Spain had themselves a field day in the first knockout stage game of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.
Though they were beaten 4-0 in their final group stage game against Japan at Sky Stadium, they bounced back in a big way, racking up four goals in the first half en route to a 5-1 victory over Switzerland at Eden Park for their first ever win in the knockout stage.
Two goals from midfielder Aitana Bonmatí paved the way to victory in front of a crowd of 43,217, a record attendance for an association football game in New Zealand.
One recurring theme for Spain is their youth movement, which has worked out nicely for them as two of their goal scorers are 25 or younger, and have played 10 players in this match that are 25 or younger.
Among one of those is Cata Coll, who made her FIFA Women's World Cup debut this match, in place of María Rodríguez, coming off a championship run with Barcelona in the UEFA Women's Champions League. While she was tested early, she didn't have to do a lot, as she faced just one shot on goal, where she stopped Meriame Terchoun off a centering feed from Ana-Maria Crnogorčević.
The 6th-ranked Spaniards didn't waste any time getting on the board first, as Bonmatí cleaned up a rebound chance by Alba Redondo after Swiss netminder Gaëlle Thalmann made a jumping stop with her left hand on the forward. Bonmatí got the pass from Redondo at the center of the box before left-footing a shot past the goalie.
Bonmatí's second goal came at the 36th minute, and the footwork from her was nasty on that goal. She faked out a Swiss defender, and shot it right through a hole where there were four defenders, and froze Thalmann for the fourth brace by a Spanish player in Women's World Cup history, and the third in this year's World Cup alone, joining Jenni Hermoso and Redondo.
Redondo had a goal of her own at the 17th minute after a great rush to keep the ball in the attacking zone by Bonmatí, sending the ball to the penalty area, where Redondo head-balled it right past a diving Thalmann at the bottom left corner.
It appeared as if Switzerland was getting some life after allowing a goal in this year's World Cup for the first time when a miscommunication between Laia Codina and Coll caused a back pass between the two traveling down the distance and into the net 11 minutes in, tying the game at 1-1.
But Spain quelled all the concerns afterwards, dominating the first half the rest of the way, with Codina redeeming herself at the 45th minute after a corner kick. A scramble ensued inside the box, and Codina shot three times before the ball rolled into the net after having it blocked twice.
La Roja added a fifth goal in the second half with a goal from top scorer Hermoso following a giveaway by the Swiss to generate a 3-on-1 to put the game away.
It was the bounce-back performance that head coach Jorge Vilda was looking for, getting the job done before both teams headed to their locker rooms at halftime.
Spain came into the 2023 Women's World Cup with a lot of doubt after a feud between Vilda and many of the senior players on the team, but those differences have been set aside for the moment in their third win in four games in New Zealand.
They dominated possession to the tune of having the ball for 70% of the time, with that number being as high as 77%. Those numbers were the highest possession rate of any team in a knockout game in the last four Women's World Cups.
Switzerland exits having allowed five goals, all of them coming in this match, after qualifying for the knockout stage by taking Group A despite having not scored for 217 consecutive minutes, including the first eleven minutes of this game. Their only two goals in the group stage came against the Philippines in the first game.
While their defense was seemingly impenetrable during the group stage, sometimes the best defense is a good offense. They consistently struggled to generate chances, and Coumba Sow was caught offside on what looked like the best chance of the game from Ramona Bachmann on a through ball to her.
The only goal they scored was not on one of their two shots of the game, and while head coach Inka Grings emphasized on the goal scoring department, they had trouble cracking through Spain's defense.
Spain now moves on to face the winner between the Netherlands and South Africa. That game will be at 10 PM EDT, televised on FOX for American viewers and TSN for Canadian viewers.
Scoring
Spain, 5': Aitana Bonmatí [2], left foot shot from center of the box to bottom right corner, assisted by Alba Redondo [1]. 1-0 Spain
Switzerland, 11': Own goal by Laia Codina. 1-1 Tie
Spain, 17': Alba Redondo [3], header from center of the box to bottom left corner, assisted by Aitana Bonmatí [1]. 2-1 Spain
Spain, 36': Aitana Bonmatí [3], left foot shot from center of the box to bottom left corner. 3-1 Spain
Spain, 45': Laia Codina [1], right foot shot from very close range to center of the goal following a corner. 4-1 Spain
Spain, 70': Jenni Hermoso [3], left foot shot from center of the box to bottom left corner, assisted by Aitana Bonmatí [2] with a through ball. 5-1 Spain
Substitutions
Switzerland, 45': Sandrine Mauron replaces Géraldine Reuteler.
Switzerland, 45': Viola Calligaris replaces Eseosa Aigbogun.
Switzerland, 45': Meriame Terchoun replaces Coumba Sow.
Spain, 64': María Pérez replaces Teresa Abelleira.
Spain, 64': Eva Navarro replaces Esther González.
Switzerland, 75': Fabienne Humm replaces Seraina Piubel.
Spain, 77': Alexia Putellas replaces Jenni Hermoso.
Spain, 77': Irene Guerrero replaces Aitana Bonmatí.
Spain, 84': Athenea del Castillo replaces Salma Paralluelo.
Switzerland, 84': Lara Marti replaces Nadine Riesen.
Disciplinary
Switzerland, 73': Julia Stierli is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Team Stats
Possession: Spain 70% advantage
Shots: Spain 26, Switzerland 2
On Target: Spain 10, Switzerland 1
Fouls: Spain 15, Switzerland 6
Yellow Cards: Spain 0, Switzerland 1
Red Cards: Spain 0, Switzerland 0
Offsides: Spain 1, Switzerland 1
Corner Kicks: Spain 11, Switzerland 0
Saves: Spain 1, Switzerland 5
Miscellaneous
Venue: Eden Park
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Attendance: 43,217 (Capacity: 50,000)
Referee: Cheryl Foster (Wales)
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