Auckland, New Zealand (AP) – Aetana Bonmati She clearly remembers the moment Andres Iniesta scored in the 2010 World Cup, even though she was only 12 years old.
Iniesta goal in extra time in the championship match vs Holland In Johannesburg, Spain won 1-0 for their first and only men’s World Cup.
Bonmati says it’s time for a new Spanish champion, this time in Women’s World Cup. Spain will learn its opponent in the final on Wednesday night when England hosts play Australia in the other semi-final.
The championship game is preparing for Sunday in Sydney.
“I hope we can repeat history with our team,” she said.
Spain narrowly advanced to the final It won 2-1 against Sweden on Tuesdaya game that saw all three goals come in the final ten minutes.
Bonmati calls Iniesta and teammate Xavi her idols. Iniesta, 39, now plays for Emirates Airlines in the UAE Professional League. He celebrated La Roja’s victory on social media, declaring, “Huge!”
Spain overcame a goalless draw with Sweden in the 81st minute, with an alternative age of 19 Salma BaraleloGoal. Baralelo, who chose soccer over track and field, also scored the winning goal in overtime over the Netherlands in the quarterfinals.
Sweden Rebecca Blomqvist Tuesday equalized with an 89th-minute goal, however, moments later Olga Carmona Scored the match winner from a corner kick Teresa Abelera.
The winning goal was an upset, Bonmati said, because Spain did not draft the play.
“We saw Olga alone outside the box. We are also smart, not robots, and we have to make quick decisions.” “I think it was a very good decision… If you make a good decision and then don’t score, it doesn’t matter. But it was a very good goal.”
Bonmatti, 25, has emerged as a versatile young star at La Roja. She had two goals and two assists Spain defeat 5-1 to Switzerland In the round of 16, he strengthened the team while twice winning the Ballon d’Or Alexia Potellas She continues to work her way back from an ACL tear.
La Roja is clearly a team on the rise. They made their World Cup debut in 2015, then progressed out of their group in 2019, but fell to the United States in the Round of 16. And now they have a chance to raise the trophy.
But as the team grew, turmoil occurred.
Last September, 15 players signed letters saying just that They were withdrawing from the national team to protect their emotional health. The players insisted they had not asked for coach Jorge Vilda to be sacked.
Vilda, who has coached La Roja since 2015, eventually received backing from the federation. In the run-up to the World Cup, there seemed to be at least some reconciliation: Three of the 15 players who initially resigned were on the list.
One of them was Bonmati, who currently plays for the Spanish Barcelona, \u200b\u200blike Potellas and seven other players in the national team. Barcelona is out for its second Champions League title. Bonmati scored five goals and eight assists during the tournament.
Four of her Barcelona teammates did not return to the national team after stepping down: midfielder Patry Guijaro, defender Maby Lyon, striker Claudia Pena and goalkeeper Sandra Banus.
Vilda was ready to move on and focus on the World Cup final.
“Now we can put it away and put it behind us and think about the future and think we deserve to be where we are,” said Felda.
Bonmatti also put aside any suggestion of friction in the team.
“We never give up, and now we believe in ourselves,” Bonmati said. “We are a very strong team mentally.”
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AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-womens-world-cup