Where you do what you see. If last Saturday were the RedSticks who hung the bronze when knocking Francethis Sunday it has been them, the Red Sticks who have emulated the deed to beating Belgium in the shootouts. With this, the women's team achieves its fourth medal in a continental event, after the runner -ups in 1995 and 2003 and third place in 2019.
All after a meeting in which the lack of gunpowder in the 60 minutes of the regulation time forced to resolve everything in the decisive batch, with five shootoutsan eight -second duel from the 22 line between player and goalkeeper, who did not suffice to decide the winners. The two teams had scored only one goal In the first five releases, and two extra had to be appealed.
In the seventh, Paula Jiménez transformed yours and Clara Pérez He took it out Amber Ballenghien To stop six of seven shootouts and become the heroine of Spain. With this, the redsticks are loaded with morals for the next games of Los Angeles 2028 And, above all, for the World Cup 2026an appointment for a ticket to have reached the European semifinals.
At the beginning of the shock, in which the Belgian pressure was imposed, it was, however, the Spanish team that enjoyed the first occasion in a penalty-chart (PC) that Paula Jiménez threw Elodie Pickard. Lima speed It caused the second PC, which could not materialize either. Flor and Coti Amundson also had their opportunities in the second period, in which Spain generated more occasions and in which Clara Pérez appeared to disrupt the first PC of the Belgians.
Already in the second part, those of Carlos García Cuenca They continued trying, but they could not take advantage of numerical superiority by the green card Judith Vandermeiren. In the last quarter, physical wear weighed in the two selections. The Redsticks played the last five minutes in inferiority, and Clara Pérez looked to stop a Belgian penalty, before the rival porter did the same before the shot of the shot of Candela Mejías.
After that, the shootouts and the stellar performance of Clara Pérez. “There have been many emotions today,” said the goalkeeper. “The shootouts They are something we have very studied, we work a lot because they can give us important things. When the final beep has sounded we knew that we would take the shootouts Because we had worked a lot. We had been working for this eight months. We complain a lot, but the work pays off and it has been shown that this team has no limits and that we aspire to more, ”he said.
