Goalkeeper Petra Kudláčková contributed to the Czech victory with a great performance, eliminating 18 shots and having a success rate of 46 percent. Markéta Jeřábková scored nine goals, Charlotte Cholevová scored eight times and Veronika Malá scored seven times.
The national team has six points in the group of six, just like the Spaniards, with whom they gained a better mutual balance thanks to the win. In the final match of the round of 16, Dahl’s men will challenge Brazil on Sunday, who are two points behind. A draw or even a narrow defeat could be enough for the Czechs to participate in the quarter-finals under certain circumstances. The first two teams from each eight-final group will advance to the final elimination matches.
“Amazing performance. I’m so proud of the team for how they prepared and motivated themselves for this game in the last few days. It’s not every day you get to completely wipe Spain off the pitch,” said Dahl.
“Now we need to rest and be ready for Sunday. We are in a better position than we were before the match. But nothing is done. The Brazilians are a tough opponent, they can be very dangerous,” added the fifty-three-year-old Norwegian coach.
Honest defense as a foundation
The Czechs entered the key fight for promotion well. During the entire match, they only lost in the very beginning 0:1 and 1:2, and since then they unexpectedly outplayed the opponent, who reached the semi-finals in the last two world championships.
Dahl’s charges carefully defended short Spanish combinations in the attack, and Kudláčková shone between the posts. In the first half alone, she fired 10 shots and had a success rate of more than fifty percent. In the offensive phase, the Czechs fared much better than the favorite, they managed to finish the actions up to the wings and after a series of four goals just before the break they jumped to a 13:8 lead.
The Spaniards from the seven already reduced after some time, but after the change of sides, the enthusiastically fighting Dahl’s selection escaped them again in the score. Starting at 13:10, the Czechs scored six of the following seven goals, and in the 37th minute, after another combination on the wing, Malá made it 19:11.
The suffering of Spanish women
“We entered the match very well and the Spanish women struggled in both defense and attack. I felt throughout the first half that we would not let it go. I knew that if we kept it up, the Spanish women would become more and more desperate,” said Kudláčková.
The favorite then dropped with a string of four goals, but after several more interventions Kudláčková could no longer come close to more than four hits. While at the European Championship three years ago, the Czechs lost a six-goal lead against the Spaniards and ended up narrowly losing, this time they handled the finale tactically and did not allow anything to the surprised opponent.
“Defensively we played amazing, that was a top performance. We learned a lot from the lost game against the Netherlands,” said Dahl. “The defense was at the limit of our possibilities, it was something incredible. I smile at what the players in front of me showed. Probably one of the best matches from my side. I rank this victory very high. If it still works out against the Brazilians, it will be absolutely top “, said Kudláčková.
The national team won the fourth of the five duels at the championship so far in the premiere at the big event under the leadership of coach Dahl. Jeřábková converted nine of 14 attempts against the Spaniards and scored 35 goals at the championship, which ranks her among the best scorers of the entire tournament. The Czechs are not far from reaching the quarterfinals of the World Championship for only the second time in history and equaling the previous best, which is eighth place from 2017 under the leadership of coach Jan Bašný.
In the “Czech” group, in the duel between the two South American neighbors, the Brazilians handled Argentina completely confidently, beating them unequivocally 33:19. Angola won over Austria with a result of 30:25 in a match played simultaneously and which was noticeably more balanced. France eventually managed to beat South Korea 32:22.
2023-12-08 19:25:00
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