Expectations were high for an historic occasion in women’s football –the first meeting in history between Spain and Brazil, and at the World Cup finals. It was the day to showcase our football, to show the world that Spain’s women’s team figure amongst the best on the planet and deserve their place among the elite on their own merits. Ignacio Quereda’s side strode out onto the pitch at the Olympic stadium convinced that they could beat the Canarinhas but luck was not on their side in Montreal. Brazil’s experience, this being their sixth World Cup appearance, was the difference on the night; that was the only thing which Quereda’s team lacked.
Spain entered the match determined and without fear. In contrast to Spain’s eagerness, Marta, Formiga, Andressa Alves and company, simply waited for their moment. The South Americans, physically stronger than their rivals, didn’t allow Spain to elaborate moves during the opening exchanges and yet it was Quereda’s team who were the first to go close. Natalia didn’t get a clean connection after meeting a raking pass from Alexia and the ball was cleared.
But after that La Roja grew in confidence and began to control the game. Marta Corredera wore out Tamires out wide on the right and was constantly seeking Natalia, who couldn’t have been happier scrapping it out with Brazil’s centre-back pair Mónica and Rafaelle. Playing slightly deeper, Vero had space to move and run into while Celia Jiménez, the youngest member of the squad, had the task of keeping the mighty Marta shackled, which she did superbly. For the 19-year-old, this game was almost like doing a Masters degree and post-grad PhD in a 90-minute crash course.
Amelia Valverde’s team hardly created any danger bar a couple of deep balls into the area which were rapidly dispatched. It was only as the first half was reaching its conclusion that Brazil sensed their chance. Marta very nearly scored directly from a corner but her effort was punched away by Ainhoa just as it looked as though it curl inside the near post. Moments later, Spain were caught offguard and Ainhoa stranded, Celia cleared as the ball tricked goalwards but only to Andressa Alves who had such a simple tap-in, that she herself couldn’t really believe it. It was a cruel coda to a first half in which Spain were the better side.
Quereda’s pupils should have reacted after the break but the opposite happened; Brazil, with a one-goal cushion, came into their own and looked the more comfortable of the two for the remaining minutes. Ainhoa acrobatically tipped over a goal-bound effort late on but at the other end, Spain continued to press for an equaliser; Vero was wrong-footed after being put clean through then Irene Parades watched in disbelief as he shot bobbed back off the post – an inch either way, it would have entered. Cruelly, it somehow summed up Spain’s fortunes in front of goal during these first two group matches. That luck has to change at some point and let’s hope it does against Korea Republic on Wednesday, because it is the least Spain deserve.