A dramatic final goal and the pouring of her teammates saw the Spanish side make history for their national federation. In a 2-1 defeat over Sweden, that saw everything from a listless first half to the final 10 minutes seeing all the goalscoring, fans were in for a treat at this Women’s World Cup.
Before the tournament, it was not an easy path for Spain. They overcame last year’s near mutiny by its players against coach Jorge Vilda. For a refresher, 15 players signed a letter complaining about Vilda and the conditions for the national team. Now, three of those women are on Vilda’s roster.
La Roja is now just one win away from their first-ever World Cup title.
How did it all go down? Check our first semifinal game recap.
All is quiet on the football pitch
It was a cold and rainy night in New Zealand as La Roja faced off against their Swedish counterparts. Sweden was in their fifth World Cup semifinal and had allowed only two goals in their five games up to facing Spain. For Spain, dominating possession was the name of the game for them and that means that with two attacking squads, the goalkeepers got a workout. Spain’s Cata Coll and stellar Swedish keeper Zećira Mušović both made saves early.
As much as La Roja are hot on the press, they could not create a ton of meaningful chances at goal as a result. Left-back Olga Carmona took the game’s first shot in the 12th minute but the ball flew just wide of the goal. And Sweden brought their trademark set pieces but still, at the end of the first half, both squads remained scoreless.
This one is for all the paella
The second half whistle sounded and this is where things REALLY got going. Sweden outplayed the Spanish in the beginning. The Swedes applied more pressure on Spain’s defense and Spain racked up more shots. Both teams still struggled to create quality chances but there was a promising look for Swecen in the 55th minute and Coll stuffing the shot once again.
Spain needed to make some changes and that came in the form of Vilda fixing the complexion of the Spain attack. He subbed one Salma Paralluelo brought on in place of Alexia Putellas. And it worked. In the 57th minute, Alba Redondo was set up to send a shot into the side netting.
Sweden realized that their hopes of a World Cup final were on the line. They attacked the goal more fiercely than ever. The Swedes had their own super sub in Lina Hurtig. She got a vital touch to knock the ball into fellow sub-Rebecka Blomqvist’s path. The striker then fired it home for the equalizer in the 88th minute.
Players streamed from the substitutes’ bench and onto the field, the coaching staff not too far behind them, swarming around the teammates who had rescued their dream. It was the moment they had been waiting for as the World Cup final was within their sights once again.
95 seconds later there was more cheering but this time it wasn’t the Swedes.
A short corner routine was worked to Carmona again, she had looked for her chance all evening. She got it in the 90th minute as she fired the ball over Mušović and off the underside of the bar.
Spain’s players did laps around the pitch after the final whistle and will have a chance to make history in their fourth major tournament under their controversial head coach.
However, whatever qualms they had for the moment were set aside. Winning helps, of course: Spain recovered from its eye-catching humiliation against Japan and rolled past Switzerland. And for Vilda, he had nothing but praise for his squad:
“The end result is a learning process which has made us all stronger in my opinion, and to leave it archived in the past and think about the future. And to think that we’re here because we deserve it.”
Jorge Vilda, 8/15/23
Spain now awaits their competition after the game between England and Australia.
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Mandatory Credit: AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino
