MADRID, 13 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish women's field hockey team beat Malaysia this Saturday (7-0) in its debut in the Pre-Olympic, which is held in Valencia and in which three places are distributed for the Paris 2024 Games, a match in which Carlos García Cuenca's players showed their superiority against the Asian team.
Spain looked for the opponent's goal from the first minute and was able to take the lead early on a first penalty corner taken by Xantal Giné, but the shot was intercepted by the Malaysians. María López, with five minutes left in the quarter, also had no luck in the second Spanish penalty corner.
Goalkeeper Nur Zainal thwarted the 'RedSticks' chances again and again, but with a few seconds left before the break she could not stop Patricia Álvarez's shot, who was in charge of making it 1-0 on the scoreboard.
The goal allowed Carlos García Cuenca's team to take off the pressure after the restart. It didn't take long to make it 2-0, in the 38th minute, with Belén Iglesias anticipating the Malaysian captain Juliana Din. In the 41st minute, María Pérez beat Nur Zainal in a penalty corner with a strong shot that hit the right post. Once again Iglesias, in the last quarter, increased the distance, and Patricia Álvarez and Sara Barrios closed the final 7-0.
The MVP of the game, Blanca Pérez, assured that it had been her “dream debut” with the 'RedSticks'. “I am very happy with the result, with the victory. Starting the tournament like this fills us with joy. Tomorrow we have a more difficult and key match in this group stage. We want to be first. So let's rest and fully enjoy tomorrow,” she indicated.
This Sunday, Spain will face Great Britain (11:45 am), which has beaten Canada in its first match (2-0), a vital match to define the first positions in the group.