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U20 Women’s World Cup: Spain progresses as USA breaks Morocco’s walls

Home Football U20 Women’s World Cup: Spain progresses as USA breaks Morocco’s walls
U20 Women’s World Cup: Spain progresses as USA breaks Morocco’s walls
Football

Spain cruised into the knockout stage of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup with an impressive display over Paraguay.

They defeated Paraguay 2-0 victory to join the likes of Brazil and Columbia in the next round.

Jone Amezaga scored both goals in the first half as Spain outclassed the South Americans with their tiki-taka style. The pass-and-move perfection proves too much for Paraguay at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.

Amezaga put Spain ahead in the 20th minute as she headed home Julia Bartel’s pinpoint cross into the top corner. A defensive splitting pass led to the second goal in the 37th minute. Silvia Lloris sent a through pass to Lucia Corrales, who, in turn, squared for Amezaga, to tap in the second.

Paraguay had clear chances in the first half but could not convert any.  A goalline clearance denied Paraguay in the first half while Fatima Acosta’s effort narrowly went over the bar.

Paraguay also created better chances, late in the second half as substitute Claudia Martinez almost squeezed home from a tight angle.  Danna Garcete also saw her long-range effort rippled the side-netting.

Paraguay’s hopes now going down to their final group match against USA.

USA defeated Morocco to earn their first points at the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.

A heroic defensive display from Morocco limited USA to just the two goals after unleashing a whopping 28 shots.

The Americans had to wait till the second half before they could break the Moroccan’s wall. A combination of Moroccan goalkeeper Fatima El Jebraoui and some solid, last-ditch defending, denied USA in a first half where they established their dominance.

It took just three minutes into the second for the pressure to finally pay off, as Gisele Thompson found Yuna McCormack, whose calm first touch was enough to break the deadlock.

USA kept the shots raining down, still the Moroccan backline refused to budge. However, a tidy finish from substitute Maddie Dahlien finally broke the dogged resistance in the 97th minute.

The result set USA up for a must-win showdown with Paraguay on the final matchday, while Morocco will need to pull off an upset against Spain to avoid an early exit.

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