entertaining battle sees debutants draw (fifa.com) 09 jun 2015
the battle of the group e debutants saw a profligate spain fail to find their way past a sturdy costa rican defence in a 1-1 draw.
vicky losada scored spain's first ever fifa women's world cup™ goal but raquel rodriguez cedeno equalised moments later. a succession of chances followed for spain in the second half, but las ticas stood firm.
spain's landmark goal was testament to the technical ability of losada. sonia bermudez delivered the ball into the penalty area after working a short corner. losada controlled superbly with her right foot before sending a measured shot past dinnia diaz in the costa rican goal.
spanish celebrations were short-lived though, as costa rica grabbed a historic goal of their own almost immediately. direct from the restart, wendy acosta sent a long ball down the left flank. lixy rodriguez burst onto the excellent control from carolina venegas, and jinked past irene paredes in the spanish penalty area. her cross found rodriguez cedeno free, who tapped home with ease.
after the break, spain enjoyed most of the possession, and the majority of clear-cut chances. shortly after interval, bermudez worked her way down the spanish left and found natalia pablos in the centre of the penalty area. the no7 got the ball stuck underneath her feet though, and acosta cleared away from danger.
la roja captain boquete became increasingly influential as the game wore on. after charging down a costa rican clearance, she burst free down the spanish right, before cutting in and finding jennifer hermoso with a clear sight of goal. the no10 composed herself, but hit her sidefooted shot wide of the target.
a brilliant boquete run then forged another opportunity for spain, playing in bermudez, but the diminutive no8's poked effort flew inches wide of diaz's left-hand post. boquete and pablos had late chances to grab a winner for spain, but they could not breach the sturdy costa rican defence, with diaz pulling off a number of impressive saves.
costa rica held out for the remainder, and will go into their second game against korea republic on saturday full of confidence, while spain will surely have to be more clinical to get anything from marta's brazil in their second game.
