When the final whistle blew at the Wellington Regional Stadium on Monday night, it was as if nobody in a Spain shirt could believe it.
Star midfielder Aitana Bonmati seemed to stare into infinity. Centre-back Rocio Galvez simply put her hands to her face in frustration. In his post-match press conference, head coach Jorge Vilda accepted the blame.
“I take responsibility for what happened,” Vilda said. “It was something we were not expecting, and I’m convinced we’ll change.”
Spain had closed the group stage of the Women’s World Cup in the worst possible way, with a 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Japan. The last time they had lost by four goals or more was a 5-0 defeat to Germany in March 2012 and they had never lost a World Cup game by more than one goal before today.
Bonmati was one of the few Spain players who showed attitude during the defeat. When the third goal went in, she retrieved the ball from the net to try and get things started again. Her attitude contrasted with that of most Spain players, who were incredulous at what they were experiencing and unable to react. She was also one of the few players who spoke to reporters afterwards.
“Life sometimes gives you hard knocks,” Bonmati said. “Today was not our best game and we know we have to improve a lot of things if we want to go on in this World Cup.
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“We learned after losing the Champions League final in Turin, we will also learn from this.”
Bonmati was referring to last year’s Champions League final, which her Barcelona side lost 3-1 against Lyon. Barca responded in style to win this year’s final against Wolfsburg and Spain will hope for a similar reaction in this tournament.
The clash with Japan had been highly anticipated. It was the first real test for Vilda’s side after convincing displays against Costa Rica and Zambia. They were facing one of the tournament’s most impressive teams so far and one who have regularly thwarted Spain at youth level in recent years — as was the case in the 2018 Under-20 World Cup final and the final of the Under-17 World Cup in 2014.
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“From this match I only expect to win, to be recognisable in the game and for all my players to finish well,” Vilda had said in his pre-match press conference.
They did not win, they were not recognisable and they finished well physically, but not mentally.
For the first few minutes, Spain seemed to dominate. They had the ball, the Japanese were nowhere to be seen and the crowd were surprised, expecting a more aggressive display from Spain’s opponents. Vilda’s side controlled the tempo and everything seemed to be going well for them.
Japan’s first counter-attack, ending in Hinata Miyazawa’s first goal, revived some of the ghosts that had been present against Costa Rica. Defensive frailty had been of little concern to the Spaniards in that game given their attacking superiority, but it did not bode well for matches against more demanding opponents.
As the goals began to flow like Wellington rain for Japan, the game became more and more disjointed. Within half an hour the Japanese had scored two more goals through Riko Ueki and Miyazawa and the scale of the defeat had become clear.
“Japan played very well defensively,” centre-back Irene Paredes explained in the mixed zone, with her voice breaking.
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“They gave us the ball, which we didn’t expect. They (played) with three centre-backs and they were very comfortable… There are days when things don’t go our way, we’ve come in with little clarity and we’ll have to see what happened to correct it and be able to face Switzerland (in the round of 16).”
Japan’s counter-attacking approach surprised Spain, and there was a fragility across the board. In defence, Galvez was making her World Cup debut after a calf injury suffered by regular centre-back Ivana Andres. She was soft at the back, imprecise with her distribution and suffered problems with her positioning and concentration throughout.
But it was not just Galvez to blame. Paredes had her worst game in recent memory, with Japan’s players left alone in front of Spain goalkeeper Misa Rodriguez on four occasions. Of the five shots on target the Japanese had, four were goals.
Things were no better in midfield — despite Spain having the reigning Ballon d’Or winner (Alexia Putellas) and the Ballon d’Or elect (Bonmati) in the centre of the park. Teresa Abelleira played behind those two — the Real Madrid midfielder is no Patri Guijarro, the Barca player who chose not to return to the national team after protesting against problems in the national set-up, but she had been a revelation before this debacle.
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Putellas showed she still has a way to go before she is back to her best after injury, but none of the three midfielders were on form. Spain completed 842 passes to Japan’s 181, but they lacked any attacking purpose. At times, it seemed as if they wanted to pass the ball into the back of the net.
In attack, Salma Paralluelo was one of the few players who seemed to be trying. She made some probing runs down the flank and tried to create danger with her dribbling, but was also erratic. Jennifer Hermoso and Mariona Caldentey were nowhere to be seen and Spain had just two shots on Japan keeper Ayaka Yamashita’s goal.
All this against a Japan side who knew how to read the game and needed very little to kill off one of the tournament favourites. They enjoyed themselves and so did the fans, who far outnumbered their Spanish counterparts. It felt as if Japan were playing at home.
Even more worrying was the lack of communication between Spain players. There were few messages of encouragement, words or even glances exchanged on the pitch until they embraced in the centre of the pitch at the end of the game as Vilda gave a speech.
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Vilda was right to take responsibility for the defeat. The Spain boss had no answer to Japan closing ranks in defence and his only switch at half-time was to replace left-back Olga Carmona with Oihane Hernandez. Wholesale changes were required, but these only happened from the 62nd minute onwards.
Spain are not done in this tournament — a second-placed finish in Group C means they now face Switzerland on Saturday. But this defeat has hurt a dressing room made up largely of Barcelona players who are not used to losing in this fashion.
“Mentally it’s done some damage but we’re able to learn, and we’re able to react because these defeats hurt,” Vilda said. “It’s the biggest defeat since I’ve been coach. It hurts. The players are angry, I’m convinced they’ll be better against Switzerland.”
Even so, it should be remembered that Spain have never won a knockout game in an official tournament under Vilda.
“Reset after this? There is no time,” Paredes said. “It’s a tough day but tomorrow we have to start turning this around… We’re hurt but we have to keep working.”
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