Beware, the sleeping giant is awake!

They dared to dream They knew the going would get tough For England were a formidable opponent But La Roja held firm 90 minutes later they joined the ranks of footballs greatest nations by winning the Womens World Cup final against reigning European champions EnglandLong toiled in the shadow of the mens team whose golden era yielded a 2010 World Cup triumph sandwiched by a pair of European Championship trophies Spainrsquos rise has indubitably mirrored the revival of European football at a tournament once dominated by the likes of Alex Morgan and Megan RapinoeIn fact their national squad boasts such depth that even last years mutiny against manager Jorge Vilda proved unable to derail their World Cup preparations The next generation is also more than eager to make its mark as shown by supersubstitute Salma Paralluelo With a championrsquos medal around her neck the 19yearold lay on the field for a while and nestled into the golden glitter that had just fallen over her teamParalluelo who is already a world champion in the Under17 and Under20 levels took a good amount of time soaking up the atmosphere at Stadium Australia after helping her side overcome adversity to win its first senior major global title Her captain Olga Carmona netted a crucial goal in the first half on Sunday and Spain held on to cap the monthlong tournament But Carmonarsquos moment of crowning glory was soon tinged with sadness after learning of her fatherrsquos deathSundayrsquos triumph made Spain the first team to hold the under17 under20 and senior womenrsquos world titles at the same time They also joined Germany as the only nations to win both the menrsquos and womenrsquos titles It was a moment to savour when the final whistle was blown mdash the players piled on each other in front of their goal dancing on the field before and after the trophy presentations It was a joyous celebration on and off the pitchldquoWersquove suffered a lot throughout the past 12 months but I think everything has a reason to be This has made us a stronger teamrdquo Carmona said soon after the game ldquoAnd itrsquos really incredible I donrsquot know just why Spain is the world champions but I think that we deserved itrdquoAlso Read Honouring the legacy of indigenous communities like no otherOver anything else the win over England was enough evidence to prove that the rest of the world is catching up to the traditional powers Germany Brazil and the United States have been on the receiving end of the early exit curse Very few expected the traditional soccer powerhouses to have long gone home by the time Spain hoisted the trophy literallyTo expect that an expanded field of 32 teams would expose the disparity in the womenrsquos game made a lot of sense But who knew that teams including Morocco South Africa and Jamaica will advance to the knockout round to defy our expectationsMorocco was one of the eight teams playing in its maiden World Cup More surprisingly the semifinals included four teams that had never won a World Cup title Spain England Sweden and AustraliaSpain though certainly featured among the top teams heading into the tournament but not the favourite The favourite was undoubtedly the twotime defending champions United States But they fell and the loss came in the most heartbreaking fashion a 54 penalty shootout in which the winning Sweden penalty barely crossed the line despite goalkeeper Alyssa Naehers best attempts to make one more incredible saveIt is safe to say that Spain grew over the course of the tournament Following a 40 humiliation against Japan in the group stage they replaced Misa Rodriguez with Cata Coll in goal It has long been considered football lore that World Cup winners tend to make slow starts and there is inspiration to be found from previous teams who have begun poorly and gone on to great things La Roja rebounded quickly by trouncing Switzerland 51 to kick off the knockout round and built from there Swiftly and faultlesslyIts madness a unique moment You dont think about anything just celebrate Im not aware of it yet When we land in Spain well realize what weve done Thats when well really realize that were world champions enthused captain Olga Carmona after the matchMidfielder Aitana Bonmati named best player of the tournament was equally stunned Im shocked but very happy and proud Its the dream of every female footballer I couldnt ask for anything more The FC Barcelona resident recalled her debut on the pitch with the boys before evoking the milestones reached Weve earned it weve worked hard for it summed up Paraluello named Young Player of the TournamentIt is evident that Spain had been building to this point nine players on the squad were from Champions League winner Barcelona and the country had bagged the 2018 under17 World Cup and the 2022 under20 World Cup crowns amid the turmoil surrounding them in the past yearOverall womens soccer still faces a battle for equality with the mens game Remember there were several teams at the World Cup in open dispute with their federations over pay and conditions Off the pitch the greatest Womens World Cup in history with 32 teams was the bestattended ever and most games were played in front of bumper crowdsOn it a tournament full of surprises signalled the end of the United States long reign as the superpower of womens soccer as their dreams of an unprecedented third title in a row came to an end after their earliest exit ever Sweden who dumped out the Americans on penalties finished third after beating Australia 20 on Saturday And the Matildas did not walk out with nothing they certainly had the consolation of capturing the hearts of the home nation as their exploits in reaching the semifinals for the first time splashed across the front and back pages of local newspapers on an almost daily basisIn the end womenrsquos soccer got what it wantedWith AP inputs