England wins 1st women's Finalissima in shootout vs Brazil

LONDON (AP) — England’s Chloe Kelly scored the winning spot-kick to settle the first women’s Finalissima after a dramatic game against Brazil, watched by 83,132 fans at Wembley, ended in a 4-2 penalty shootout victory for the hosts on Thursday.

Ella Toone looked to have secured the win for England in a match between the champions of Europe and South America. Her 23rd-minute strike was the game’s only goal going into the third minute of second-half stoppage time.

But Andressa Alves exploited a mistake by England goalkeeper Mary Earps to make it 1-1 and force the shootout, where Georgia Stanway, Rachel Daly, Alex Greenwood and Kelly — who scored the goal at Wembley that made the Lionesses European champions last summer — got the job done for England.

Coach Sarina Wiegman’s side is now undefeated in 30 matches, and will look to extend that streak when it hosts Australia in next week’s pre-World Cup friendly.

England dominated the first half — and Brazil the second — with the home team going ahead in impressive style after Lucy Bronze exchanged passes with Stanway before cutting back to Toone, who made no mistake as she slotted past Brazil 'keeper Leticia.

England thought it had gone 2-0 ahead through a confident strike by Lauren James but there was an offside in the buildup.

Brazil looked the better team after the restart, Geyse quickly calling Earps into action before Kerolin bounced an effort in the direction of the England 'keeper, while Leah Williamson’s clearance stopped a sustained surge from the visitors.

Geyse threatened again, this time firing a rocket that Earps just managed to tip away.

While Earps was able to stop an initial attempt from substitute Adriana, she fumbled the save and the ball landed at the feet of Andressa who made no mistake as she fired in the equalizer.

The game, which had a tribute to the late Pele at the start, went straight to penalties where Tamires and Brazil captain Rafaelle — who hit the crossbar — failed to score for the visitors.

___

More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports