Three first half goals were all the La Roja of Spain needed to win full three points against Costa Rica in the opening encounter of World Women’s Football Cup Group C at the 32,500 capacity Wellington Regional Stadium in New Zealand on Friday morning Nigerian time.
From the blast of the whistle, Spain heaped pressure on Costa Rica until a flip cross from Aitana Bonmati forced Valeria Del Campo to divert the ball into her own net in the 21st minute like Bridge makers in Nigeria who love to divert traffic while undertaking constructions.
Some two minutes to that goal, Bonmati who is a team mate of Azezat Oshoala at Barca came smoking again stockpiling pressure as she collected a thorough pass from team mate, Batile to score the 2nd goal at 23rd minute.
Before the Costa Ricans could regroup for a counter attack, Esther Gonzalez got a rebound from the cross bar to poke in the 3rd goal at 27th minute. The rest was a ding dong affair with Spain missing too many chances.
It was obvious the La Roja Babes of Spain were more superior to the Telatiel of Costa Rica. Spain had 46 shots at goal with 12 on target to only one of Costa Rica with no shot at all on target. Spain dominated ball possession with 81-19% running rings round their opponents.
The passes buttressed the possessions of Spain at 596 – 158; the corner kicks were astonishing at 22-1 as the Costa Ricans have not heard of the phrase in football, SAVE CORNER which could birth a penalty kick or outright goal. The foul calls were close 10-9 Spain guiltier.
The outstanding round one match between African Representatives, Zambia and Japan will be played on Saturday Morning at Hamilton. The second round matches of the Group are on Wednesday 26th July with Japan versus Costa Rica at Dunedin and Spain versus Zambia at Wellington same Wednesday. On Monday 31st July the last group matches will be played between Japan and Spain at Wellington and Zambia will take on Costa Rica at Dunedin.
Spain and Costa Rica met thrice. On 15th November 2011 they played 2-2 draw; Spain won 2-1 on 11th June 2015 and in their last meeting played 11th November 2017 Spain was superior by 5-0.
The Spanish side had beaten Slovenia 17-0 at Palamos on 20th March 1994 but the country suffered heavy defeat from Sweden 0-8 on home ground at Ganalia, Spain on 2nd June 1996. The Spanish women are making their 3rd appearance at the world cup finals. Their best performance was getting into the Round of 16 at Canada 2019 where USA beat the country 2-1 at Reins on 24th June.
Costa Rica is in their second appearances. The team has never gone beyond the group stage. The team has a stunning defeat record like Nigeria losing thrice by 0-8 to Brazil on 22nd June 2000; to USA at Louisville on25th June 2000 and again to USA at Pittsburgh USA on 16th August 2015.
Four matches will be played on Saturday 22nd July. USA will meet Vietnam at 0200 hours in group E encounter at Eden Park; African representative Zambia will square up with Asian giants, Japan at 0800 hours in Group C match at Waikato New Zealand; England will trade tackles with Haiti at 1030 hours in a Group D match at Suncorp Stadium Australia and at 1300 hours, Denmark and China will take to the turf in a group D match at NIB Stadium, Perth Australia.
Eniola Olatunji reporting for Patmos Media Line.
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