The revolutionary Salma and a shot with the soul lead Spain to the final

2023-08-15 11:57:25

Barcelona Spain, with eight Barça players as protagonists, will play in the World Cup final. So shallow and short it’s scary. Two goals from Salma Paralluelo and Olga Carmona in the final stretch of the match against Sweden take the red team to a milestone that until recently was unattainable for state women’s football. Whatever happens on Sunday, the history books will be full of it. Jorge Vilda, a survivor of a riot, will be able to explain it to his grandchildren. Who will now lift him from the selector’s chair?

That overcoming Sweden, a country with a more consolidated tradition than Spain, was a hard bone to gnaw on has been noticed from the first minute. The Nordic combination, a regular in these instances of a World Cup, has presented a middle block to short-circuit the opponents’ attempts to circulate the ball. The suffocating pressure, the fierce disputes and the lack of spaces have negatively conditioned the creative phase of the Spanish team, which has had to pull epic to achieve a goal that seemed almost impossible weeks ago.

Aitana and Alexia, who were reunited in an eleven due to the return of Molletana to ownership, found it difficult to connect meaningful plays. Batlle on the right and Mariona on the left had problems to progress on the wing and serve good balls in the area. And Hermoso, once again a reference to Esther’s detriment, was constantly receiving from the back, with the breath of the Swedish powerhouses on the back of his neck. In this context, the clearest opportunity for the roja before the break, Olga Carmona took the lead with a long shot that went off the post (14′). He was a small player from the side of Madrid.

As the minutes passed, the physical superiority has made Sweden progress in attack. Gerhardsson’s have started to find Kaneryd, Rolfö and Blackstenius in advantageous positions and have demanded Paredes and Codina, a pair of central players who, in the absence of Mapi León, have ended up being confirmed as one of the best in the World Cup. This growing dynamic offered the only opportunity for the Nordics in the first 45 minutes. It has also been the clearest so far. Blaugrana’s Rolfö found a shot at the second post after a good cross from Bjorn and asked for a great pull from Cata Coll, substitute for Barça and starter ahead of Misa with Spain. The Mallorcan is quite a revelation. Let Sandra Paños tremble.

Exchange of blows that has made Spain triumph

The passage through the changing rooms has allowed the Spanish women to regain oxygen, but this has not allowed them to gain ground on the Swedes, who have come out of the break determined to impose their hierarchy. They tried it with crosses from outside to inside that called for Coll’s attention and also forcing corners so that their header – central Ilestedt, four goals in this championship – tried to fish out the danger to turn it into a goal. Vilda has reacted to the declining trend by introducing the heroine of the quarter-finals.

Salma Paralluelo replaced Alexia, who lasted 57 minutes in the first level, and Spain immediately had a threat in the space that Hermoso had freed up. In this new framework, the young woman from Aragon and the veteran from Madrid created the clearest chance after the restart. The second fell to the wing, she took a cross for the first and a third, Alba Redondo, was about to kiss the net with a shot from the grass with the left. The ball hit the post when neither Musovic nor any defender could react to reject it (70′).

This occasion served as a warning of what would happen 10 minutes later, again with Hermoso released to think about the three quarters and Salma fixing the rival defense in the area. The Pachuca player brought down a spur ball with tremendous quality and placed it for Eva Navarro, another of Vilda’s changes, to attempt a shot at the far post. Then, a bad rejection by Sweden gave a meter and a second to Paralluelo, who with his theoretically bad leg (the right) found the only hole to hit Musovic’s net. Protagonist in the quarters and also in the semi-finals. At 19 years old, he has scored eight goals in twelve games with the absolute. Not bad at all.

Sweden still had gas to at least equalize. Blomqvist did it, who came on from the bench, after a move in which the Swedes made the centimeters count. But when everything was set for a new extension, Olga Carmona returned the advantage to Spain with a long shot, full of malice, that Musovic could not dislodge. A release with soul that makes history and breaks ceilings. England or Australia, who play this Wednesday, will be the rivals in the final. At this point, Vilda could be world champion and Aitana win a Ballon d’Or. What if…

Spain: Cata Coll, Ona Batlle, Paredes, Laia Codina, Olga Carmona, Tere Abelleira, Aitana, Alexia (Salma Paralluelo, 57), Alba Redondo (Eva Navarro, 73′), Jenni Hermoso and Mariona (Esther, 94′). Coach: Jorge Vilda. Sweden: Musovic; Bjorn, Ilestedt, Ericsson, Andersson, Angeldahl, Rubensson (Hurtig, 86′), Kaneryd (Schough, 77′), Asllani, Rolfö and Blackstenius (Blomqvist, 77′). Coach: Peter Gerhardsson. Goals: 1-0 (Salma Paralluelo, 81′), 1-1 (Blomqvist, 88′), 2-1 (Olga Carmona, 89′). Referee: Edina Alves Batista (Brazil). Yellow cards: None. Red cards: None. Stadium: Eden Park. 42,217 people.