2023-08-07 14:21:19
In Laia Codinais Cata Collis Maria Perez they imagined, not even in the best of their dreams, what they are experiencing these days. Two months ago it didn’t even cross their minds that they were going to be on the list for the World Cup. All three were surprises and, on the same day, in a round of 16, they premiered together. Dream fulfilled.
Laia Codina, the most anticipated
Only the head office crossed his mind that he could play. “Because of how these days had gone, with Ivana’s injury. But, when you see yourself there, in eleven, you say… Holy crap, today could be my day!”. It was. He made a mistake, trusting himself too much with a back pass with too much power, which turned into an own goal -a great goal, by the way- to give Switzerland the tie. However, far from collapsing, he gained confidence and redeemed himself with a great defensive performance and with a goal, this time, against the rival goal to make it 1-3 in the electronics.
“It can be a start to vindicate myself, why not. If we take away the first minutes… Well, the goal. I think I was very solid in defense and then I had the opportunity to score. with irene [Paredes]everything is easier. I always tell her she’s the boss. She keeps us in line.”
His mother, nuriaand his sister, Marion, they traveled to the Antipodes on the same day of their debut. They arrived late and without suitcases, but everything is in order now. Both in Palmerston and in Wellington and Auckland they have taken the opportunity to spend their days off together. They are pure vitamin for Laia.
Cata Coll, a call at five in the morning
The goalkeeper from the Balearic Islands took the plane -or planes- to New Zealand thinking that she was not going to play and she took it as “an experience that always adds up, also a preseason to get to Barça well after the injury”. However, everything changed two hours before the game, when Jorge Vilda noted the eleven on the board.
It started with a “Tasting Coll”. The Mallorcan woman no longer saw the rest of her, her vision blurred. He was going to play a round of 16 of a World Cup as a starter. And he did not hesitate to call her family, who had returned home after spending a few days here with her. “She had the nice idea, as she always does when she plays, to call us to tell us,” she tells SPORT his father, fernando coll. “We were in bed, the phone rang at five in the morning. She woke us up and scared us. Because when you get a call from your daughter at that time… [ríe]. But we found ourselves with the pleasant surprise that he was going to be a starter. He invaded us, his mother and me, with emotion ”. They watched the game together, at home, early in the morning -it was 7:00 a.m. in Spain-.
“Hearing the anthem and seeing your daughter on television… I have no words. It’s a dream, because we didn’t expect it. the injury [rotura del ligamento cruzado anterior de su rodilla] It has been very hard, we have had a difficult year. When she received the call from the selector for the pre-list it was very exciting, imagine when it was confirmed that she was in the final call… Everything she is experiencing is incredible and we only have to accompany her on this path. I always tell her that she keep working, that the demand requires perseverance on a day-to-day basis. That she is doing very well and that she keeps going, that we are very satisfied and proud ”.
Cata I didn’t give credit either: “Damn, I don’t even believe it, yet!” he said at the end of the meeting. “It is the reward for the work done. I felt very comfortable, comfortable and safe. Now it’s time to keep working, we’re going for the rooms and I’m sure we’re going to go far. We all dream big.”
Maria Pérez, from the subsidiary to the World Cup
The Catalan midfielder was not a starter -she came on in the 64th minute, with a 1-4 scoreline, for Tere Abelleira. Maria Yes, he did not think that he could play even when the match started. “What’s up… I was on the bench and suddenly they call me to warm up. And I thought ‘eye, maybe the time has come’. It’s a dream come true”. The shirt was exchanged with Crnogorcevic, because he wrote “a few days before to ask him to keep it for me. If she couldn’t be this, another. But he gave it to me ”.
His family also watched the debut from home. Her parents and her brother, who were very aware of the game on television and had constant contact, via ‘Whatsapp’, with the rest of the family and friends, who were in their respective homes. “We didn’t expect her to jump into the field,” her father, Francisco Pérez, tells us. “after the loss against Japan, we thought the round of 16 game would be a difficult game, and we thought that the main objective of the coach would be to ensure victory with the most experienced players and that they were holders until then. It was only when the match was very much in Spain’s favor that we began to comment that perhaps they could have a few minutes in the second half. When we saw that it was warming up, we said ‘today yes’. So it was”.
“Everything has gone very fast, this year”, Francis adds. “He has been at Barça for three seasons and has progressed to training practically every day with the first team, although he has continued playing with ‘B’. He went from the sub-23 to the absolute level due to an injury and he already stayed. We didn’t expect anything. For her it is a dream and, for us, a pride”. Many more will come.
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