Spain makes history and wins the U-20 Women’s World Cup

Spain has made history and has won the U-20 Women’s Soccer World Cup held in Costa Rica. The team has achieved its first World Cup victory in the category after defeating Japan 3-1 in the final, its executioner four years ago.

This historic triumph is added to the one achieved by the U-17s in the 2018 Uruguay World Cup, where they beat Mexico 2-1 in the final. And also to the recent European Championship achieved by the sub-19 in July this year.

Spain, with the generation of Patri Guijarro, Aitana Bonmatí or Laia Aleixandri, players who currently play in the senior team, had fallen four years ago in the World Cup final against Japan, and was able to play their revenge at the National Stadium in San José (Costa Rica). ). The players who have ended up standing out are the decisive Inma Gabarro and Salma Paralluelo, Julia Bartel or Ane Elexpuru, who were proclaimed European Under-19 champions.

Minute by minute

Spain was ambitious from minute one. He went out for the previous world champions to face the defeat suffered by the team four years ago. With the entry into the field of the Spanish players, the Japanese were subjected to their pressure and their possession game, adding the effectiveness of the selection always necessary in a final. These factors marked the sentence of the final result, the victory of the Spanish.

The team punished the defeated in the first 45 minutes of play. The Japanese reacted and gave the Spanish a hard time in the second half, more because of the overwhelming victory than because of the real chances.

Pedro López’s team damaged the back of the Japanese defense. A great pass from Elexpuru was caught by top scorer Inma Gabarro, who scored her eighth goal of hers in the championship with her usual precision and skill in the 12th minute. The Andalusian has become the second best player in the tournament.

Another ball behind Japan’s back caused Salma Paralluelo to score his second goal from the penalty spot, the third of the match, when the Japanese team was barely able to digest the 2-0 scoreline.

Japan tries to come back by raising the score

But from there, the dominance of the Spanish on the match changed drastically. The Japanese team took possession of the ball and thus prevented Spain from getting close to the goal line again, since they were unable to appear in the rival area for practically the rest of the match. Sugisawa had a good chance to get his team into the game before the break, but his shot went close to the post, and Futoshi Ikeda’s team gave a couple of more scares to warn that the game was not quite over. final.

Japan’s goal happened at the start of the second half. In a set piece, Amano beat Font and had some restlessness in the Spanish side, which began to suffer a lot with the speed and pressure of its rival.

Bartel and Ariadna Mingueza were left without the ball and Gabarro and Paralluelo could no longer even threaten. The match was always played in the field of a Spain that was suffering on both sides, but that was then supported by the work of the captain Ana Tejada and Silvia Lloris. Japan pressed, but did not find the prize of a new goal that would get on the nerves of Pedro López’s team who reacted by changing three central defenders to better control the end of a duel that goes into the history of Spanish women’s football.