World Cup victory against Switzerland
Curious own goal leaves furious Spain cold
8/5/2023 8:58 am
The Spaniards appear to have recovered well from the preliminary round slap against Japan at the World Cup. In the round of 16, the team rolls across Switzerland in a highly one-sided game. Even a wild own goal to equalize in the meantime doesn’t bother Spain.
Spain’s footballers eliminated Inka Grings and Switzerland from the tournament and became the first team to reach the World Cup quarter-finals. National coach Jorge Vilda’s team deservedly won 5-1 (4-1) against the Swiss in Auckland, and even a curious own goal didn’t faze the favorites. “Today we met an opponent who was a size too big,” Grings admitted on ZDF: “The fact that we let ourselves go and didn’t show any aggression, then you can’t win a game like that – especially not in the round of 16 . In a game like this I expect more aggressiveness.”
The outstanding Aitana Bonmati (5th/36th) with a brace, Alba Redondo (17th) with a header, Laia Codina (45th) and Jennifer Hermoso (70th) scored the goals of the world number six in front of 43,217 spectators. Former national coach Grings was able to celebrate the equalizer for a short time when Codina (11th) took her goalkeeper Cata Coll by surprise from around 40 meters and hit her own goal with a back pass in a curious way. The bottom line, however, was that their team had no chance.
The “Furia Roja” was immediately the game-determining team and seemed to want to make forget the 0:4 in the preliminary round against Japan. In the case of Switzerland, on the other hand, it was not clear how they wanted to throw the playfully strong Spaniards out of the game. In addition, the previously stable Swiss defense – Grings’ team had entered the knockout stage without conceding a goal – revealed some gaps. At 1:0, goalkeeper Gaelle Thalmann clarified brilliantly before Bonmati put the ball in the opponent’s penalty area with his heel and finished with a targeted left. A very similar picture emerged at 3:1.
Spain’s coach Vilda made five changes after the Japan defeat, including surprisingly putting Coll in goal instead of Misa. The other changes also bore fruit: Switzerland around captain Lia Wälti from Arsenal hardly developed. After the break, the team from the Iberian peninsula managed the clear score, Hermoso’s goal after a Swiss mistake in the build-up of the game eliminated the remaining doubts.