Auckland, New Zealand (AFP) – With a sensational performance by Aitana Bonmatí, who scored twice, Spain thrashed Switzerland (5-1) this Saturday in Auckland and advanced to the quarterfinals of a Women’s World Cup for the first time in its history. Later, Japan defeated Norway and also made their way into the top eight of the tournament.
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Spain recovered its effective and dominant football, and cleared up doubts about its status as contenders for the World Cup title in Australia and New Zealand, after losing 4-0 in the group stage against Japan.
With their victory, Spain will have to face, on August 11 in the quarterfinals, the winner of the duel between the Netherlands and South Africa, who meet on Sunday.
Aitana Bonmatinamed the best player of the match, opened the scoring at minute 5 with a left-footed shot inside the area, and repeated the dose at minute 36 with a maneuver to get past the Swiss defenses.
But first, in the 11th minute, a bad return from the defense Laia Codina found the goalkeeper ahead Tasting Coll and caused the momentary draw (1-1).
Spain quickly recovered from that blow and Alba Redondo caught a header in the area to make it 2-1 in the 17th minute, after a cross from Ona Batlle diverted by Bonmati.
Codina erased his mistake by making it 4-1 after a corner kick at minute 45 and Jennifer Beautiful sealed the win at 70.
The Spanish dominance in the first half was such that, in addition to finishing the set with a 4-1 lead, Switzerland did not take a shot, scoring their only goal with that goal against Spain.
The game was played on a cool (austral) winter night in the Auckland’s Eden Park, with more than 43,000 viewerswho mostly celebrated the Spanish annotations.
This time, the Spanish coach Jorge Vilda left his star player, Alexia Putellas, on the bench and bet with three attackers, including Alba Redondo and Esther González in the starting lineup, together with the fast extreme Salma Paralluelo, initiator of the action of the first Spanish goal.
The coach defended the changes in the lineup by stating: “I have the 23 best players in the world, the Spanish National Team is a team with the 23 best players in the world.”
One of its variants was the goalkeeper Cata Coll instead of misa rodriguezhis starter in the group stage.
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Spain was the clear dominator of the match against an uninspired Swiss team, with occasional drops from Ramona Bachman and Coumba Sow that were easily controlled by the Spanish defense.
The Swiss coach Inka Gringsrecognized the Spanish superiority, which he cited as among the favorites for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
“We have to give the Spain team credit, they took every opportunity they could get,” Grings said.
Bonmatí once again assumed the role of brain and driving force for Spain, backed by the incursions of full-backs Batlle and Oihane Hernandezand his performance was capped with two goals and an assist.
In the second half, Switzerland achieved a certain balance in the actions, but it was impossible for them to overcome the bulky score.
Putellas entered at minute 77 and Bonmatí left, giving her her place as coordinator of the Spanish game.
Japan, flawless
In Wellington, Japan confirmed its intentions to go far in the Women’s World Cup, a tournament it won in 2011, with its resounding victory over Norway, another of the favorites, in a duel between world champions.
The good Japanese march took place under the guidance of their goalscorer Hinata Miyazawawho after 15 minutes made a crossed cross that the Norwegian defense Syrstad Engen He scored at his own goal, and nine minutes from the end he made it 3-1.
The second Japanese goal was scored by laugh shimzu and the Norwegian goal was the work of Guro Reiten.
Japan, world champion in 2011 and finalist in 2015, remains unbeaten in the tournament, and the Norwegian goal is the first they have conceded in four games. Now they must wait for the winner of the match between the United States and Sweden —both big favorites— to find out which team they will face in the quarterfinals.
Norway, champion in 1995 and finalist in 1991, says goodbye to the tournament earlier than expected.
AFP
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