Oshoala’s Barcelona Teammate Propels Spain to Final 

Asisat Oshoala’s teammate at Barcelona Femeni, Salma Paralluelo, came off the bench to shoot Spain ahead in the 81st minute of a keenly contested semi finals with Sweden. 

Aged 19 years and 275 days, she has become the second youngest player to score in a FIFA Women’s World Cup semi-final match after Canada’s Kara Lang (16y 348d) which was also against Sweden in 2003. 

But in yesterday’s contest, the Swedes fought back seven minutes later to stalemate scores. However, within a minute, the pendulum swung back in Spain’s favour as Olga Carmona scored the decisive goal in the 89th minute to set up a showdown with Australia or England on Sunday.

Carmona’s goal sparked wild scenes of jubilation among their supporters at Eden Park, Auckland. 

Sweden – who have now lost back-to-back World Cup semi-finals – had equalised through Rebecka Blomqvist just 93 seconds earlier and it looked like the match would be going to extra time. 

A game of few chances had sparked into life when substitute Salma Paralluelo, 19, gave Spain the lead with just 10 minutes remaining. 

While Spain’s players celebrated wildly on the pitch at full-time, Sweden’s dropped to the floor as their World Cup dream came to an end. 

There was little evidence of what was to come during a tight and cagey opening 80 minutes. 

Spain boss Jorge Vilda opted to recall two-time Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas, whose minutes on the pitch have been limited as she returns from a serious knee injury. 

And it was Putellas who brought the biggest cheer of the opening half from the sell-out 43,217 crowd when she nutmegged Manchester City’s Filippa Angeldahl. 

It took until the 42nd minute for the first shot on target, Sweden’s Fridolina Rolfo denied her third goal of the tournament by her Barcelona team-mate Cata Coll. 

Spain dominated possession but Sweden’s defence, which has been solid and resolute for the past month, frustrated their opponents for long periods.