It has been expected for a long time but it is finally a reality. After knocking on the door without much success in several major tournaments, the great leap for Spanish women’s soccer has come from the hand of the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. In its third World Cup experience, Spain has knocked down its glass ceiling, slipping into the top four teams on the planet, the place that had been looming for a few years due to structural improvement, in the conditions of the players and in the work of the quarry, as as demonstrated by the recurring successes of the lower categories in recent years.
Despite the relative disappointment at the Euro Cup in England last summer, in which Spain was unable to get past the quarterfinals although they fell narrowly against the host, later continental champion, La Roja has removed its great thorn in this World Cup . He had never achieved a win in a knockout match at a major tournament. This slab, similar to the one that the men’s team knocked down in that Euro 2008 quarterfinal matchup against Italy, prevented Jorge Vilda’s team from rubbing shoulders with the best, something that seems called for by the evolution of national women’s football in the last years.
Only eight years have passed since Canada’s World Cup debut in 2015, but the differences are more than remarkable. Spain attended that event with little experience of two final phases of the European Championship under their belt. The 1997 continental semifinals were something of an oasis in a desert of results. Ignacio Quereda was the national coach since 1988 and for almost three decades the results did not arrive and what is worse, under methods typical of other distant times and happily surpassed.
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All of this came to an end in that World Cup in Canada in which La Roja did not make it past the group stage after a draw against Costa Rica and two narrow defeats against Brazil and South Korea. That tournament left a bittersweet taste but it was a kind of catharsis, which brought the Quereda era ahead through the complaints of many players regarding the decision. For some veterans such as Ainhoa Tirapu, Ruth García, Vero Boquete or Sonia Bermúdez, the historic World Cup debut also marked the end of their stages in the national team, but their names will forever remain linked to the beginning of a new stage in Spanish women’s football.
From then on, Spain, led by Jorge Vilda, has never again missed the appointment in the big tournaments and, in fact, has shown the self-sufficiency of a great team on the way to them. The rise in the FIFA ranking has been unstoppable thanks to the development of figures such as Alexia Putellas, double Ballon d’Or, or her partner Aitana Bonmatí, who continues to accumulate merits to assume the baton as queen of world football. The progressive professionalization of the Women’s League, the appearance of a hegemonic Barça in Europe and the start-up of the women’s section of Real Madrid, the last of the big clubs to make the move to the women’s competition, also explain this evolution.
Spain was growing and touched the semifinals of the European Championship played in the Netherlands in 2017, in which the penalties showed the cross against Austria in the first qualifying round. The World Cup in France in 2019 was the confirmation, as the team surpassed the group stage for the first time and stood up to the two great historical powers, Germany and the United States, before which they fell by the minimum (0-1 and 1- 2).
The earthquake of the rebels
The Spanish women’s team had already grown up and for the first time faced a final phase as a favorite in the 2022 Euro Cup in England. Everything went wrong with the serious injury of its star, Alexia Putellas, just before the debut in the tournament, but Spain complied in the group stage, defeating Finland and Denmark, although losing to the black beast Germany. That defeat condemned Jorge Vilda’s team to a quarterfinal clash against hosts and eventual champions England, who survived a hectic duel resolved in extra time.
That elimination did damage and caused an earthquake that still shocks Spanish women’s football. Criticism from some players rained down on Vilda’s management and up to 15 rebels provisionally resigned from the team if the Madrid coach continued in charge. The Spanish Football Federation (FEF) closed ranks with its coach and he clung to his position, waiting for time to weather the storm and break the position of the most critical internationals. Along the way, they have remained historic such as Lola Gallardo, Mapi León or Patri Guijarro, but three pillars such as Aitana Bonmatí, Mariona Caldentey and Ona Batlle were finally recovered for the cause.
With the Barça midfielder as the backbone, Spain has broken its glass ceiling in this World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. He thrashed weak Costa Rica and Zambia in the group stage but also rocky Switzerland in the round of 16, in a balmy victory that showed his ability to overcome situations after the unexpected and painful setback against Japan. Against the Netherlands, in an unprecedented quarterfinal tie, he dominated and displayed great football to earn his place in the semifinals. Now, broken all the chains and overcome the wounds of the past, the Spanish women’s team dreams awake just two steps away from the most precious trophy.
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