When she was 14 years old, Esther González (Huéscar, Granada, 1992) traveled 250 kilometers there and as many back to go to train. Now, almost recently arrived from the United States and still with the traces of jet lag, she attends LA RAZÓN after winning the American league with Gotham.
Are you living your best sporting moment right now?
I hope not, I hope that there are still very good moments, that my physical fitness continues to improve and I hope that I will still be much better.
How has playing in the United States improved you?
I have had to change many things. Surely open the mentality a little, the game is a little more direct, with more transitions, I play further from the goal. It has made me think much faster because the pressure is strong, they come very quickly to want to steal the ball from you. So it has also made me think quickly. Sometimes I miss being a little more calm with the ball, touching more, playing in small spaces. But I say that I have surely been very lucky. It’s my first experience outside of Spain, you don’t know how it’s going to go, you don’t know if it’s good, bad or if it can be improved. And from the moment I arrived, the first moment was like, what do you need Esther to perform? Both on and off the field. And we are going to help you acclimatize to everything, to the culture, so that we have the ability for you to play your best football here.
Was the decision to leave very complicated?
The truth is that no. In December I spoke with my agent, we already knew that we wanted to go out, and it was like we have to go out, right? And then the only thing it took was to go to England or the United States and make the decision. I also say that we study where to go. My agent with his team did a job of where I could fit. And now with this title we talk about it, we did a good job before choosing the site. So good, good, very happy.
«In the United States I miss having a little more calm with the ball, playing in small spaces»
Was the adaptation easy too, how did you handle English?
No, fatal. I arrived with a very basic level. I believe that when you learn another language it is never enough. So I can say that I have improved, but I have to improve a lot more. At first it was difficult for me mentally because it was all the time English, English, English. I wasn’t used to it. I was exhausted. I would come home, have English class and end up super tired mentally. I had never experienced that situation in my life. Now, for example, that doesn’t happen to me. Now for me it is normality. I am also a very demanding person, so you realize that there are things in which you go a little slower than normal, but hey, we have already spoken with my coach, with Juan Carlos [Amorós] and he told me “well, I see you looking great.” And I told him, “Well, Juan Carlos, I think I pretend to be great at everything. Because I don’t see it that way. We players are super demanding, we want to try to play our football a little bit and when you see that there is a little bit left to do to give that level… But hey, it was incredible. We won a title that year, and I also scored the winning goal in the final. Now I think all those months at the beginning were incredible.
Have you had to do a lot of extra physical work to adapt to the style of play in the United States?
I think that no matter how much you do, you will never reach what they do, because there are things that they have been doing since they were five years old. There are things that no matter how much you put in the work, you would need another life. But of course you try to be at your best physically to endure those box to box. Now I’ve been there much longer and you also understand that there are things that are not your nature and that in the end you have to expose and strengthen what are the things you do best. At first it was like I wanted to do things that didn’t matter either. I have also learned that the things you do very well are the ones you have to repeat more times, even if you have to adapt and do other things that are not your strengths.
What is your life like there? Do you miss Spain a lot?
No, not really. I miss my family, I miss my parents, my sister, my niece, yes. But I have adapted great to the city, I have also adapted great to being there, I do the same thing I do in Spain, I get up, I go to train, I do my daily life in the morning with the club and then you arrive in the afternoon, you do your treatments, your personal work. I live a day-to-day life the same as I did in Spain. I’m far away, I don’t see my family, I would say that’s what I miss the most.
How did you experience being without playing for the national team for almost a year?
When I was left out of the final of the previous Nations League, I didn’t expect it. Suddenly it comes, you’re not there, when you’ve been there for many years and no one calls you to tell you, “well, this and this happens.” Over time, a call with Montse occurred again. [Tomé] and I’m glad to have it. Surely if we had had her sooner she would have returned to the national team sooner. In the end everything came from a misunderstanding, but I am glad that over time I had the opportunity to be here again, to continue defending the Spain shirt and enjoying Spanish football. When you go out you also realize the talent we have: technical, tactical, how we think, how we move the ball. I truly believe that we are one of the best in the world in this regard.
Was being left out of that final what hurt you the most?
Well. Of course you want to win, you’ve been there for so long, you’ve just won a World Cup, you’ve participated. But over time you also understand that there are other things. I always say that I take care of myself and live for football, but I can also live a little, right? If you don’t go to the national team you have other things. As long as your personal life, your life with your family is good, you understand that there are priorities. You want to be there, but if you’re not there, there is another life in which you can do many more things. You have more time, when you are far away the trips are very hard. And you say, well, I have time, I have time to enjoy. It bothered me not to win in that Nations, but life is always fair in the end and now I have the opportunity to win it again. I always say that life puts you where you deserve.
Is this like a revenge?
No, whatever, whatever, not at all. I think that in the end it was something that I deserved and that is why today I have the opportunity to win it.
In the national team, do you have the feeling that normality has now been restored with the return of Mapi and Jenni?
Yes. I think that what we have always wanted was to come to the national team and talk about football. But when you have to come, you have to pay attention to the media and everything is humming, it’s like you have to get away a little. And the only thing we want is to come to train, give our best, both on and off the field, and talk and enjoy football.
«I am very happy to be back to normal, that Irene, Alexia and Jenni are really leading us»
Were those moments when you had to be one of the captains very difficult, to find yourself in that situation that you had not chosen?
Yes, of course yes. It was very uncomfortable, it was something I wasn’t looking for either. It’s your turn and you have to accept it and face it, but the truth is that I am very happy to be back to normal, that Irene, Alexia and Jenni are really leading us. Now there is Olga too, but in the end they are the players who have been in the national team the longest, the players who have lived through all the stages. Getting back to normal in everything is easy and it’s good. At that moment too, when you have to go out in the media to talk all the time about external problems, it is something that you don’t want, that you don’t decide and it’s up to you for the moment. But I am super happy to be back to normal and that the captains are leading us.
Only Tere Abelleira is missing, right?
Yes, Tere is surely the person who most… Tere and Ivana [Andrés]but Tere especially is the person I miss the most here. He is a person I have spent a lot of time with. We hope that Tere recovers soon too, because due to her vision of the game, as she understands football, she is a very, very important player for us.
Spain has two spectacular midfielders and both are injured now, Tere and Patri Guijarro.
Yes, it is part of football. There are other players too, in Spain we have a lot of talent, a lot of players who do incredible things, young people like Serra [Clara Serrajordi]so in the end everyone has their moment and take advantage of the opportunity and enjoy it.
What has Sonia Bermúdez given you as a coach?
I may not be the ideal person to talk about this, because I have only had a few training sessions with her, so right now I would say that I hope she gives us a Nations League. That’s the pressure I put on her, which she surely has because I know that she has played on the best teams, she has been the best striker or one of the best strikers. She already has in her personality to demand herself, so she will already say, I want to win it like everyone else. When she was our teammate you already saw that she was a very outfield player, very tactical, about what to do, when you have to turn to go towards goal, she has always been very like that and I think that now we are not surprised by that.
«I’m going to be a mother and I’m with the child’s brain, it’s the book I’m reading now»
And what remains of that girl who had to travel to Andalusia to play soccer?
Above all the illusion. The enthusiasm and motivation. I think it’s something that’s still intact. When you play in the American League there is a lot of travel, not only are the games very physical, you make six-hour flights and you have to compete, you spend four days away from home, the distances are very, very long, but I still enjoy it a lot. Above all, enthusiasm and motivation remain.
A book is usually brought to the concentrations. Which one did you play this time?
Now I’m going to be a mom, so I’m a little bit child-brained. It is the book I am reading now and the ones I have surely read in the last eight months. It’s something very new, I don’t know what it is and surely when it arrives I will say, “Oh my God, it didn’t help me.” Or yes, I hope that what I have read has been useful to me, but now I am a bit in that situation. I really like reading motivational, self-help books and I have loved the Rebecca Yarros saga. It accompanies me a lot because in the United States, we travel a lot and I am one of those who does not like to spend a lot of time on my cell phone, wasting time. I also think that when you are with a good book, it also works for you. So I prefer to read.
