Spain 2-1 Netherlands (aet): Women’s World Cup 2023 quarter-final – live reaction | Women’s World Cup 2023

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Give credit also to Cata Coll, the goalkeeper who has played five professional games (with no goals allowed) and now two international games. She didn’t have to make any big saves, but her confident decisions coming out to clear dangerous through balls were vital.

I’m not sold on the forwards. But if they can get Putellas back to her Ballon d’Or form or even to 90% of it, they’ll be a force.

What a dramatic World Cup quarterfinal that was.

One could be disappointed that the Netherlands played a direct counterattacking game, but it was working. If the finishing was just a little bit better, we could be going to penalties right now.

The finishing for Spain was pretty far off the mark for most of the game, but they converted their penalty. And then it was the teenager, Salma Paralluelo, with the shot that decided the game.

Spain are deserving semifinalist and potential champion.

120 mins +1: Good work from Martens to earn a corner kick. Everyone is up, including the keeper. But it’s partially cleared. The ball goes to Groenen, who shanks a pass out of play. That’s heartbreaking for the cornerstone of the Dutch midfield.

120 mins: Beerensteyn gets cornered, finding herself with the ball near the sideline deep in the Spanish half with two defenders on her. Spain easily reclaims possession.

We’ll play for two more minutes.

119 mins: Spain are playing like they want another goal. Hermoso has certainly earned a shot at it. But that does mean the Dutch will get the ball back.

118 mins: The Dutch look beaten now. They just don’t seem to have anything left.

116 mins: The corner kick is quite dangerous, but the Dutch finally cope with the danger. But Beerensteyn commits a needless foul at midfield, and back it goes.

114 mins: Spain has possession, and the Dutch need to get it back somehow. This is superb. That must be 20 consecutive passes, and they finally win a corner.

What a glorious way for a teenager to make her international breakthrough. Salma Paralluelo, the 19-year-old from Barcelona, races down the left inside channel on a counter. She doesn’t have a great angle. It doesn’t matter. She confidently fires it to the far post, and it caroms into the net.

109 mins: Both teams are going for it. You could say both teams are playing direct in a sense, but I think the forwards are just too tired to come back for the ball. Even the subs.

How in the world is Beerensteyn outrunning the Spanish defense after the work she has put in for more than 100 minutes? This is one of the most remarkable performances I’ve ever seen.

And she gets another CHANCE on a ball bouncing awkwardly near the goal, but her half-volley is over the bar.

107 mins: CHANCE as Beerensteyn goes 1v5 and somehow finds a seam. She gets through. Everyone on the Netherlands bench jumps up to celebrate, but Beerensteyn’s shot goes just wide.

You need a center back on the verge of retirement to take those shots.

Simon McRae writes: “Netball is awesome – give it a whirl sometime.”

I wouldn’t know where to find a place to play. It has a lower profile in the US than handball. Wouldn’t a US handball league be awesome? When I covered the Iceland men’s handball team in 2008, some of them said they’d enjoy playing in the US.

Sub: van der Gragt, who conceded a needless penalty at one end and scored a wonderful goal at the other, is out. If the Netherlands can’t pull this out, that’s the end of her outstanding career. Kerstin Casparij of Manchester City is in.

105 mins (+2): Navarro, who has been a lively sub, gets fouled deep in the Dutch half by … Beerensteyns? How much energy does she have?

Nothing comes of it, and we’ve finished the first half of stoppage time. Putellas is talking with the ref for some reason.

105 mins: We’ll have two minutes of stoppage time for some reason. We did have one injury, but that seems double what we need.

Spain wins a corner kick and maintains possession for a bit, but Putellas is easily dispossessed with a simple shoulder charge.

104 mins: Putellas tries to rip a shot from 25 yards out, but it’s blocked at close range. That might hurt.

Dutch counter – as always, up to Beerensteyn – and Coll plays it a solid 35 yards from her own goal. Is this a youngster making her second appearance for the national team, or is it Manuel Neuer?

102 mins: The Netherlands try a long ball, but it’s easily cut out. Spain works back up the field, and in the end, it’s a SAVE on a header by the excellent Hermoso.

Peter Oh writes: “The Dutch haven’t been convincing overall, but you have to give them credit for slotting a defender in up top and snatching a crucial goal. That took some creativity and guts. I don’t think Big Sam Allardyce (Hi Mary Waltz!) would send Harry Maguire up front and expect him to latch onto a through ball and finish.”

99 mins: Caldentey and Gonzalez are out, with Putellas and Navarro in. Navarro is one of the few Spanish players who play for neither Barcelona nor Real Madrid. She’s with Atlético Madrid.

98 mins: Spain prepares a sub. Would they let this game play out and possibly depart the World Cup without playing a two-time Ballon d’Or winner?

The answer is no. Alexia Putellas is coming in.

95 mins: The roles have reversed. The Dutch are possessing. Spain is trying to counter. And the Netherlands keep pushing defenders up the field – in this case, Janssen is all the up on the left to cross it, and it doesn’t miss by much – so they may be vulnerable.

Egurrola, who has had a lively match, is down hurt. Or possibly cramped. It’s not hot out there, to say the least, but they’ve been running a long time.

They decide to make the sub. Dijkstra goes in for her second appearance of the Cup.

92 mins: How many miles has Beerensteyn covered today? Another good run to meet up with a through ball, and she lays it back for a shot. Turns out she was offside, but we have to marvel at what the English call “work rate.”

Van der Gragt, incidentally, is retiring after this World Cup. The handball was nearly her last meaningful play in soccer. Looks like she may have penned a better ending.

91 mins: Spain makes a defensive sub, with Olga Carmona replacing Hernandez. Carmona started the game against Japan as the captain but was pulled at halftime and didn’t play against Switzerland.

Yes, Spain has had the better play. But the Netherlands’ direct play posed some serious challenges throughout, and we saw a penalty kick awarded and then inexplicably overturned. This is a just scoreline after 90.

Hey, does anyone know that Spain has the two-time defending Ballon d’Or winner on their bench? Maybe they were thinking of resting Alexia Putellas once they took the lead, but now that the situation has changed, will we see her in the game? They could use a finisher.

90 mins +11: Nope, nope, silly me – Coll conceded one goal against Switzerland. But that’s the first one scored by an opponent. Check her stats.

I don’t think she had a chance on that goal, though.

The Netherlands gets some possession in the attacking half, but … that’s it.

90 mins +10: Direct ball to Beerensteyn, who manages to back into Andres and keep backing up, keep backing up, until Andres is finally called for a foul.

I’ll go back and check, but I think that the Dutch goal is the first that Coll has conceded as an international or as a professional.

90 mins +8: Spain resume the possession play we were lauding. They’re making the Dutch midfielders chase, which must be brutal this late in the game.

90 mins +6: Before all that, a couple of people wrote in to complain about the complaints about the game. To be sure, Spain is playing possession soccer very well. But their finishing has been poor.

Since the goal, the Netherlands looks the more likely side to score.

How? Van der Graft slides into the No 9 slot, and Pelova plays a pitch-perfect through the ball while the Spanish defense appears to have a brain freeze. You’d never guess van der Gragt plays at the back from the way she finished that to the far post. Perfect.

And redemption for conceding the penalty.

There is, of course, a check for offside. It’s not close. A defender elsewhere on the line kept the tall defender in a nice and legal position.

Game on!

90 mins: Beerensteyn goes 1v2, and she wins that battle. Then her shot is a mile wide.

Sam Tidey has an explanation for the crowd: “As someone in the crowd who is surrounded by glum Americans who assumed they’d have a team to cheer for I think that accounts for how subdued we are.”

They’ve been livelier in the last few minutes.

TWELVE MINUTES of stoppage time coming.

88 mins: Wilms fights and fights for the ball. She forces the Spanish defense into some awkward moments.

Nouwen replaces … Brugts? Really?

87 mins: Another sub, with Guerrero replacing Bonmati for Spain.

I want Putellas to come in, if for no other reason than to make Fox acknowledge her existence.

A speculative shot from the Netherlands, giving Coll a chance to give the ball a rest.

86 mins: CHANCE for the Netherlands, as Beerensteyn, just figures she’ll do it on her own, picking up the ball near midfield and racing the retreating Spanish defense. She shoots meekly in the end. She had teammates open. She’s disappointed.

83 mins: The world feed cuts back to the action just in time to show a ball floating toward the Dutch goal. Turns out to have been a quickly taken Spanish free kick, cheekily aimed at chipping van Domselaar.

Sub: Out goes Spitse. In comes Everton forward Katja Snoeijs.

82 mins: So can the Netherlands open it up?

They once again play ahead looking for … say it together now … Beerensteyn. It’s too far in front, and Coll collects.