Sports
FWWC: Spain dashes Sweden’s First World Cup Win with 2-1 Victory in the Semifinal.
Jinxed Sweden on Tuesday(today) lost the coveted semifinal encounter against Spain in the women’s world cup semifinal 2-1 within 10 minutes to the end of the match at the Eden Park Stadium in Auckland.
It was the fourth time Sweden was eliminated from the semifinal stage as the team fell in 1991, 2011, 2019 and now 2023 which is most unfortunate from any side at the world cup.
Barca’s left winger, Paralluelo Ayingono who scored against Netherlands, opened scoring for Spain in the 81st minute when Sweden failed to neatly clearly their lines and Paralluelo’s shot went through a cluster of legs.
Wolfsburg player, Rebecka Blomqvist who also scored against Argentina, was involved in a medley of headers from Asilani to Hurtig and then Blomqvist whose header brought the equalizer at the 88th minute.
Just a minute after, Real Madrid’s left back, Olga Carmona from a corner kick beat Goalkeeper Musovic in the 89th minute for the winner.
It was the first time in the women’s world cup history that we saw a first goal scored 10 minutes to full time and within the few minutes left for play, three goals were scored.
Sweden will meet the loser between England and Australia at the 3rd Place match at Eden Park Stadium on Saturday at 0900 hours to determine who makes the podium finish.
Spain will meet the winner for the England versus Australia match to know the new world cup champion on Sunday.
To get to the quarterfinals, Spain beat Costa Rica 3-0 on 21st July; refused Zambia freedom via 5-0 drubbing on 26th July and surprisingly lost to high tech, Japan 4-0 on 31st July. For the knockout stages, Spain hit Switzerland 5-1 in the round of 16. Spain is current highest team scorers with 13 goals in this tournament and has conceded 5 goals now. She defeated Netherlands 2-1 in the quarterfinal.
Spain on 16th February 1983 defeated Netherlands 1-0; but Ned won 2-1 on 16th November 1983; at the 2010 world cup played 11th July Spain won 1-0; the highest win for Netherlands against Spain was at the 2014 world cup played 3rd June with a 5-1 win; Ned was superior again on 31st March 2015 beating Spain 2-0 and on 11th November 2020 they played 1-1 draw.
The Spanish side had beaten Slovenia 17-0 at Palamos on 20th March 1994 but the country suffered heavy defeat from Sweden 0-8 on home ground at Ganalia, Spain on 2nd June 1996. The Spanish women are making their 3rd appearance at the world cup finals. Their best performance was getting into the Round of 16 at Canada 2019 where USA beat the country 2-1 at Reins on 24th June.
Sweden at the knockout stages had diffused the high tech Asian Tigresses, Japan 2-1 in the quarterfinals and dismissed USA 5-4 on penalties after a goalless full time in the round of 16. Earlier on 23rd July defeated South Africa 2-1 on 23rd July; pounded Italy 5-0on 29th July and also crashed Argentina 2-0 on 2nd August all in the group matches.
Sweden never won the trophy; they were runners-up at USA 2003 and lost to Germany 1-2 at extra time. Sweden won Bronze three times at China 1991; Germany 2011 and France 2019. She was at the quarterfinals twice at Sweden 1995 and USA 1999 but was also at the round of 16 at Canada 2015.
This is the first meeting of the two teams in any major competition as Sweden won 1-0 at the group stages of 1997 UEFA Women’s Championship. I have record of ten other meetings as Sweden on 16th July 1950 won 3-1; Spain ran away with a lone goal victory on 11th June 1978; while Sweden won 3-2 on 7th October 2006.
On 17th November 2007 Spain made it a 3-0 drubbing of Sweden just like it was on 10th June 2019 which were the highest wins for Spain; on 14th June 2008 Spain had clinched it 2-1; they played 1-1 on 15th October 2019 and scored a goalless draw on 14th June 2021; Sweden obtained victory 2-1 on 2nd September 2021 and it was Spain 1 Sweden 0 on 14th November 2021.
Spain is in their first semifinal in three appearances. Should Spain win, the nation will join the league of Elite squad that made it at the first getting to that position of final four like USA who made it once; Norway once; Netherlands twice and Germany twice.
Sweden is playing her 5th semifinal reaching the finals in 2003 but lost in 1991, 2011 and 2019. They could become the first team to lose four times at this stage of the competition.
If Spain wins, they will be the second team to have lost a group game before by 4+ at the world cup but still reach the final after Norway in 1991 that lost 0-4 against China.
Sweden would have been the first European nation to reach the multiple finals of the competition they made in 2003, the record of Norway 1991 and 1995 and Germany 1995, 2003 and 2007 notwithstanding.
This is Spain’s 4th world cup match against fellow European nations. She lost 0-1 to Germany at the group stage in 2019 but beat Switzerland 5-1 and Netherlands 2-1 at the knockout stages this year.
England will meet hosts Australia in the second semifinal on Wednesday 16th August at 1100 hours.
Something unique is that we are expecting a new champion for the world as previous champions, four times winner USA; two times winner, won one time each have been exited in this tournament.
By Eniola Olatunji
Pep Guardiola has explained the reason for Manchester City’s resurgence as they push for the Premier League title.
The win lifts City to 64 points from 31 games, cutting the deficit to leaders Arsenal—who have 70 points from 32 matches—to just six points, ramping up the title race in the closing stages of the campaign.
Asked why Manchester City have been in such fine form in the final stages of the season, Pep Guardiola joked: “The sun! If it had been shining in November, we’d have been league champions by January… No, I’m joking, of course. In Manchester, the sun doesn’t shine very often.”
Looking ahead to next Sunday’s 32nd-round clash with Arsenal in the Premier League, he added: “That game will feel like a final for both teams, but there is a tactical detail we need to review, so we may make some adjustments.
“Everyone is talking about the Arsenal game, but matches against Brentford, Bournemouth and the other sides are just as important. The season is still long.”
Guardiola added “We’re in better shape, and in training everyone knows exactly what they have to do. We’ve faced three strong opponents, three Champions League teams. We didn’t put in a complete performance for the full 90 minutes, but we were organised enough, didn’t concede many chances, and our attacking threat was always there.”
Pep Guardiola
He added:One of our secrets as a club and a system is that, after one success after another, we have remained humble and have always asked ourselves: what must we do to stay at the top? Winning once or twice is normal, but to remain at the top for nine years—with the exception of last season—reflects the strength of the entire system.”
After trimming the gap to six points with a game in hand, Doku emphasized that City is confident, focused, and ready for the final.
“Obviously, three points here, in a tough game, we did very well. We needed those three points,” Doku told the club’s website.
“So we’re just going to keep on going, keep on going. We know that we still have everything in our hands. We’re going to recover well and we look forward to the game on Sunday.
“Coming here is not easy, playing here against Chelsea in their stadium is not easy. We just had to keep on going.
“We adapted our pressing a bit and more runs in behind, that opens more spaces. The way we started the second half also put a lot of pressure on them. In those moments when you can score it helps a lot.”
Real Madrid has stated that rumors on considering incorporating a sports director into its structure are categorically false.
According to Fabrizio Romano’s X post on Friday, the club was quoted as saying, “Real Madrid extraordinarily values the work that the club’s sports management has been carrying out, which has allowed us to live through one of the most successful periods in our entire history with the achievement of numerous titles, including 6 European Cups in ten years.”
It strongly reaffirm confidence in its current sporting management structure.
It also praise the existing leadership, crediting it for one of the most successful eras in the club’s history.
As evidence, they point to major achievements, including six UEFA Champions League titles in the last decade.
Overall, it’s a standard club statement aimed at shutting down speculation while reinforcing trust in their current internal setup.
Madrid have long operated with a distinct organisational model, where key transfer and sporting decisions are primarily overseen by senior executives and trusted football leadership rather than a traditional sporting director structure common in many European clubs.
The club’s denial comes amid continued speculation in Spanish football media about potential internal changes, particularly as elite clubs across Europe increasingly adopt centralized sporting director systems to streamline recruitment and long-term squad planning.
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