Spain advanced to the semi-finals of the FIFA Women's World Cup on 11 August, overcoming 2019 runners-up Holland 2-1 in front of 32,021 fans at Sky Stadium as two of the greatest European footballing nations produced a wonderful exhibition of entertaining football. "La Roja" fired the first shots in anger in this absorbing contest, Mariona Caldentey playing the ball wide to Esther Gonzalez in the fourth minute. She worked a one-two with Jennifer Hermoso, the return pass playing Gonzalez in on goal. But she steered her shot across the face of goal, Dominique Janssen's pertinent positioning preventing the striker from steering a shot into the far corner of the net. Unperturbed, Spain again knocked on the door two minutes later, Caldentey's delightfully angled ball in from the left picking out Aitana Bonmati's through the inside left channel from deep. The midfield general pulled the ball back to Alba Redondo, who fired a shot over Daphne Van Domselaar's near post. This was the cue for the Dutch to enjoy a brief but ineffective spell of possession - when chances were created, it was the team in red who were generating them. Oihane Hernandez only just failed to get on the end of Teresa Abelleira's seventeenth minute corner. The ball was recycled back to the corner-taker, whose angled cross found Redondo flying in to meet it. Her header was superbly tipped onto the post by Van Domselaar, with Redondo's follow-up attempt striking the same upright. The ball struck the arm of the prone figure of Dutch defender Stefanie Van der Gragt in the ensuing scramble, and despite Spanish penalty protests, nothing was forthcoming - it would have been extremely harsh had one been given. Having survived that almighty scare, Holland endured two more close calls inside the next seven minutes. Van Domselaar grabbed Gonzalez's twenty-five yarder before looking on as Caldentey drilled one past the post from the edge of the penalty area, having worked a one-two with Abelleira to create the opportunity. Holland finally fired a shot in anger in the 28th minute. Lineth Beerensteyn outpaced Hernandez as she raced to keep the ball in play, then pulled the ball back for Esmee Brugts, whose teasing cross arced just over the head of Lieke Martens. Back came Spain, Redondo and the overlapping Hernandez combining on the right. The fullback's cross found both Bonmati and Gonzalez racing into the near post to turn it home, but both were beaten to it by Van Domselaar. Eight minutes before half-time, Spanish joy was swiftly stifled as Gonzalez slammed the ball into the roof of the net from an offside position on receipt of a pass from Redondo which had actually been an attempt to turn the ball home from five yards on receipt of Caldentey's cross - a sure-fire contender for "Miss of the Tournament", make no mistake! On they came again, Redondo picking out Caldentey five minutes later. She played a defence-splitting pass to Gonzalez, whose low drive was blocked at her near post by the legs of Van Domselaar. Three minutes later, Ona Batlle lashed one narrowly over the bar from the edge of the penalty area on receipt of a pass from Gonzalez, whose enterprising run across the top of the box in stoppage time had no reward thanks to the outstanding efforts of the Dutch defence to ensure they went to the dressing rooms with the scoreline reading 0-0. Just fifteen seconds after the resumption of play, that scoreline came desperately close to being altered. Gonzalez latched onto a loose ball twenty-five yards out from goal and let rip on the volley, her shot flying past the diving figure of Van Domselaar and an inch - no more than that! - past her left-hand post. On such razor-thin margins can World Cup destinies be decided, something which outgoing Cup holders the USA will doubtless testify to given their penalty shootout experience days earlier. Spain responded to this close call with a sumptuous move featuring virtually the entire team as they circulated the ball around the park at pace. Eventually Caldentey pulled the trigger, but Van Domselaar was right behind her twenty-yarder in the fiftieth minute. Van der Graft and Jackie Groenen were working overtime in an effort to keep the Dutch in contention in this contest. Such was Spain's dominance of possession that Holland were virtually non-existent as an attacking force - even the genius of Martens couldn't pull them out of the fire on this occasion, as she was starved of possession by a team which cherishes it. Occasionally Holland would enjoy the chance to play on their terms, and in the 62nd minute, out of nowhere, they earned a penalty! Seconds after being introduced off the bench for the anonymous Jill Roord, Lynn Wilms threaded a first-time pass through for Beerensteyn to race onto and into the area, where she was taken out by Irene Paredes as Spanish goalkeeper Cata Coll cleared her lines. French referee Stephanie Frappart, one of the best in the business, had no hesitation, and booked Paredes into the bargain. The Video Assistant Referee cast its all-seeing eye on events, and suggested that the on-field official might want to

have a look at what they were seeing … Cue despair for the Dutch, as the lifeline they'd been given was overturned, ditto Paredes' yellow card, the referee deeming that no foul had occurred because it had been a shoulder-to-shoulder challenge. In the penalty area. Brave defending which could very easily have gone wrong, and would have but for the VAR's intervention. Back came "La Roja", Hermoso's dangerous ball into the goalmouth prompting a vital clearance from Wilms, sparking a Dutch counter-attack in which Victoria Pelova lobbed one over the top for Martens to latch onto. Coll dashed off her line to avert the danger, however. More Spanish attacks soon followed, Van Domselaar directly behind another Abelleira attempt from distance before looking on with dismay in the 78th minute as the VAR looked at an incident in which Spanish substitute Salma Paralluelo fired in a cross which struck the outstretched hand of Van der Graft. The defender was outside the penalty area, but was her arm inside the eighteen-yard box when the ball struck it? After an eternity, VAR deemed it was - spot kick! Up stepped Caldentey, who sent Van Domselaar the wrong way from twelve yards before getting lucky, the ball ricocheting in off the upright. 1-0 Spain with nine minutes remaining, a lead which Abelleira looked to double three minutes later via a long-range free-kick which the back-pedalling figure of Van Domselaar tipped over the bar. Holland threw caution to the wind and piled on the pressure in search of an equaliser which would take this first of four quarter-finals to extra time. Martens sent Beerensteyn scampering down the left five minutes from time, from where she worked her way into the penalty area before firing a shot at Coll, with support queueing up inside her. Into stoppage time we went, Beerensteyn beating three in the area before slicing her shot across the face of goal, having been played in by Martens. Spain cleared their lines, but Pelova bombed the ball forward for one last throw of the dice by the Dutch. By this time, Van der Gragt was being employed as a forward in their desperation to get back on level terms, and her bid for redemption - remember it was she whose foul presented Spain with the opening goal minutes earlier - was rewarded, the makeshift striker battering a drive across Coll and in by the far post - 1-1. Having had victory snatched away from them at the death, Spain looked to snatch it back before the final whistle via a Caldentey cross. Van der Gragt - this would be her final game for her country if the Dutch were defeated - turned the ball towards her own goal, but Van Domselaar grabbed it to prevent an "oggie" and bring about extra time. While it had been Spain who fired the first shots in anger at the start of the game, it was Holland's turn to do so at the start of the additional thirty minutes, Beerensteyn being denied by Coll before creating an opening for Martens, whose twenty yard effort met the same fate as her speedy team-mate's attempt a minute earlier. In the 94th minute, the Dutch came desperately close to scoring again. Groenen released the overlapping Janssen down the left, from where she delivered a cross which invited Katja Snoeijs to head home from inside the six-yard box. Ivana Andres' splendid clearance ensured the deadlock wouldn't be broken on this occasion. Eight minutes later, it was Spain's turn to threaten again, Irene Guerrero and Eva Navarro combining to pick out Hermoso, whose header was pawed away by Van Domselaar, diving to her right. Two minutes into the second half of extra time, Beerensteyn set off on a fabulous slaloming run through the Spanish defence which took her into the penalty area, from where she steered a shot across Coll but just past the far post. Three minutes later, a long throw-in from Aniek Nouwen wasn't cleared, and Beerensteyn was in again, sending a six-yard volley flashing over the bar - she couldn't have come any closer to firing the Dutch in front. But one of these teams had to score again to avoid a penalty shootout, and sixty seconds after nearly going behind, Spain took the lead once more. Hermoso sent Paralluelo storming away down the left, the youngster getting to the edge of the penalty area before hammering a shot across Van Domselaar and in off the far post - 2-1 Spain. It was a hammer blow for Holland, who couldn't muster a response this time, and who came close to falling further behind before the final whistle sounded to conclude an epic encounter between these European heavyweights, a match which wouldn't have disgraced the Final itself. Spain:          Coll; Hernandez (booked, 35 (Carmona, 91)), Paredes, Codina (Andres, 77), Batlle; Bonmati (Guerrero, 87), Abelleira, Hermoso; Redondo (Paralluelo, 71), Gonzalez (Navarro, 100), Caldentey (Putellas, 100) Holland:     Van Domselaar; Spitse (Snoeijs, 85), Van der Gragt (Casparij, 106), Janssen; Pelova, Roord (Wilms, 61), Groenen, Egurrola (booked, 61 (Dijkstra, 96)), Brugts (Nouwen, 89); Beerensteyn, Martens Referee:     Stephanie Frappart (France)