There was all the talk about a 5.6 magnitude earthquake that struck central New Zealand an hour before Spain's match against the Netherlands at Wellington, with the quake striking while thousands of football/soccer fans were headed to Sky Stadium.
Spain shrugged it off, dealing the damage of their own earthquake to the Netherlands in the final 40 minutes of action with a 2-1 extra time victory.
Scoring the game winner for Spain was 19-year-old Salma Paralluelo at the 111th minute, propelling the country to the semifinals of the Women's World Cup for the first time ever.
Jenni Hermoso set up the teenager in a fast break opportunity, to which Paralluelo instead cut back as one of France's defenders came right onto her, then hit her defender with a move as she accelerated to the box, where she fired the ball off the inside of the right post and in for her first World Cup goal.
On the other goal for Spain was Mariona Caldentey for her 20th career goal on the international stage, converting on a penalty kick in the 81st minute after Dutch defender Stefanie van der Gragt inadvertently handballed the ball inside the box. Caldentey knocked the ball off the left post and in.
Van der Gragt appeared to have gotten away with a handball at the 17th minute with Alba Rendondo hitting the post twice, the first coming from a header set up by Caldentey that went off of goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar and off the left post, then Redondo hit the same post again on the rebound when she raced for the ball.
Though the Dutch defender, in her final World Cup appearance, earned some redemption when she had the equalizing goal at the first minute of stoppage time in the second half, getting right by everyone, breaking free from everyone and fired a shot to the left, sending the game to extra time.
Once again, Spain took control of play offensively, fresh off a match where they fired 26 shots at Switzerland, this time firing 28 shots on the Netherlands in what was their first extra time match in the FIFA Women's World Cup.
The chances were there left and right, starting with a give-and-go feed between Esther González and Hermoso, with González creating the space as she was heading inside the box at the 4th minute.
González had another opportunity 18 minutes after that with a shot from distance that was met by van Domselaar.
She had a third one at the 42nd minute as she got a feed into the box from Caldentey, and a quick shot bounced off the Dutch goalkeeper. Ona Battle followed it up with a high shot at the third minute of stoppage time in the first half.
A fourth chance from González came in the opening seconds of the second half that was inches to the right of the goal.
Originally, she had a goal at the 37th minute, having appeared to have scored the first goal of the game off a cross pass inside the box from Redondo, leaving van Domselaar with no chance to stop the shot, but González was caught offside, overturning the goal.
Van Domselaar continued to get tested, stopping a Teresa Abelleira shot from distance that was set up by a give-and-go from Caldentey at the 73rd minute.
She also read a cross to her left when Oihane Hernández was looking to set up González in the box, though Hernández would get a yellow card for kicking Jackie Groenen on the right foot while trying to contest the ball.
Because it is her second yellow card of the tournament, she received an automatic one-game suspension for yellow card accumulation.
It appeared the Netherlands would get a penalty kick in the 64th minute when Lineth Beerensteyn got shoved down from behind by one of Spain's defenders when racing for a shot, but, controversially, the penalty got overturned.
Most of their chances came in the second half, but at the 28th minute, a race for the ball was won by Beerensteyn, who kept the ball in and found the open Esmee Brugts. Brugts was looking for Lieke Martens to tip the ball in with a header, but the ball was a little high for Martens.
Beerensteyn had two great chances for the Netherlands late in the game, with cone coming in the final stages of the second half and the other in extra time. Five minutes before van der Gragt's goal, Beerensteyn got on a 3-on-2 rush down the far side of the field, but the shot was stopped by Catalina Coll.
Then in the 18th minute of extra time, she had the best chance for the Netherlands to take their first lead of the game, collecting a bouncing ball that was in front of her, only for the ball to be partially deflected off a defender on the shot and wide.
And in the end, it is La Roja pushing through with Jorge Vilda as their coach, overcoming every bit of adversity they were facing since the start of the tournament.
Last October, 15 of head coach Jorge Vilda's players wrote a letter to the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) demanding changes. While they did not want Vilda fired, they only wanted improvements behind the scenes. RFEF decided to support Vilda, who has been in charge of the team since 2015.
While they struggled to calm things down since the player mutiny, with three of "las 15" making it to the roster this year, they are now one game away from the Women's World Cup Final.
The situation is not the most ideal, but it shows that Spain can put their differences aside between the coaches and teammates and get the job done, which they did against the Oranje.
The performance they put up against the Netherlands was one in which the game plan worked perfectly against the 2019 runners-up. Against the physical Dutch, Spain controlled the ball, generated more spacing, and took command on both sides of the field.
One common complaint that the players from las 15 was that there wasn't enough preparation or a stable game plan to defeat England in the Euro 2022—they allegedly didn't have the video of England's set pieces and tactics. This win points to the lessons learned, and with Vilda and the players getting better prepared ahead.
What happens from here on out is yet to be seen, but Vilda has likely rewarded himself with an extended stay with the Spain women's team.
He and his players will face Sweden in the semifinals at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand, at 4:00 AM EDT on August 15th. The game will be on FOX for American audiences, TSN for Canadian audiences, and Televisa for Mexican audiences. The Spanish-speaking broadcast for American audiences is available on Telemundo.
Scoring
Spain, 81': Mariona Caldentey [1], penalty kick conversion with right foot shot to bottom left corner. 1-0 Spain
Netherlands, 90'+1': Stefanie van der Gragt [2], right foot shot from right side of the box to bottom left corner, assisted by Victoria Pelova [3] with a through ball. 1-1 Tie
Spain, 111': Salma Paralluelo [1], left foot shot from center of the box to bottom right corner, assisted by Jenni Hermoso [2]. 2-1 Spain
Substitutions
Netherlands, 61': Lynn Wilms replaces Jill Roord.
Spain, 71': Salma Paralluelo replaces Alba Redondo.
Spain, 77': Ivana Andrés replaces Laia Codina because of an injury.
Netherlands, 85': Katja Snoeijs replaces Sherida Spitse.
Spain, 87': Irene Guerrero replaces Aitana Bonmatí.
Netherlands, 89': Aniek Nouwen replaces Esmee Brugts.
Spain, 90': Olga Carmona replaces Oihane Hernández.
Netherlands, 96': Caitlin Dijkstra replaces Damaris Egurrola because of an injury.
Spain, 100': Alexia Putellas replaces Mariona Caldentey.
Spain, 100': Eva Navarro replaces Esther González.
Netherlands, 105': Kerstin Casparij replaces Stefanie van der Gragt.
Disciplinary
Spain, 35': Oihane Hernández is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Netherlands, 61': Damaris Egurrola is shown the yellow card.
Team Stats
Possession: Spain 62% advantage
Shots: Spain 28, Netherlands 10
On Target: Spain 8, Netherlands 4
Fouls: Spain 7, Netherlands 22
Yellow Cards: Spain 1, Netherlands 1
Red Cards: Spain 0, Netherlands 0
Offsides: Spain 1, Netherlands 2
Corner Kicks: Spain 8, Netherlands 2
Saves: Spain 3, Netherlands 6
Miscellaneous
Venue: Sky Stadium (Wellington Regional Stadium)
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
Attendance: 32,021 (Capacity: 34,500)
Referee: Stephanie Frappart (France)
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