2023-08-11 12:26:48
Salma Paralluelo propelled Spain into the semifinals once morest the Netherlands in a thriller. Just a year ago, the 19-year-old super talent was on two tracks.
Spain and Sweden are the top two semi-finalists at the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. After the 2-1 (1-1, 0-0) following extra time once morest the Netherlands, Spain paid homage to 19-year-old Salma Paralluelo, who made the semi-finals for the first time perfect in the 111th minute with a precise shot into the far corner. In front of 32,021 spectators in Wellington, Maria Caldentey (81st) and Holland captain Stefanie van de Gragt (90th + 1 / penalty) had previously scored.
“It’s important for all of us,” Paralluelo said. “We made it. We fought to the end. We believed in ourselves.” Coach Jorge Vilda summed it up: “We’re continuing to make history. It was a game that was more difficult than it might have been.” His team “continued to fight” despite the Dutch side’s late equalizer in injury time.
Gold in the hurdles
Spain’s heroine Paralluelo, whose mother comes from Equatorial Guinea, was also a great hope for Spain as a track and field talent until a year ago. As a 15-year-old, she represented her country in the 400-meter sprint at the European Indoor Championships. At the European Youth Olympic Festival in Baku in 2019, she won gold in the 400m hurdles and in the relay. She was already U17 world champion with Spain’s soccer players. In the previous year, the U-20 World Cup title and a contract with FC Barcelona followed – and with it the farewell to the tartan track: “It was difficult for me to give up this sport, but I had to take the step. It’s a privilege to be with to play for the best team in the world.”
All former world champion countries are out
To the tunes of ABBA’s “Mamma Mia”, the Swedes closed a big circle and shouted their joy out into the Auckland night. On the other hand, bitter tears flowed from Japan’s footballers, who surprisingly said goodbye to the World Cup following the 1: 2 (0: 1) in the quarterfinals once morest Sweden. Of the four previous title holders since the first edition of the World Cup in 1991, the last one left following Germany, the USA and Norway.
Japan’s captain Saki Kumagai, like her teammates, was disappointed following being knocked out in her fourth World Cup appearance. “We fought so hard because we wanted to,” she said on Friday. “Of course we wanted to get through to the next round.” After four convincing victories once morest Zambia (5-0), Costa Rica (2-0), co-favorite Spain (4-0) and most recently once morest Norway (3-1) in the round of 16, the Japanese dream of a second World Cup title following 2011 was shattered . “We will come back stronger,” promised Kumagai.
The Japanese had found their combination game too late once morest Sweden. Honoka Hayashis only scored the goal in the 87th minute, before Riko Ueki threw a penalty into the crossbar (76th). Amanda Ilestedt (32′) and Filippa Angeldal (51’/penalty) scored for the overall better Swedes in front of 43,217 spectators in Auckland.
Coach Peter Gerhardsson was “in a really good mood” because of the triumph, which was not necessarily expected. The 63-year-old head coach, whose team had already shot record world champions USA out of the tournament on penalties in the round of 16, was delighted with a “really good performance”.
“We expected Japan to be a technically very strong team that would have a lot of the ball,” said midfielder Kosovare Asllani. ” Looking ahead to the semifinals once morest the powerful Spaniards, she announced: “That’s what we want: we want to play once morest the best teams!”
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