New Zealand were rocked by a fourth-minute goal to Gema Gili, who lobbed Chloe May Geurts from 35 yards out, but drew level in the 15th minute through midfielder Kate Loye.
Loye was on hand to grab her second close range goal in as many games after Olivia Chance and Stephanie Skilton combined to tee up a shot for Holly Patterson.
The scores stayed level for the rest of the first half but Spanish playmaker Sara Merida clipped a free kick over the defensive wall and past Geurts three minutes into the second spell to re-establish La Selección’s advantage.
The combination of heat, humidity and Spain’s possession game suffocated the Young Football Ferns and while Geurts kept New Zealand in the game with a pair of sharp saves, substitute Paloma Lazaro eventually killed off their chances of snatching a result, and confirmed Spain’s place in the knockout stages, when she headed in a third goal four minutes from time.
Spain had the ball in the back of the net a fourth time late on but the effort was ruled out for offside.
New Zealand coach Dave Edmondson was frank in his assessment.
“We just weren’t good enough today,” Edmondson said.
“We did quite well to fight our way back into the game but we could never really settle and Spain deserve a lot of credit for that. They pressed us like we knew they would and that was always going to make it more difficult in possession.
“We need eight or nines out of ten from everyone on the field to beat a team like Spain and we didn’t get that today.”
Edmondson highlighted the performances of captain Katie Bowen and defender Sivitha Boyce as positives but singled out striker Stephanie Skilton with her tireless work rate as the Young Football Ferns best performer.
New Zealand’s faint hopes of making the second round now rest on beating Japan in their final group match in Scarbrough on Tuesday and Venezuela losing to both Japan later today and Spain on Tuesday. Even then the three-way tie for second place would be broken by goal difference.
“We talked about today being our last chance. The big chance was against Venezuela and having let that slip we needed a big performance to have a chance going into the last game.
“Mathematically we’re still alive, for now. We’ll cling to every straw we can but we need to worry about what we do and put a good performance in against Japan regardless of whether we can still qualify or it’s our last showing at this World Cup.”
New Zealand 1 (Kate LOYE 15) Spain 3 (Gema GILI 4, Sara MERIDA 48, Paloma LAZARO 86)
Halftime: 1-1
New Zealand: 1-Chloe-May GEURTS (GK), 2-Rachel HEAD, 3-Tessa MCPHERSON (19-Michelle WINDSOR 73), 4-Olivia CHANCE, 6-Evie MILLYNN (11-Grace PARKINSON 84), 7-Holly PATTERSON (5-Brittany DUDLEY-SMITH 75), 8-Kate LOYE, 12-Stephanie SKILTON, 14-Katie BOWEN (Captain), 17-Sivitha BOYCE.
Substitutes not used: 9-Hannah CARLSEN, 10-Hannah WONG, 13-Megan LEE, 15-Kate CARLTON, 16-Jessie MATHEWS, 18-Rebecca BURROWS, 20-Jess REDDAWAY (RGK), 21-Lily ALFELD (RGK).
Head Coach: Dave EDMONDSON
Spain: 1-Dolores GALLARDO (GK), 3-Ana Maria CATALA, 4-Ivana ANDRES, 5-Laura GUTIERREZ, 6-Nagore CALDERON, 7-Gema GILI, 10-Amanda SAMPEDRO (captain / 8-Marina GARCIA 82), 11-Alexia PUTELLAS (12-Sara TAZO 77), 14-Arene ALTONAGA, 17-Sara MERIDA, 18-Raquel PINEL (9-Paloma LAZARO 72).
Substitutes not used: 2-Ana SAENZ, 13-Elena FERNANDEZ (RGK), 15-Iraia PEREZ, 16-Paula NICART, 19-Paula LOPEZ, 20-Nerea PEREZ, 21-Patricia ASENSIO (RGK).
Head Coach: Jorge VILDA
Cautions: Sara MERIDA
Story courtesy of NZF Media.
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