Madrid, June 8 (IANS) Spain women’s national team coach Sonia Bermudez warned her side still has work to do if it wants to secure direct qualification to defend its title at the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil.

Spain’s emphatic 4-0 win over England in Mallorca on Friday night saw Bermudez’s side leapfrog England to the top of the group. Spain will book its ticket to Brazil with a win away to Iceland on Tuesday in the sixth and final group match.

If Spain fail to win, England could still qualify directly with a home victory over Ukraine in a match being played at the same time, reports Xinhua.

Spain defeated Iceland 3-0 in their first group meeting in Castellon on March 3, but Bermudez expects a much tougher challenge on Tuesday in Reykjavik.

“We know that at their ground, they (Iceland) are a very difficult, very complicated, very tough opponent, but we’re eager for tomorrow to arrive so we can try to achieve our objective,” said Bermudez at her pre-match press conference.

She warned that Iceland is “a very strong team in the air, in duels, in second balls, they transition quickly, and they have very powerful forwards.”

Bermudez said she was delighted with Friday’s victory, in which Spain produced an outstanding display to outplay England for 90 minutes, with Alexia Putellas scoring twice, while Patri Guijarro and Claudia Pina also found the net.

“Obviously, when you win and do it the way we did, everything has an impact, but now it’s a completely different game,” she said, explaining that Tuesday presents “a different context, in a different country.”

She added that if Spain had been offered the chance at the start of qualifying to secure direct qualification by winning its final group game, everyone would have accepted it.

“We’d have signed to go into this match with these options, to get three points and qualify directly… Spain has never won in Iceland, I think that’s also extra motivation,” concluded Bermudez.

–IANS

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