Spain W vs Zambia W prediction: WORLD: World Cup Women betting tips on match 2023-07-25 07:30.
Despite cruising to a 3-0 win over Costa Rica in their 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup (WWC) opener, Spain boss Jorge Vilda lamented that his side “had more opportunities than we actually took advantage of”, suggesting there’s room for improvement in pursuit of their first-ever World Cup crown. La Roja looked imperious in that victory, setting all-time tournament records for shots (46), possession (80%), and touches in the opposition box (117) in a single match.
Spain can all-but secure qualification for the knockout stages with another victory here, and they’re bound to be supremely confident of doing just that given that they’re on a seven-match winning streak, six of which were accompanied by a clean sheet. In fact, La Roja have conceded just six goals in 15 games since being knocked out of the 2022 UEFA European Championship (W13, D1, L1), marking them out as one of the most in-form sides at the tournament.
Opponents Zambia suffered the worst-possible start to their maiden WWC campaign, suffering the second-heaviest defeat of this edition of the tournament to date – a 5-0 thumping against Japan. Manager Bruce Mwape described the performance as “very disappointing”, although the scoreline could’ve been even worse as Japan saw two goals disallowed by VAR!
Rather worryingly for the Copper Queens, that was the third time already in 2023 that they’ve conceded 5+ goals in a match, with such a negative goal difference leaving them with an uphill task to escape the group stage. Zambia can at least take heart from winning their final pre-tournament friendly against big European opposition in the form of Germany, although that was only their second-ever win against a UEFA nation (D1, L3).
Players to watch: Inspired by legendary technicians Xavi and Andrés Iniesta, Spain’s Aitana Bonmatà scored in a Player of the Match performance against Costa Rica, and she’s certainly a lucky charm as all 17 of her international goals have come in victories. Zambia failed to register a single shot in defeat to Japan, so they’ll be relying on forward Barbra Banda to provide the firepower after her brace inspired the memorable victory over Germany.
Hot stat: Spain have a 100% record against African opposition, scoring ten goals and conceding just one in the process (W3).