“We are the first self-criticists and that’s how we teach them. The atmosphere is competitive and very healthy. It is extraordinary in terms of performance, ambition, win the place, beat the rivals and constantly improve”. Before starting the last rally before the World Cup, Jorge Vilda pointed out in Press conference the current environment that surrounds the Spanish women’s team. This appreciation was linked to the self-demand and self-criticism of a coaching staff that wants to set the bar for women’s football in Spain at the top of everything, an objective with which the group identifies, shares and expresses with great tone in every training, walk, lunch or hug after a goal.
“At the World Cup we want to make history”. The ambitious goal that Jorge Vilda has installed in the Spain dressing room is in tune with the pressure in which a group of footballers moves which has just soundly defeated Norway (number 12 in the world) by 4-2 and China (number 13) by 3-0. Ranked 7th in the FIFA rankings, Spain has already accumulated 24 matches without losing within its borders.
Athena del Castillo, at the end of the match against China, assured that the group leaves “with good feelings”, something in which he agreed with Vilda in a press conference and, by extension, the 24 members who make up the delegation of the Selection Spanish women’s team, of which the coach says they are “the first self-criticists”. The professionalization carried out by the current directive of the Royal Spanish Football Federation it has led to the fact that in their third participation in a World Cup they want to break more barriers: they have only won one game out of the seven that Spain has played in a World Cup match. If in Canada 2015 they did not get past the group stage and in France 2019 they reached the round of 16, in Australia and New Zealand 2023 it is expected to “make history”.