposition has one bad touch, and we saw this with England, if a player made one bad pass or one small touch, there was two or three Spanish players right there to pick it up. And then their first pass was to a teammate moving forward in possession. They didn’t waste any of their passes. It was all possession with a purpose to move down the field and into their attacking end.

Here in this country, it really took years of fighting for the country to sort of wake up and pay attention to what the women’s team was doing.

Yeah, mm-hmm.

And now we know the players’ names. They’re celebrities.

They’re on billboards.

Right. I’m wondering what it’s like in Spain for the women’s game and the women’s team.

In Spain, these players have grown up with this game and knowing it. They’ve been dreaming of playing at this level, at a World Cup, lifting that trophy for their entire lives. However, Anne-Marie, you look back to the most recent years, the Spanish domestic League didn’t become fully professional for the women until just three years ago. Their first World Cup was just three cycles ago. So it’s been a fast progression for them. However, the talent has always been there, they just weren’t given the same resources, the same platform to perform as as the men. And even when you look at the Spanish roster for the World Cup, so many of the players play in the domestic league that just became fully foreign professional with Barcelona, with Real Madrid because the players want to stay home. They want to be playing in their home country. And now they get to wear the crest and lift the title and do it. But the talent has always been there.

All right, one quick question because our time’s running out but, chance for a repeat for them?

Potentially. I see the future very bright for this Spanish side. England, and coming up in that final, the European side dominated this World Cup. The top three placed teams, Spain, England, and then Sweden winning one, two, and three at this World Cup, they’re going to be a dominant factor moving forward. And the Spanish side is just getting started.

The US has been put on notice. Got to watch out for that. Lisa Carlin, thank you very much for your time.

Thank you so much for having me.