This World Cup does not only have 12 champions. The footballers who have already celebrated the first Women’s World Cup in Spain with their fans have been the architects of this milestone on the pitch. It is clear that they are the winners, the ones that appear in all the photos and the ones that, when we remember the feat in a few years, we will not name to remember August 20, 2023 as a historic day. However, this trophy is not just for them. Mapi León, Patri Guijarro, Sandra Paños, Claudia Pina, Lola Gallardo, Ainhoa Moraza, Nereza Eizaguirre, Amaiur Sarriegi, Leila Ouahabi, Laila Aleixandri, Lucía García and Andrea Pereira. They are also world champions.
When the time came, they said enough. They were planted to get the bases of what would be the first World Cup in history for Spain. They did not know that their demands were going to end with a star in La Roja’s jacket. They dreamed it, of course, but it did not seem like a plausible scenario. given the precarious state of the structure of the women’s team. The things they asked for, a minimum, seemed impossible, a utopia considering the immovable position of the leaders.
Mapi León was always one of the most forceful. “This is not a tantrum for me, of course it bothers me not to go to the World Cup“, she said months before the appointment to EL PERIÓDICO DE CATALUÑA, from Grupo Prensa Ibérica, in the first interview in which she told the reasons for her decision. Then there was still a slight chance of returning, but things did not change enough for her accept. “I know what we’re fighting for. I have spent years, and I am going to allow myself to say this, in high performance, and I think that I have earned to be in the selection. That in the end that reward, to this day, I am not going to take it, it is not nice, “he said. And he did not take it, although in reality he did. Mapi will not be in the photo, nor will Patri or Lola, but They will always be part of the generation that changed Spanish women’s football.
Y don’t forget about them, although in the Federation their names seem to have never been heard. They began the path of the revolution, of the one that has done justice with Irene Paredes, Alexia Putellas or Jenni Beautiful. The one that has brought new players like Salma Paralluelo o Cata Coll to appear on the world scene. The one that has taught the shame of the Federation after the unacceptable celebration of Rubiales. They started the path and have been erased from a World Cup for defending their ideals.
“I suppose and I hope that everyone is calm with their conscience, that they are sure of their decisions. I am sure of mine. It is having clear ideas and they are situations and ways of acting and controlling your anxiety and desire,” Mapi confessed to this newspaper. They were not in Australia or New Zealand, nor in Madrid for the celebration nor will they lift the trophy in front of the fans culé. But their names are the first that came to mind to many fans when Spain lifted the World Cup. Because they are also champions.
2023-08-21 18:21:28
#Womens #World #Cup #Spanish #soccer #players #star
