FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023-Spain face Netherlands in quarter-final

Spain will face the Netherlands in the quarter finals of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 later on Friday as the tournament enters the knock out stage.

Spain had an easy win over Switzerland in their last-16 meeting, while the Netherlands got the better of South Africa.

The Netherlands, however, were given a reality check in their final group game when they were picked apart by Japan's incisive counter-attacks and their failure to stop their opponents from implementing their game plan resulted in a disappointing 4-0 defeat.

After seeing their eight-game winning run come to an end, Spain picked themselves up for their last-16 meeting with Switzerland and produced a dominant display to cruise to a 5-1 victory.

The impressive result represented the first time that Spain had claimed a victory in the knockout rounds of a Women's World Cup.

They are now looking to reach the semi-finals of a major tournament for just the second time after previously appearing in the last four of Euro 1997, and they will look to draw inspiration from their recent head-to-head record against the Netherlands, with their last three meetings all resulting in victories.

The Netherlands have been in impressive form at the 2023 Women's World Cup, finding the net in all four games and keeping three clean sheets.

After their campaign got off to a winning start against Portugal, the Dutch played out a hard-earned 1-1 draw against the record winners USA, before they rounded off the group stage with a commanding 7-0 victory over Vietnam.

Impressively, the Netherlands have extended their unbeaten run to six matches, and they are still in the hunt for their first Women's World Cup trophy after finishing as runners-up in France four years ago.

They claimed a relatively comfortable 2-0 win against Italy in their only previous Women's World Cup quarter-final appearance in 2019, and they will be looking to use that experience to their advantage on Friday.