World Cup NOW: Why Spain’s dominant win disappointed

The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup continued Friday with Spain shutting out Costa Rica in impressive fashion, 3-0, at Wellington Regional Stadium in New Zealand.

Spain’s first goal came in the 21st minute when a cross bounced off a Costa Rica defender’s boot and into the net for an own goal. Moments later, La Roja pushed its lead to 2-0 on a left-footed blast from midfielder Aitana Bonmati. Esther Gonzalez made it 3-0, collecting a loose ball and shoving it into the net in the 27th minute. 

Just like that, the Spanish scored three times in six minutes to take a commanding lead that it never relinquished. However, there were still some aspects of Spain’s game that raised some eyebrows — like the 46 total shots taken.

The “World Cup NOW” crew — Jimmy Conrad, Leslie Osborne and Melissa Ortiz — was joined by Ariane Hingst, a two-time World Cup champion with Germany, and together they discussed Spain’s win and whether there’s any cause for concern.

Conrad: “I predicted 4-0 in this one. … When I look at Group C, though, Japan and Zambia are the other two teams who I think are threats to challenge Spain in a different way. … I don’t see them getting troubled too much, but they definitely didn’t suffer at any point throughout this game.”

Osborne: “This is what we expected from Spain. We all know they play a beautiful style of soccer; they were gonna move the ball around beautifully. … I talked about being ruthless, being clinical in front of [the] goal. It doesn’t matter how beautiful it is — if they want to go far in this tournament, [they’re] gonna have to finish. … It’s gotta be better than that. As this tournament progresses, the competition is going to get more difficult. You have to finish your chances.”

Ortiz: “[Daniela Solera] saved two opportune moments for Costa Rica. It could have easily been 5-0, 6-0, even 7-0, and the goalkeeper for Costa Rica did a fantastic job. Yes, Spain definitely has to finish their chances. One interesting stat: Spain had 26 shots in the first half against Costa Rica today, which is the most in a single half in FIFA Women’s World Cups. That is incredible how many chances they had. You can look at it on a negative side, but on the positive side — at least they’re creating goal-scoring opportunities.”

Hingst: “She (Solera) is one of the reasons why Spain didn’t score more, and I totally agree [that] you have to finish better. At the end of the day, what really matters is that you can get better from game to game. It’s a good star. Spain has been the best in this tournament this far — really showing their abilities — so it doesn’t worry me too much that they left out too many chances. They have to get better, there’s no doubt about it, but it’s a fair start for them.”

Check out the full Women’s World Cup schedule and how to watch each match live here. Find the latest scores here.

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