FIFA Women’s World Cup: Spain into round of 16 after easing past Zambia

At Eden Park, Auckland: Spain 5 (Teresa Abelleira 9’, Jennifer Hermoso 14’ 70’, Alba Redondo 69’ 86’) Zambia 0. HT: 2-0

Group C points (games played): Spain 6 (2), Japan 6 (2), Costa Rica 0 (2), Zambia 0 (2)

Spain have brushed past Zambia to book their place in the round of 16 at the FIFA Women’s World Cup.

They scored twice inside the opening quarter of an hour on their way to a 5-0 win at Eden Park in Auckland in front of a 20,983-strong crowd on Wednesday night.

There was a spot of confusion around their fourth goal in the 70th minute – Jennifer Hermoso’s 50th for her country in her 100th cap – which was only given after a video assistant referee review found there hadn’t been an offside in the buildup, as originally flagged.

Referee Oh-Hyeon Jeong misspoke as she announced the decision, leading to the unusual sight of Spain running together to celebrate while the crowd stayed largely silent: “After the review no goal, no offside. No, no, no. No offside. Final decision is goal. Goal!”

The final standings in group C will be decided at 7pm on Monday night in Wellington, when Spain meets Japan in a battle between two unbeaten teams.

Japan earlier beat Costa Rica 2-0 in Dunedin, leaving Spain needing to score five goals in Auckland in order to have the superior goal difference and finish top should their head-to-head clash end in a draw, a task they accomplished with four minutes to spare.

It’s likely neither group C team will be too worried about the identity of their round of 16 opponent, as it will come from group A, where none of the four teams – New Zealand, Switzerland, the Philippines and Norway – has been a standout.

But there will be something to play for, as the winner of group C will avoid potentially playing the winner of group E – likely to be the winner of Thursday’s meeting between the United States and the Netherlands – in the quarterfinals.

The Eden Park crowd were on the side of the underdogs from Africa, with star striker Barbra Banda’s every touch greeted by an incredible roar.

She had her best chance just eight minutes in, picking the ball up on the right and cutting in before sending a tame effort straight at Misa Rodriguez in goal.

Less than a minute later, Teresa Abelleira opened the scoring down the other end, sending a rocket of a shot from outside the box into the top-left corner.

Zambia had their third-choice goalkeeper, Eunice Sakala, starting, after a pre-tournament knee injury to their No 1 Hazel Nali and the sending off of their No 2 Catherine Musonda in their opening 5-0 loss to Japan in Hamilton.

Even the best goalkeeper in the world wouldn’t have been able to do anything about Abelleira’s quality strike, which was followed by a header from Hermoso at the back post, meeting an Alexia Putellas cross, just five minutes later.

Putellas, the 2021 and 2022 Ballon d’Or winner was making her first start of the World Cup, after only coming off the bench in Spain’s opening 3-0 win over Costa Rica in Wellington.

Alba Redondo did well to stay on side before rounding Sakala in the 69th minute to score Spain’s third, while Hermoso finished with a brace and a milestone, though she was made to wait for it. Redondo then added a second, courtesy of a VAR decision the referee made sure to announce perfectly.

While Spain and Japan meet at Wellington Regional Stadium on Monday, Zambia and Costa Rica will now being playing for pride in Hamilton.