MADRID, 31 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Australian soccer team beat the Canadian 4-0 on Monday and certified its leadership of Group B in the Women’s World Cup, which is played in Australia and New Zealand, reaching the round of 16 with Nigeria, which tied without goals against Ireland on a day of competition where Zambia said goodbye to Group C beating Costa Rica (1-3).
At Melbourne’s Rectangular Stadium, the co-hosts of this tournament were guided by a double from Hayley Raso, who opened the scoring in the 9th minute thanks to a right cross inside the box. Shortly before the break, he scored the second of his own, finishing off a loose ball from point-blank range after a corner.
Almost at will, Mary Fowler pushed the 0-3 in minute 58′ after some beautiful play by Caitlin Foord down the left flank. And already in injury time, Steph Catley transformed a penalty to make it 0-4 and for Australia to tie the first position of their group with 6 points, eliminating Canada at the same time (4 pts.).
Second place was finally taken by Nigeria (5 pts.) equalizing with Ireland at the Brisbane Stadium. Although the Irish enjoyed a couple of chances in the first half, the Nigerians responded after the break. Even Uchenna Kanu sent a header to the crossbar, but the 0-0 helped his team to advance to the round of 16.
On the other hand, Group C also lived the closing of its third and last day. And he did it with the victory of Zambia against Costa Rica, at the Waikato Stadium in Hamilton. The Zambian team soon took the lead, with a great goal from Lushomo Mweemba after hitting a volley in a corner. Barbra Banda extended that advantage, scoring a penalty after half an hour.
Although Melissa Herrera pulled one back for Costa Rica early in the second half of the game, taking advantage of a commotion in the penalty area, Zambia made it 1-3 through Racheal Kundananji in stoppage time. The Africans thus left the World Cup with 3 points, leaving the Costa Ricans without points.