On August 20, 2023, Olga Carmona’s goal and everything that happened later removed the foundations of Spanish football. Spain was champion of the female world and something had changed forever.
«We are a team, a selection, some players who have been fighting, working, working, striving with a lot Before the final of the Eurocup that Spain plays today against England.
«This has caused me to sit here and that all the questions you ask me are football. What says is the change we are getting. For all the effort, the team deserves it, ”adds the coach.
«Since then there have been steps forward, firm steps. I think we have to keep opening doors and normalizing situations that are increasingly normal and what has to be. At that time with the victory a lot of walls are demolished. We are even more referents for children, for the whole society. All helps, but we are on the way, ”acknowledges the captain of the National Team, Irene Paredesabout the evolution that Spanish women’s football has had from the World Cup.
Then Spain was Nations League Champion And now he hopes to complete the palmraés with the Eurocup that excites the players so much. «I do not think about pressure. I think that throughout the championship we have been making history entering the semifinals for the first time, entering a final for the first time, getting winning Germany for the first time and I feel that we have been fulfilling objectives. When we started we had The illusion of playing six games And we are going to play them, ”says Montse Tomé. That meant reaching the final and in the final they are to repeat the World Cup that changed their lives.
Many players have stayed along the way. Some important, such as Beautiful Jenni and Mass. «Now we see the team we want, we see the team that we have been working for a long time. In this year and we have been playing the pieces to get to the point we are, with The players we want, With which they represent what we feel and we are in the final of a Eurocup, so very happy, ”says the coach.
Nor is Ivana Andrés, the captain who collected the World Champions Cup. She was a captain chosen by the coach, not by the companions or by the number of matches in the national team. Ivana did her job, but Now the bracelet has been recovered by its legitimate owner, Irene Paredes, that also went through moments of doubts at the beginning of this season, but has recovered the illusion and confidence of the coach. And now it is probably happier than ever in the final phase of a great tournament.
«I think I have enjoyed all, but it is true that I am enjoying this tournament very much. The team has arrived in a moment of maturity of all kinds, with a very good combination of players, with a lot of quality, with many resources, with different ways and game options, with an important background at the level of matches and important tournaments, which helps when facing matches such as this against England. If I am enjoying it (the Eurocup), I do not know if the one that is the most recent, I will say yes. We arrived at a good time to enjoy football, ”says Irene Paredes.
The captain does not feel the pressure of playing a final, of being able to get the third selection title in just two years. «I think we have a team that has played important matches, important tournaments. Each one already knows how to manage that tension, those emotions that may emerge something else. We do not see it as a pressure game but as a opportunity to continue making historyto do something big, to be able to show us, to continue enjoying and make people enjoy, ”says Irene.
Paredes does not want to load with the pressure of being favorite. «I still assume it. From the first day I said that among the favorites was England and is still. The two selections have deserved to be in the final. We are very clear about what each game must be suffered, in what you have to be centered. The rest does not care, ”warns the captain of the Spanish team.
Two years ago he could not collect the World Champions Cup as Captain. Now he hopes to do it with the Eurocup.