The players hugged and turned towards Paralluelo, who was going crazy with joy on the pitch, while the Spanish coaching staff threw themselves into each other's arms in happiness. The 2019 World Cup runner-up victory brought Spain to the semi-finals of the Women's World Cup for the first time in history, showing the continuous progress of women's football in the land of bulls.
The great impression that Alexia Putellas (2021 and 2022 Women's Ballon d'Or winner) and her teammates like Aitanam Bonmati, Irene Paredes and Jennifer Hermoso created is hard to forget. It was the best attacking football in the tournament, the most dedicated in the tournament, imposing their style of play on the opponent almost absolutely. The fact that they only scored 15 goals from 132 shots (the most in the tournament) in confrontations where they had 70 - 80% possession is a number that shows two things: first, they are too strong and can create countless opportunities; second: they are also relatively wasteful.
The Spanish team (left) will have a dramatic match with Sweden at 3pm today.
Reaching the semi-finals of the 2023 World Cup could simply cover up Spain's unresolved problems. A number of players from the Spanish women's team, including many of the main players playing in this World Cup such as Ona Battle, Marionna Caldentey and Aitana Bonmati, have submitted a petition to the Spanish Football Federation demanding that coach Vilda be fired, for imposing too many harsh rules on the players. For example, forcing players to open their hotel rooms so he could check if they were there. Many of them chose not to join the team after this petition was not resolved. The decision of the main players to go to the 2023 World Cup has also caused conflicts with many other teammates. Therefore, the victories are keeping the fire burning for Spain, preventing internal problems from erupting.
Sweden need to have a perfect game plan to prevent Spain from shining, and what they have shown in the last two knockout matches has shown that coach Peter Gerhardson's team has more than enough patience to neutralize the toughest opponents. They were patient until the end to beat the defending champions, the United States, when they were cornered. They were also very persistent in their tit-for-tat match against Japan. Sweden do not attract as much attention as Spain or other opponents. Their ambition is very high at the moment. Sweden always stops before any big opportunity. They reached 8 semi-finals in the last 10 EUROs without winning a title. They also won silver medals in women's football at the last 2 Olympics. And the World Cup? The last time they reached the final was 20 years ago, when they lost to Germany at the 2003 Women's World Cup.
It is no surprise that against Spain, the world's number 3 team still relies on the alertness and solidity of the defense with goalkeeper Zerica Musovic, center back Amanda Ilestedt, who is in the race for the top scorer of the tournament with 4 goals (1 goal less than Miyazawa of the Japanese team, but Japan was eliminated) and the commanding ability of captain Kosovare Asllani. They do not have big stars with the ability to explode like Spain, nor are they good at attacking and turning around in tight spaces. But as captain Asllani said: "We push each other on the training ground and in matches. We have a very good relationship with each other, close to each other. That makes Sweden strong".
What will happen today at Eden Park, will the Spanish fire burn everything down, or be extinguished by the pragmatism and cold Nordic Sweden?
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