WOMEN'S FOOTBALL

Five-star Spain cruise into World Cup knockouts with thumping win over Zambia

Published

1 year ago

July 26, 2023

FIFA Women's World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023 - Group C - Spain v Zambia - Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand - July 26, 2023 Zambia's Barbra Banda in action with Spain's Alexia Putellas REUTERS/David Rowland

Spain underlined their credentials as pre-tournament favourites when they became one of the first teams to seal qualification for the Women’s World Cup knockouts with a 5-0 win over Zambia in their second Group C encounter on Wednesday.

Teresa Abelleira opened the scoring while Jennifer Hermoso and Alba Redondo scored twice to give Spain their second victory, which also assured Japan of last-16 qualification after they beat Costa Rica 2-0 earlier on Wednesday.

Both Spain and Japan have six points and will play each other on Monday for top spot in the group while Zambia and Costa Rica – both eliminated – will play for third.

Spain were given a boost ahead of the game when coach Jorge Vilda named midfielder Alexia Putellas in the starting lineup and the twice Ballon d’Or winner, having fully recovered from injury, was actively involved in buildup play from the start.

Abelleira settled any opening nerves with the fastest goal of the tournament when she picked up the ball after an intricate passing move in the ninth minute and fired a shot from long range that rocketed into the top corner.

Four minutes later, Hermoso marked her 100th appearance for Spain with an easy header at the far post after Zambia failed to defend a cross from Putellas.

Vilda substituted Putellas, Ona Batlle and Salma Paralluelo at halftime but Spain continued to dominate.

Zambia goalkeeper Eunice Sakala, in the team after Catherine Musonda was sent off in their group opener, made several saves but she was left stranded when Redondo was put through on goal as the forward rounded the 21-year-old keeper to make it 3-0.

VAR CONFUSION

Hermoso then grabbed her second — and 50th for Spain — when she pounced on a rebound off the post to fire home, a goal awarded after a VAR review and following some confusion over the referee’s initial announcement that it was ruled out for offside.

“No goal! No offside,” referee Jeong Oh-Hyeon said before correcting herself as a bewildered Spain looked on before realising it had been awarded.

Redondo then beat the offside trap late in the game to score Spain’s fifth, also awarded after a VAR review when the assistant referee flagged for offside.

Zambia had their chances on the counter-attack but failed to test Misa Rodriguez in Spain’s goal with a number of wayward shots.

“Spain are very experienced… we are just developing, we still need more experience,” Zambia skipper Barbra Banda said.

“When you create chances, definitely you have to score. Unfortunately we didn’t find any goal.”

Sakala had the final say, however, when she made a string of saves to deny both Hermoso and Redondo from claiming hat-tricks.

“Today’s game, we actually played much better than we did the first game,” Zambia coach Bruce Mwape said.

“Spain has got a lot of experience and they’ve played well starting from the first whistle up to the final (whistle).

“I’m sure we have learned one or two things from this team. We will try and do our best in the last game (against Costa Rica).”

-Reuters

WOMEN'S FOOTBALL

What a goal-laden day for Nigeria; Falconets also win with wide margin!

Published

4 hours ago

September 7, 2024

Kunle Solaja

Nigeria Super Falconets gave Nigerians additional joy after their 4-0 defeat of Venezuela in Cali, Colombia in their last group match. Their victory followed up with an earlier 3-0 win by the Super Eagles in their opening Group D match with Benin Republic in Uyo.

The Falconets’ win means they have qualified for the Round of 16 where they are most likely going to face Japan when the group games are completed on Sunday.

Both Nigeria and Germany tied on six points, but Germany have one goal better than Nigeria on goal difference.

The Super Falcons made early hays when Amina Bello put Nigeria ahead after 16 minutes. Chiamaka Okwuchukwu doubled the lead in the 28^th minute before Flourish Sebastine put in the third five minutes into the added time of the first half. Joy Igbokwe put in the back breaker four minutes into the added time of the second hald.

WOMEN'S FOOTBALL

Okwuchukwu shines despite Nigeria’s defeat to Germany in U-20 Women’s World Cup

Published

3 days ago

September 5, 2024

Kunle Solaja

Nigeria’s U-20 Women’s World Cup campaign suffered a setback as they fell to a 3-1 defeat against a clinical German side in Bogota, Colombia on Wednesday night.

The result secures Germany’s place in the knockout stages, while leaving the Falconets with work to do in their final group match.

In an end-to-end encounter, both sides created numerous chances, but it was Germany who struck first. Cora Zicai’s pinpoint cross found Alara Sehitler, who nodded home in the 17th minute to give the Europeans the lead.

Nigeria’s star performer, Chiamaka Okwuchukwu, had earlier come close to opening the scoring with a magnificent solo run, only to be denied by German goalkeeper Rebecca Adamczyk.

Okwuchukwu’s persistence paid off early in the second half when she capitalized on a defensive mix-up to draw Nigeria level, celebrating with Cristiano Ronaldo’s famous ‘siuuu’ celebration.

However, Germany’s quality shone through as they regained the lead through Sofie Zdebel, again assisted by the impressive Zicai.

Despite Okwuchukwu having another goal ruled out for offside, Germany sealed the win in stoppage time with Sarah Ernst’s powerful header.

The defeat leaves Nigeria on three points from two matches, with their final group game against Venezuela in Cali now crucial to their hopes of progressing.

WOMEN'S FOOTBALL

Points of Note in Falconets’ loss to Germany

Published

3 days ago

September 5, 2024

Kunle Solaja

Germany beat Nigeria’s Falconets 3-1 in their second group game of the FIFA U-20 World Cup. With Germany’s win, the Europeans have made it to the last 16 stage, even with a game to spare.

The coach of Germany, Kathrin Peter acknowledged the efforts of the Nigerian team , saying: “It was a really tough match today.

“That was expected, but we actually had big problems in defence. They had a few chances where we had the necessary luck, we have to admit that.

“But in the second half we were really good and asserted our dominance and I think we deserved to win in the end.”

Here are some major points:

Germany beat Nigeria 2-0 in the final match 14 years ago in Germany.

Germany have now won their last four FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup meetings with Nigeria. Alex Popp inspired a 2-0 victory in the 2010 final, Lena Petermann settled the decider in extra-time four year later, and Stefanie Sanders was the solitary scorer in Group D in 2018.