From mutiny to baby joy: Spain in good spirits ahead of Women’s World Cup
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Players of the Spanish women's football team in action during a practice session on July 20.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
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MELBOURNE – Ten months after Spain were rocked by a player revolt, coach Jorge Vilda has promised home fans his players are unified and motivated to meet high expectations at the Women’s World Cup.
Spain were in crisis in the wake of a disappointing quarter-final exit at Euro 2022, with 15 players threatening to quit if the long-serving Vilda stayed in charge.
The federation backed the coach, though, and the uprising was crushed as Vilda froze the mutineers out of his squad.
Now a retooled Spain, who face Costa Rica in their World Cup opener on Friday, loom as one of the challengers to the United States’ bid for an unprecedented third straight World Cup title. They are favoured to top Group C which includes Zambia and 2011 champions Japan.
“We are well aware that there are high expectations as to what we can do on the field,” Vilda said in Wellington on Thursday. “In the end, that’s a privilege and extra motivation for us.”
Three of the 15 dissidents, Mariona Caldentey, Aitana Bonmati and Ona Batlle, were welcomed back to the fold, adding to a squad with a strong Barcelona presence.
The Catalan side have become the benchmark in European women’s club football, winning the Champions League in two of the last three seasons to break the stranglehold of French side Lyon.
That bodes well for the national team in their third World Cup, four years after being knocked out of the round of 16 by the US.
Spain may have qualified for their first World Cup only in 2015, but professionalism has turned the domestic women’s Liga F into a destination for global talent.
Like other well-resourced nations at the World Cup, playing mothers are now welcome to bring children.
Defender Irene Paredes is travelling with her one-year-old son, whom Vilda said was a welcome addition to the group and a sign of how far women’s football has come in the country.
“We are living in a new situation in that we have a baby in our group and this is a real joy and something that never happened before. It’s great,” he said.
Defender Irene Paredes is travelling with her one-year-old son.
PHOTO: AFP
“Before we were ranked 20-something in the world, now we are sixth... Now we have players who are recognised as the best in the world.”
They include back-to-back Ballon d’Or Feminin winner Alexia Putellas, who has been declared fit to play against the 36th-ranked Costa Rica despite leaving training early this week.
The Barcelona midfielder has been managed carefully since returning from a long layoff from a knee ligament injury.
Her clubmate Asisat Oshoala of Nigeria also starts her World Cup campaign on Friday, with the African world No. 40 side meeting the seventh-ranked Canada in a Group B match in Melbourne.
Canada skipper Christine Sinclair, the all-time leading scorer in international football, has warned that her Tokyo Olympics-winning side “can beat any team in the world”.
“We were overlooked heading into the Tokyo Olympics and showed what we can do,” said the 40-year-old forward, who will be hoping to add to her tally of 190 goals in 323 matches at her sixth World Cup.
Also hoping to show what they can do are world No. 46 Philippines. The World Cup debutantes open their Group A campaign against the 20th-ranked Switzerland in Dunedin. REUTERS
