Auckland: Aitana Bonmati played an important role with a brace and two assists as Spain swept past Switzerland 5-1 here on Saturday to reach the quarterfinals of the FIFA Women’s World Cup for the first time in their history.
Bonmati’s early opener in the match was canceled out by an own goal from Laia Codina, but Alba Redondo restored Spain’s lead and Bonmati scored again to make it 3-1.
Codina then made up for her error by scoring her team’s fourth before the break, and Jennifer Hermoso made it 5-1 in the second half in front of 43,217 fans, a new record crowd for a football match in New Zealand, Xinhua reported.
After the terrible 4-0 defeat to Japan in group stage, the 25-year-old Bonmati has vowed to try her best in the campaign.
“I’m here at the World Cup and I want to win. I don’t care if we play badly, just as long as we win. Sometimes you play well and keep the ball, but it’s not enough. We’re going to compete, stop the opposition from scoring goals, and we’ll take it from there,” Bonmati said before the match against Switzerland.
–IANS
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