Spain have thwarted New Zealand's hopes of reaching the FIFA U17 Women's World Cup final, prevailing 2-0 over the Young Football Ferns in their semi-final at Montevideo.
Spain had opened the scoring after 38 minutes, when Claudia Pina latched onto a cross in front of goal and made no mistake with her shot, slotting the ball past New Zealand goalie Anna Leat.
The goal broke a deadlock that had seen both teams unsuccessful with prime scoring chances. Several times, Spanish players appealed for penalties, after tumbling to the ground inside the area.
New Zealand had three golden opportunities within four minutes, with Gabrielle Rennie twice denied by the Spanish defence. In the 28th minute, Macey Fraser had a shot deflected onto the crossbar by the Spanish goalie.
Irene Lopez provided the cherry on top for Spain, with a sensational strike just after half-time. Lopez caught a volley with her left foot, just outside the penalty box, beating Leat and deflecting off the post into the net for a two-goal lead.
"We knew today would be challenging," said NZ coach Leon Birnie. "But in the first half especially, we took it to them.
"They had a great strike to go 2-0 up and it was always going to be tough to come back.
"I'm so proud of them - they tried everything they could until the final whistle. It was an amazing moment for our country in football."
The New Zealand U17 women had never made it this far into a FIFA tournament, progessing with wins over Finland and hosts Uruguay in pool play, followed by a stunning penalty shootout victory over Japan in the quarter-finals.
Spain reached the semis with wins over Korea and Canada, and a draw with Colombia in pool play, then a penalty shootout victory over defending champions North Korea in the quarter-finals.
They now advance to the final, where they will meet Mexico. New Zealand take on Canada in the third/fourth playoff.
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