Women’s team: Spain reunites with its football in the draw against Canada | Soccer | Sports

Spain changed its face tonight against Canada, but a mistake in getting the ball out in the second half and repeated errors in finishing cost them the tie. At the Francisco de la Hera stadium in Almendralejo, against one of the best teams in the world – the sixth, according to the ranking FIFA—, the team led by Montse Tomé transmitted an image that had nothing to do with the poor sensations it left in the last Olympic Games. La Roja sunk the team of the North American country around its area throughout the match, in which it had the necessary clarity to mix between a tangle of legs that reduced the spaces to a minimum without finding success in the last hit. He paid for that lack of aim in the second leg, when an error by María Méndez ended in Alidou’s goal. Viens rejected a pass from the Madrid center at midfield, ran to Cata Coll’s area after the rebound went in his favor and assisted the Benfica forward, who nailed a cross shot into the net. When the curtain was already set, Cristina Martín-Prieto headed in a cross from Ona ​​in her debut to relieve Spain, which had been centimeters away from the goal time and again.

Despite the tie, Spain was finally a recognizable team, capable of pressing so voraciously after losses that Canada almost did not weave a single play in static attack. The North American country’s team only got close to Cata’s goal when La Roja suffered losses in the construction of the game and defensive surveillance was wrong. The Spanish midfield, with Tere Abelleira as a pivot and Alexia Putellas and Patri Guijarro in front, almost always found a way to mix with Mariona, the forward who dropped the most to receive. In the third minute he already shot a wall on the edge of the area with Alexia, who returned the ball to him with a backheel, but his shot grazed Sheridan’s left post.

It was the first warning from Spain, which approached the rival goal again and again without a reward. During the first half, Alba Redondo and Guijarro tested it, and also Abelleira, who was about to replicate the work of art he left in Riazor last July against Belgium with another formidable hit from the center of the field after seeing Sheridan ahead. Alexia hit the crossbar while La Roja’s attack became a funnel in which sometimes no one was able to illuminate a last free pass and other times the finish failed to hit the net.

After the mistake of María Méndez, who until now had been very successful at the start of the season with Madrid, Tomé’s team focused even more on the Sheridan area. Redondo tried again without success after a fantastic combination between Putellas and Mariona, but his shot went slightly wide, like Olga Carmona’s attempt from the edge of the area. Tomé decided to shake up the bench. The coach retired Méndez and Redondo, brought in Jenni Hermoso and made his debut for Martín-Prieto, who is having a great campaign at Benfica. The Tigres midfielder gave more speed to Spain’s ball circulation.

La Roja played on the rebound and launched a barrage of shots at the goal of Sheridan, who was fantastic in deflecting the shots of Athenea, Alexia and Martín-Prieto after the Benfica forward missed another one-on-one with a deflected shot. The next time, Martín-Prieto did not fail and finally found the prize in the 89th minute of a match that Spain was even able to win with a shot from Putellas in stoppage time. The team did not win the friendly in the end, but at least they reunited with themselves after the bad taste they left at the Paris Games.