The time has come. The big day has arrived. The time has come. Is the game. The most important game in history. The game that started yesterday. The party of those who follow today. And the party of those who come tomorrow. It is the frustrated dream of so many girls who a few years ago, not many, had no references. It is the sacrifice of those who fought to have dignified conditions and stayed on the road. It is the mirror where those of now look. It is the great opportunity to touch the sky, to hit the table. And to add to all the successes achieved at a European and world level in the lower categories, the greatest with the absolute team. A World Cup. the first star.
Spain against England. Two teams, the two best teams on the planet. And a final. One throne. Pain, for having been nowhere near achieving it, or glory, for having achieved what seemed impossible. Not because of the quality of Spanish football but because of the context. How ironic, life. The greatest sporting success of the ‘Red’ -whatever happens today, because this is history- in the hardest season, with the biggest internal crisis -which this time has crossed borders- in recent years. Who would have thought that a few months ago…
Of all
It is what having many of the best players in the world in the team has, although others, firm with their convictions until the end, are not. This game is also theirs. Of mapiof fatherof Lolaof Pineappleof Amaiurof Nerea and of Ainhoa. And, at the time, trueof sonia -recent European champion as a coach-, of Natalie and of ruth.
“Most of us here have grown up thinking that it was not our place, that football was a space that did not belong to us. They have hit you, they have given you the worst hours, you have been trained by people who were not even prepared for it. If it helps them see that it’s possible, that this place is also ours, that we can play a World Cup final, that’s also history and it makes us truly happy,” he said. Irene Paredes yesterday, moving an entire press room.
It is the match of their lives. For them and also for everything it represents. Millions of eyes on them, for the first time. Giant screens in Barcelona, Madrid, Mallorca, Zaragoza, Burgos, Cádiz, Marbella, Albacete, Sant Pere de Ribes and in many other towns and cities in the country to see them play. The medal, which may be silver or gold, is already insured. But this success weighs much more than any metal hanging from the neck.
final duel
Winning the Cup will not be easy. The group that leads Jorge Vilda -which, whatever happens today, will also come out of this World Cup strengthened by the results achieved- will face England, current European champions. The only team that has not lost a single game in the tournament. He only saw his continuity in danger in the tie in the round of 16 against Nigeria that was decided on penalties.
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A selection that has a top-level individual quality -with Keira Walsh, Lauren James, Alessia Russo, Lucy Bronze…- and with one of the best trainers in the world, Sarah Wiegman, also a reference for women on the benches. She is the only one who has managed to reach a world final with two different teams, after doing it with the Netherlands in 2019 and falling against the then all-powerful United States. A team whose main weapon is not in the feet but in the mind, an expert in ‘knowing how to suffer’ and a survivor in all contexts that have been and will be.
But this team has grown and has learned to compete without shrinking. To look the biggest ones in the eye. To get all the claw to face extensions and win them to the epic. The tears of the veterans like Jenny, Alexia either irene, who were aware of what they were experiencing, and the innocent smiles of the youngest said it all. Whatever happens, this World Cup is already for history. Today it’s time to enjoy. Glory awaits.