Spain has made official today the names of the 23 players who will form the final list to play the European Championship in England next July. A call in which the two most prominent names are again those of Salma Paralluelo and Claudia Zornoza. The young striker from Villarreal was the big surprise of the pre-list on May 31 and today, Vilda has decided to include her in the final list. “Salma has entered the group very well. She has shown us that she can perform very well against central defenders of the level of Paredes or Mapi. She not only has an imposing physique, but also great technical quality”. The Villarreal soccer player was not called up for the match against Australia "as a precaution" due to edema in the external calf, but Vilda has confirmed that she will return to training with the group on Tuesday.
Claudia Zornoza, the great absence among the 28 called for this first phase of preparation, is not on the list. The Real Madrid footballer, who has completed one of her best seasons with the white team, was called up in the middle of the training camp to replace Jenni Hermoso, who was injured, but Vilda has remained firm and has decided to rule her out again.
In addition to Moraza, Jorge Vilda has also ruled out Amaiur Sarriegi, who started the match against Australia and performed at a high level, as well as Tere Abelleira, Nerea Eizagirre and Ainhoa Vicente Moraza. "They have made it very complicated for us," acknowledged the coach, who recalled that he can still call someone in case there is a case of serious injury or covid before Spain's debut. "It's been two frenetic weeks," explained Vilda, who told these players that they would not be on the final list by phone, after the game in Huelva against Australia. “These are calls that are not pleasant. It is the most unpleasant part of my job, but they accepted it willingly and maintaining the illusion that they can return at any time. They know that they have the illusion that there will be more games from September, a World Cup next year…”.
Vilda explained that she has tried to find "a balance in all lines" in this list and considers that Spain "has high-level replacements" for all positions thanks to the versatility of many of the players such as Paralluelo, Pina or Mariona Caldentey. And he has denied that the club of origin had any impact on his decision to rule out these soccer players, leaving the list of Real Sociedad soccer players, ranked second last season, empty: “We don't look at the club of origin. We look at positions to make up the list, we don't care if they are from Madrid, Barcelona or Granadilla”. “The mix between experience and youth is going to give us freshness and maturity in the game”, assures the Spanish coach who, with this list, once again trusts the bloc in which he trusts the most ahead of the European event that Spain will start on next July 8 against Finland.
The red, framed in group B, will also have to face Germany, the most successful team in the history of the European Championships, and Denmark. Only the first two classified will reach the quarterfinals, something that Spain should achieve without great difficulty, and they would face one of the first two classified in group A, which includes England, Austria, Norway and Northern Ireland.
The internationals have enjoyed a couple of days off after beating Australia (7-0) in the first friendly and will meet again at the Ciudad Deportiva de Las Rozas tomorrow before traveling to Italy to face the Azzurri team (Friday , 5pm) in the last warm-up match before heading to England.
These are the 23 soccer players called for the European Championship. A list that could be altered up to 24 hours before Spain's debut if it is affected by a case of covid or a serious injury:
Sandra Paños, Lola Gallardo, Misa, Ona Batlle, Sheila García, Irene Paredes, Mapi León, Andrea Pereira, Ivana Andrés, Leila Ouahabi, Olga Carmona, Laia Aleixandri, Patri Guijarro, Irene Guerrero, Aitana Bonmatí, Alexia Putellas and Claudia Pina, Lucía García, Marta Cardona, Esther González, Salma Paralluelo, Mariona Caldentey and Athenea del Castillo.
