The Spanish national team lost to China in the match they never wanted to play

which gave access to continue fighting for the bitter fifth place. Although Miki Oca tried to instill in his girls the same competitive spirit as always, the match was played with a different intensity, both teams aware that it was a minor duel compared to the ones that would be played later in the Water Polo Arena. The team started somewhat relaxed, still sad about the elimination against the United States, although they gained momentum as the match progressed but repeated inaccuracies in attack that ultimately cost them the match.

In an open first quarter, with more prominence of the attackers than the defenders, China and Spain tied at three goals. The Asians struck first, more courageous, more whole after falling to Australia on penalties in the quarterfinals. But Spain found many attacking advantages that they knew how to take advantage of, with goals from Tarragó, Maica García and Anni Espar. In the second quarter, Oca's team straightened the course further, especially in defense. They left China with only one goal scored and they took the lead for the first time in the match (2-1).

But the match took other paths after halftime. The team began to miss clear attacks, hitting the posts or the Chinese goalkeeper, which resulted in a 2-4 partial score in favor of China, reaching the final quarter with a rival advantage (7-8). That difference was insurmountable. The 7-9 was heavily protested by the Spanish team. Song threw and Pareja cleared it off the line, but the referees counted it as a goal. That goal ended up tipping the match. Spain missed the next two attacks due to inaccuracies in the passes and Song, once again, made it 7-10, which seemed definitive with five minutes left in the game.

Between Song and Zhao, they scored eight goals and were a headache for Oca's team, who fought until the end with goals from Forca (9-10) but failed to score in the last action to tie the match. Spain will fight on Friday against the loser of the Russia-Greece match for the seventh place. It will be the farewell of the water warriors in this sad World Championships in Kazan, a parenthesis after three years of climbing the podiums.