SPAIN signed off their Women's Euro Group B campaign with a come-from-behind 3-1 win over Italy that made it clear to the other teams in the last eight -- anyone wishing to beat them needs to address the depth of talent in their squad and their ability to continuously adapt to in-game situations.
Montse Tome's side shared 13 goals between nine different goalscorers as they won all three of their games to top the group and set up a quarter-final meeting with hosts Switzerland, and their ability to adjust to situations has allowed them to overcome slow starts.
“I hope we’ll be able to continue doing what we are doing, because in the group space we won three matches out of three. It’s the first time Spain that did, and we keep reaching goals,“ Tome told reporters.
“We have to be humble, we have to be realistic, we have to adjust what we need to adjust, and I’m confident that we will.”
Tome made six changes to her starting line-up for the game against Italy and Athenea del Castillo repaid her coach for giving her a first start at the tournament with the equalising goal in the 14th minute, illustrating the array of attacking options available to them.
“Athenea has been playing with the team, sometimes she starts, sometimes she comes on in the second half. She accepts the role, and we are very happy with the role she’s doing right now,“ Tome said.
A 5-0 thrashing of Portugal and a 6-2 win over Belgium before the Italy victory showcased a Spain side with a dizzying range of attacking options and unworried by their occasional defensive lapses, especially when dealing with counter-attacks.
The return of Aitana Bonmati to the starting line-up following a health scared has helped Spain, especially when organising their defence quickly when they lose the ball.
“At the beginning she trained very well, she was well-prepared but had that health issue. So the recovery was good and today she was good in the offensive and defensive part because she did a good job,“ Tome said.
Next up is Pia Sundhage's Switzerland on Friday and Tome was tight-lipped about what her tactics would be against the hosts.
“It will be an interesting and tough game. We know some of the players, they are high-level and very talented players and we’ll see how we manage with that structure,“ she said.
- Reuters
