2023-08-20 14:06:27
From Johannesburg to Sydney. A long journey of 11,034 kilometers, which takes 14 hours and 14 minutes by plane. A long journey that, in reality, has taken up to 13 years to be completed by the two Spains. The pioneer, that unrepeatable group led with wisdom and neatness by an old coach but full of modernity like Vicente del Bosquewho sewed the first star in a country full of fury and frustration, taking advantage of the valuable seed planted by Luis Aragones.
It was he, athletic in heart and soul, who sewed the ball to the feet of some tiny players, championed by Xavi, Iniesta, Silva and company, to open a path that players now traveled in the Antipodes like Aitana, Alexia, Salma, Laia, Olga, Cata… Both teams united by a common thread: the best Barça in history.
The one by Guardiola (2009), a prologue to a Spain never seen before, capable of reaching paradise at Soccer City in Johannesburg with Iniesta’s eternal goal. the one of Jonathan Giraldez (2023), owner of the Champions League, capable as the Barça club has been, promoter of the true women’s revolution, of ending French hegemony (Olympique Lyon has up to eight) or German (Frankfurt has four).
One country, two Spains
There is a country. And two Spains. Although, in reality, it is the same, both built from the almost fanatical cult of the ball. There were seven Barça players in that group that Del Bosque managed with skill. Seven out of 23. In other words, 30%.
But his greatest legacy was not the quantity but the quality and the impact in the style, all of them grandsons of the Cruyffista idea, which ended with the anachronistic and outdated concept of the ‘Spanish fury’ dating from the middle of the 20th century when Zarra scored in the old Maracana
With Luis the ‘Big Bang’ was unleashed, the great explosion that changed football in this country forever after winning the Eurocup. With Vicente, Everest (World Cup and Euro Cup) was reached in a sequence of four perfect years. A selection built from the initial defeat (0-1 against Switzerland), which anticipated chaos. But the ecstasy came. Even in that both Spains are similar.
The family thread with the ‘Dream Team’
The same thing happened to Jorge Vilda, a family member of the ‘Dream Team’ (his father Ángel was Cruyff’s physical trainer in the construction of Barça that changed its history and that of Spanish football) in this World Cup. A defeat, which was also painful and cruel, against Japan (4-0), left everyone without an alibi. To the selector. And, of course, the players.
“Barça have caused a tremendous impact, an incredible impact on the women’s football scene. I would say that Aitana is the Iniesta of women’s football.”
Manchester City manager
There are nine out of 23 in this Spain that belong to Barça. Almost 40%. And if the previous rebellion of ’15’ did not exist, there could have been much more. But what is transcendent is, once again, the mark they leave in the way they play and how they build small societies, which merge into a choral work that makes it akin to the original concept of Spain in 2010. And both teams have the same grounds.
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“Barça has caused a tremendous impact, an incredible impact on the women’s football scene,” confessed Pep Guardiola, who sublimated Cruyff’s initial idea. And even he, more transgressor and fanatic in his convictions than Johan himself was, spearheading an endless soccer revolution, can’t help but get excited when he sees them play.
“Aitana is a footballer with whom I am completely in love with the way she plays. I would say that she is like the Iniesta of women’s football,” Guardiola said. And Andrés, who has just arrived in the Emirati city of Ras al Khaimanh, smiled reading his former coach. Spain smiles because he found the key to the treasure in Johannesburg that cold July night and he also repeated it on another cold night in Sydney, with 11 degrees. The treasure was in the ball. This is how the two stars were sewn of champions and world champions.
#Iniesta #Aitana #Bonmatí