Arsenal’s Lia Walti, Noelle Maritz & Frida Maanum wave goodbye to Women’s World Cup hopes.. by Michelle
The World Cup knockouts are upon us. The first two games have been played, and what an unfortunate day for the Gooners!
Arsenal’s Lia Walti, Noelle Maritz, and their Swiss teammates failed to tame the Spanish opposition. Losing 5-1 in the first match of the Round of 16.It was an achievement for the Swiss to make it past the World Cup group stages, but they failed to be the other side that impeded La Roja from reaching the World Cup quarterfinals.
The Swiss were underwhelming; by halftime, they were 3-1 down. They couldn’t pull off a comeback in the second half and instead conceded two more goals. The Swiss got their goal through an own goal by Spain’s Codina Laia.
“We wanted to stay in the game for as long as we could and disrupt the energy,” Switzerland coach Inka Grings said. “But unfortunately, we weren’t able to get in our game. Spain was able to take all their opportunities and use them.”
After seeing Walti and Maritz bow out of the competition, there was hope Arsenal’s Frida Maanum could at least seal a spot in the quarter-finals when her Norway side faced Japan. Unfortunately, Japan had other plans; they did what they had to do to beat Norway 3-1 and dump the European side out of the running for the World Cup.
Commiserations to Lia Walti, Noelle Maritz, and Frida Maanum. Gooners are proud of you!
There are now only 9 Arsenal players left in the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 – they will be battling it out over the coming days, to progress to the quarter-finals of the tournament.
COYGW!
Michelle Maxwell
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