Trinidad D’ Andrea was exceptional as Argentina edged Poland to reach the quarter-finals, while Morocco edge hosts Philippines at the FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup.
Argentina defeated Poland 3-2 backed by a solid performance from Trinidad D’ Andrea between the posts. Poland found out to their peril that one player could make the difference in the closely fought match that helped Argentina be the first nation to reach the knockout phase.
Poland had carried out coach Wojciech Weiss’s instructions to a tee. Aga Bala, Klaudia Kubaszek and Katarzyna Wlodarczyk had concocted shots repeatedly and put them exactly where they wanted them repeatedly. Time and time again, however, D’ Andrea exasperated them with her preposterous reflexes.
D’ Andrea made a staggering 19 saves. The 31-year-old became the second goalkeeper to be named Player of the Match at this tournament after Colombia’s Alisson Olave.
Argentina scored their goals through SilvinaNava (9), Agostina Chiesa (11) and Lucia Rossi (15) while Poland’s late flurry saw them coming just short after goals from Aga Bala (22) and Anna Choras (38)
Morocco have a shot at joining Argentina in the next stage, after rallying from behind to edge Philippines, whose early goals turned an electric atmosphere into a stratospheric one.
Philippines gave it their all but had to concede to a 3-2 defeat against Morocco in their Group A tie.
Two successive defeats mean the hosts’ journey ends in the group stage, with the concluding fixture against Argentina to come on Thursday.
Philippines could not have asked for a better start, going ahead in the fourth minute when skipper Dionesa Tolentin blasted her free-kick through a wall of two Moroccan players into the bottom corner.
The hosts doubled their advantage four minutes later when Isabella Bandoja set up Catherine Graversen for a firm low finish to Kawtar Bentaleb’s right.
Morocco fought back to halve the deficit in the 10th minute when Meryem Hajri’s cross from the left was unluckily turned into her own net by Katrina Guillou.
The African side equalised four minutes later after a quick break with Chaymaa Mourtaji charging forward before setting up Siiham Tadlaoui to sweep the ball home.
Morocco were now in full flow and they struck again with three minutes left to play in the first half, Hajri scooping the ball over the Philippines defence for Jasmine Demraoui to slot past the advancing Samantha Hughes.
A lively second half yielded no goals despite the best efforts of both sides as Morocco earned their first win to stay in contention and end Philippines’ dream.
“We were 2-0 down. We knew what we had to do to keep our dream alive, and thankfully we did it. I’m proud of the team. Now we have a final against Poland. We’ll give it everything,” said Moroccan winger Jasmine Demraoui.
The result made Morocco the first team to come from behind and win a game in this competition.
“I’m very happy, very proud to score the Philippines’ first goal in the FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup. Just to play in front of our own fans was something else, but to score that goal in front of them, I can’t even express what it means,” said Filipino pivot Dionesa Tolentin.
