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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The Women’s World Cup starts in Australia and New Zealand later this month and European champions England are second favourites to win the tournament for the first time.
Four-time champions the USA, the world’s top-ranked team, are the favourites for a third straight World Cup success.
Ahead of the first game on July 20, we’re taking a trip down memory lane to look at all eight Women’s World Cup finals since the first in 1991.
The inaugural World Cup took place in China, who thrashed Norway 4-0 in the first game of the group stage only for the Scandinavians to bounce back with wins against New Zealand and Denmark.
The USA, meanwhile, stormed through the group with 11 goals scored and just two conceded before they thrashed Chinese Taipei and Germany to reach the final for which they were heavy favourites.
Michelle Akers-Stahl gave the Americans the lead with a towering header but the Norwegians levelled nine minutes later through Linda Medalen as the teams went in level at the break.
However, 12 minutes from time Akers-Stahl capitalised on a poor back pass to score the winner, her 10th of the tournament which guaranteed her the Golden Shoe.
Four years later, Norway atoned for their Far East heartache by defeating the USA in the last four to set up a clash with Germany, who had eliminated England in the quarter-finals.
Hege Riise got the ball rolling in Sweden by finishing off a brilliant solo run to give the Norwegians a 37th-minute lead in driving rain and moments later keeper Manuela Goller parried a shot into the path of Marianne Pettersen who scrambled in a second.
Women’s football in the USA catapulted into the stratosphere on the back of a second title which came in front of 90,000 fans at the Pasadena Bowl, a world record attendance for a women’s sporting event.
China only had two shots on goal in normal time but had three in the extra 30 minutes during which Kristine Lilly cleared a Fan Yunjie header off the line.
It took a penalty shoot-out to determine the champions, with Brandi Chastain falling to her knees as she struck the winning spot-kick.
USA also hosted the next World Cup four years later after China pulled out because of the SARS epidemic but they were unable to make a successful defence.
April Heinrichs’ side topped their group with a maximum nine points but went on to lose 3-0 in the semi-finals to Germany, who scored twice in stoppage time.
Sweden, runners-up in Group A behind USA, scored twice in the last 10 minutes to beat Canada in the last four and led 1-0 at half-time against Germany in the final thanks to a cool finish from Hanna Ljungberg.
Seconds into the restart, Maren Meinert slotted in the equaliser and it took a brilliant golden-goal header from Nia Kunzer in the 98th minute to secure a dramatic victory for the Germans.
FIFA allowed China to host the next tournament without a vote, but the outcome was the same as Germany became the first nation to win back-to-back World Cups.
Germany started their group campaign with an 11-0 victory over Argentina, during which Birgit Prinz and Sandra Smisek scored hat-tricks, and they went through the whole tournament without conceding a goal.
In the final, Prinz finished off a well-worked team goal against a Brazil team that had crushed the USA 4-0 in the last four.
Marta had the chance to level from the spot when Cristiane Rozeira was brought down by Linda Bresonik but Nadine Angerer saved her penalty. Simone Laudehr’s header from a corner four minutes from time sealed a win which sparked wild celebrations from deserving champions.
Germany hosted the 2011 World Cup but their hat-trick bid failed as they went out in the quarter-finals with an extra-time defeat to Japan, who had lost to England in the group stage.
Pia Sundhage’s USA side also finished runner-up in their group after losing to Sweden and were heading out of the tournament at the quarter-final stage until Abby Wambach scored a stoppage-time equaliser against Brazil in one of the greatest moments in World Cup history despite only having 10 players on the pitch before beating the South Americans in a penalty shoot-out.
A 3-1 win against France in the semis meant the USA were heavy favourites for a hat-trick of titles when they faced Japan in the final.
They struck the woodwork twice before substitute Alex Morgan opened the scoring in the 69th minute only for a defensive mix-up to allow Aya Miyama to level in the closing stages.
Wambach restored the lead with a header in stoppage-time but Homare Sawa flicked in the equaliser from a corner to take the game to penalties which Japan won just a few months after the catastrophic tsunami which claimed more than 15,000 lives.
The roles were reversed in Canada four years later when the USA made the most extraordinary start to the final on the artificial pitch in Vancouver where Carli Lloyd scored a hat-trick inside the first 16 minutes, her treble coming from the halfway line to give Jill Ellis’ side a 4-0 lead.
Nerves started to show when Japan pulled a couple of goals back but Tobin Heath struck from close range to ensure a third World Cup success.
Japan had reached the final with a spectacular stoppage-time own goal from England defender Laura Bassett which went in off the bar but they were no match for the Americans in the decider.
It was business as usual in France four years ago as the USA started the group phase with a record-breaking 13-0 win against Thailand during which Morgan scored five times.
The USWNT then beat Spain and hosts France 2-1 in the round of 16 and quarter-finals respectively to set up a last-four clash with England which the Americans won by the same scoreline as their previous two games, Morgan scoring the winner which she marked with her famous tea-drinking celebration.
In the final, Morgan hit the post and forced a great save from Netherlands keeper Sari van Veenendaal but it was Megan Rapinoe’s second-half penalty which broke the deadlock against the European champions just after the hour.
Rose Lavelle finished off a driving run with a fierce left-footed strike eight minutes later to ensure a fourth World Cup triumph for the USA.
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