Spain’s women produced back-to-back wins to give themselves a real fighting chance of reaching the quarter-finals, holding off Korea 3-2 following a burst of three goals in eight minutes.
Korea’s Eunbi Cheon had opened the scoring but Begona Garcia’s effort in the 39th minute started a brilliant run of scoring, followed up by Lola Riera’s deflected drag-flick and a Gloria Comerma goal.
Bomi Kim pulled one back and there were some nervous moments but goalkeeper Maria Lopez de Eguilaz said she is well used to such heart-stopping moments.
“For me, it was easy [to make the final save] because of the team I have behind me and I can do anything with them. It was a really crazy last minute and my heart was bouncing but I trusted everyone in our work.
“I am a person who uses their heart a lot and in Spain, this is something we do. When things don’t go the way we want, we still fight. This is what it takes.”
Her side now sit on six points at the end of the group stages thanks to two wins to close the group. They now must hope New Zealand beat China to allow them to advance.
“We think we could have done better in the early games but it is better late than never. Everybody left everything on the pitch.”