World Champions Spain Suffers Surprise Defeat But Moves Close To Olympics Place
UEFA Nations League: The Spanish women's football team assured their place in the final four of the UEFA Nations League and are a win away from booking their place at next summer's Olympic Games despite a surprise 3-2 defeat to Italy on Friday night.The recently crowned world champions had their place in the semi-final of the Nations League assured in the 25th minute of the game, when news of Switzerland's 1-0 win over Sweden came through to confirm their qualification for the last-four of the Nations League, where a win would take them to Paris next summer.
Spain dominated the first half of the match and opened the scoring in the 11th minute when Athenea del Castillo found space on the right of the Italian penalty area, worked space and rifled in a powerful shot at the near post.
The Spanish controlled the first half on a pitch in the city of Pontevedra, but despite spending most of the time camped in the Italian half, they didn't create many clear chances.
Valentina Giacinti made Spain pay in the first minute of the second half, and Manuela Giugliano put Italy ahead in the 57th minute. Elena Linari made it 3-1 with a header from a corner just seven minutes later.
The Spanish were stunned, but never let their heads drop and with the mist descending over the ground, Esther Gonzalez pulled one goal back for Spain.
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A new final round of four starts tonight! 🤩 The Netherlands host this year’s Nations League finals, which will be very exciting games. 👏🏻 Which team will lift the trophy on Sunday, Croatia, Spain, Italy or the Netherlands? 🏆 | #stickersandscarfs #nationsleague #hns #vamosespaña #azzuri #osnoranje #dekuip #grolschveste
Have you seen the tweet about playing minutes for sep - oct for the Barca players? Ona came in first with the most minutes. I’m hoping she gets a rest on Sunday as much as I love to see her play
really? didn't know that because she missed a game but definitely hope she get's a rest she also played the full 90min in both Nationsleague games
i just watched the wc prediction video with jaime carragher & why am i so convinced that that is pretty much how the tournament will go? maybe because they went with the most obvious choices, but we have seen in the past, that you can't really rely only on the 'big football nations'.
also, i know he is a former english player and therefore biased & i am german and therefore biased, but he kept saying he does not trust the german team and will lose the round of 16 against croatia (which could happen, tbf) because of their performance in the nationsleague, yet england would make it into the semi-finals (have we seen the same nationsleague?) & win against denmark to get there. let the tumblerinas do a prediction video, smh.
anyhow, i did some thinking (again), and emotionally, i would love it for germany and also denmark (because i love them) to perform very well. but this wc is so shitty & messed up, i actually don't want them to win? they better be good in the next euros, because that might be more or less the same squad, in germanys case at least (i know we don't know about thomas & manu yet, but still).
The UEFA Nations League is a unique football competition designed to replace international friendlies with more competitive and structured matches. Learn about its formation, structure, advantages, and disadvantages. read the full article: https://bit.ly/3ZhuQcB #UEFA #NationsLeague #football #sports #competition read more: what is uefa nations league