2023-12-04 21:17:32
A month after achieving its first universal star and after the chaos of the ‘Rubiales case’, Spain played its first duel against Sweden in a match where the tension was shaken and where the message was almost more important than the result. That victory against the Nordics was a social speaker in the battle for equality as well as the first stone to be in the final four of the League of Nations, a classification that was achieved last Friday despite losing to Italy thanks to the disaster of the Scandinavian nation against Switzerland. France also sealed its classification, and if it reaches the final, the team that occupies third place in the Nations League (from February 21 to 28, 2024) at a venue yet to be assigned, will have guaranteed access to the Olympic Games in Paris.
Both teams meet again this Tuesday (7:00 p.m., RTVE) in a quite different context compared to the month of September. In terms of sports, the two teams that lead the FIFA ranking are no longer playing at La Rosaleda in Málaga, but La Roja will want to clean up a stained image in Pontevedra in the defeat against Italy after accumulating eight consecutive victories. In Galician lands, Montse Tomé’s unbeatability and a bit of the professionalism that they demand were left behind. And beyond the setback, the crash aroused great indignation and criticism for a new controversial chapter that puts on the table that there is still much to do.
The hangover from the defeat centered on the inexplicable situation of starting the second half of the match with ten players against the Azzurra, which caused the current world champion to concede a quick goal that began the Italian comeback. It was only two minutes, but it was the latest botch by a team that has starred in some ridiculous episodes in recent times.
«At half-time we changed Athenea del Castilla for Lucía García and then when we were about to enter the second half Aitana Bonmatí warned us with little time that she could not continue. That’s why we don’t have time for Esther González to warm up and enter the game, that’s why we start with one less player,” Tomé explained at a press conference. A version that, however, does not agree with what Athenea del Castillo gave to the media: «She said the changes as soon as the talk started, it must have been a miscalculation, I couldn’t tell you. It has been a tremendous screw-up. It is something we have to learn from because it cannot be repeated.” “These things must be corrected, it cannot happen again,” also noted Tere Abelleira, who joined the criticism of Esther González, one of the protagonists in that change as she was the international who had to replace her teammate. . «It is a major mistake, and the staff has to be able to act much sooner. It is something that cannot be allowed,” lamented the US Gotham FC attacker, including a shot at Tomé.
It is not the first time that the versions of the coach and the players differ. In her first press conference as the new coach of the women’s soccer team, once Jorge Vilda was dismissed, she said she had spoken with the players but however the international players did not know that they were going to be called up and many found out through social networks.
Several players – at least 15 of the 23 – told him that they were not eligible for that first list of that improvised concentration in Oliva (Valencia). Now it rains in the wet with the Asturian coach, who has been in office for three months and had been strengthened after the victories. The Italian chapter, which has no sporting consequences because Spain is already one step away from the Paris 2024 Games after reaching the final four of the Nations League, adds to what happened in the match in Zurich against Switzerland, when Irene Paredes could not appear in the starting team due to an error when including her in the call through the official UEFA application. It was not clear whether the error was due to a computer problem or human error.
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