Spain’s women’s football team shattered record books in their 3-0 win over Costa Rica in the FIFA Women’s World Cup on Thursday at Wellington Regional Stadium.
Spain shut Costa Rica out with a dominant victory. With 80% possession, 46 shots (12 on target) and 117 touches in the opponent’s box, La Roja set a new Women’s World Cup record.
Goals by Aitana Bonmati, Esther Gonzalez and an own-goal by Costa Rica’s Valeria del Campo helped La Roja register their first victory in the World Cup.
Spain had an astonishing start to the game — playing with the 4-2-3-1 formation — as just within the first 27 minutes, they were leading by three goals becoming the fastest side to take up such a lead since USA vs Japan in 2015 (14th minute) in the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
La Roja was captained by veteran Ivana Andres and had a lot of offensive weapons in their team. Surprisingly, the current women’s Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas was on the bench which came as a surprise to everyone.
However, despite the two-time Ballon d’Or winner being on the bench, Spain managed to dominate the game in all aspects by playing possession-based football. Jennifer Hermoso — FC Barcelona’s women’s all-time leading goal scorer and a golden boot contender — was at the heart of their formation, playing as an attacking midfielder.
On the other side, Costa Rica were lacking rhythm and they had no match of all the quality the Spaniards had on the ball.
Spain’s next match will be against Zambia on July 26 which will not be a big test for the Spanish side. However, their final and real test will be against Japan in the last group-stage match on July 31.
It must be noted that La Roja is unbeaten in their last seven official games. Their last defeat came against Australia in February 2023.