WOMEN'S FOOTBALL
Spain’s Paralluelo’s extra time strike inflicts pains on Netherlands
Substitute Salma Paralluelo scored an extra-time winner to lift Spain to a nervy 2-1 victory over the Netherlands on Friday and into the semi-finals of the Women’s World Cup for the first time.
The 19-year-old Barcelona winger broke the 1-1 deadlock when she latched onto a through ball, turned a Dutch defender inside and out and unleashed a shot that clanged off the post into the net.
“It means everthing for me, it was a unique moment, great euphoria … I’m extremely happy,” Paralluelo said.
The sixth-ranked La Roja, who had not advanced past the round of 16 in two previous two World Cup appearances, will face either Japan or Sweden for a place in the final in Auckland on Tuesday.
“We went to extra time, but the team kept on believing,” said coach Jorge Vilda. “They played on an extraordinary level, all players, and it was a match with a lot of emotional decisions, and the goal from Salma, it was sheer joy.”
All the goals came late in a tight game with Mariona Caldentey scoring Spain’s first from a penalty kick in the 81st minute after Dutch defender Stefanie Van der Gragt had handled the ball inside the box.
Van der Gragt, in her final match before retirement, earned some redemption when she equalised in the 91st minute to send the contest to extra time in front of 32,021 fans at Wellington Regional Stadium.
The ninth-ranked Dutch, who were runners-up to the United States four years ago in France, became the latest tournament favourites eliminated in a tournament full of upsets, with the U.S., Germany, Canada and Brazil already gone.
The Dutch had goalkeeper Daphne Van Domselaar to thank for not falling behind in the 17th minute after she made a fabulous diving save to bat Alba Redondo’s close-range header onto the post.
The ball bounced back to Redondo, who pinged a second attempt off the same woodwork.
Spain continued to dominate possession and appeared to have been rewarded with a goal in the 37th minute when Redondo had trouble controlling a cross in front of the net, but Esther Gonzalez poked it in from an offside position.
The Dutch were poised to celebrate a penalty in the 64th minute after Spanish defender Irene Paredes barged Lineth Beerensteyn over in the area but again VAR intervened.
“It should have been a penalty after all, but it still doesn’t mean that Spain didn’t win deservedly,” said Dutch coach Andries Jonker.
Beerensteyn had several excellent scoring chances late in extra time, but the Juventus striker fired one shot wide of the net and another just over the crossbar.
“That was the moment we should have taken a chance,” said Jonker. “Had we made it, we’d have been convinced to make it through the semi-finals and make it to the final.”
Spain’s historic progress comes despite an ugly player revolt in the build-up to the tournament.
Fifteen players declared themselves unavailable for selection in September, saying events with the national team had impacted their emotional and physical health. They directed the bulk of complaints at Vilda.
The Spanish federation backed the coach but only six of the mutineers returned to play at the World Cup.
-Reuters
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 28th 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.
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.
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.
- This was just Nigeria’s third loss in their past 24 group matches at the tournament.
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