Spain held off a late Swedish surge to reach the final.
Spain defeated Sweden 2-1 in the semifinals of the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia-New Zealand 2023 on Friday at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand.
It was Spain’s first-ever appearance in the final. Spain was eliminated in the group stage at the last edition in Canada in 2015 and had to settle for the round of 16 in France in 2019.
Spain swept Costa Rica and Zambia 3-0 and 5-0 in the group stage of the tournament, respectively. However, a 0-4 defeat in their final match against Japan saw them finish second in the group and advance to the round of 16.
The Spaniards, however, went on to beat Switzerland 5-1 in the round of 16 and defending champions Netherlands 2-1 in the quarterfinals to reach the semifinals. Spain will play the winner of the quarterfinal between Australia and England for the title on April 20.
Sweden, meanwhile, lost to Spain for the first time in Pool A, pushing them into the third and fourth place match. The Swedes had dominated the Spanish with seven wins and four draws before this match.
Sweden is one of the strongest nations to ever qualify for the tournament. They have never won the title, but have finished runner-up once (USA 2003) and third three times (China 1991, Germany 2011, France 2019).
Once again, Sweden breezed through the group stage, defeating South Africa, Italy, and Argentina to reach the round of 16. They then defeated favorites USA and Japan to reach the quarterfinals. Sweden will play the loser of the Australia-England quarterfinal on June 19 for third and fourth place.
The match between Spain and Sweden was tied at 0-0 through the first half and into the 80th minute, before Spain took the lead in the 36th minute. However, Sweden equalized in the 43rd minute when Rebecca Blomkvist scored on a right-footed shot to make it 1-1.
Sweden’s Olga Carmona scored the game-winner in the 44th minute. Carmona finished off a Teresa Aveira corner kick with a powerful right-footed finish. 먹튀검증