At the gates of playing the first World Cup final, the players of the Spanish team dream of continuing to make history. "It's the game you want to play," recognized Irene Paredes. The FC Barcelona head office remembered all the work done to experience situations like this: "It costs a lot to get here, it's time to enjoy it and do what we've done so far, which is play football and that's what we like to do ", he claimed.
Paredes also spoke of the importance of this final not only as a player but for "everything that is generated abroad" in terms of the advancement of soccer and equality in women's sports, for which she sent a powerful message.
"We have grown many times thinking that it was not our place. If this final serves to let them know that it is possible, that this place is also ours, that a World Cup can be played and that in the end we are benchmarks, that is also history," he stressed. . "For all those people who don't know us, I'm glad they're going to see us for the first time" and "I hope the team is doing well, because we can do very well. I would ask you to support us, give us the same opportunities, with effort we can do very beautiful and very important things", he concluded.
For his part, the Spain coach, Jorge Vilda, considered this Saturday that the final against England will be a match of "maximum demands" but assured that he trusts in "the potential and energy" of his team to become world champion. "What we want tomorrow is to be the best in the world and we will achieve it by winning the final," said the coach at a pre-game press conference at the Australia Stadium in the city of Sydney.
Vilda pointed out that Spain arrives prepared and "focused" for the commitment and highlighted the evolution experienced by the absolute throughout the competition. "The team has evolved, it has continued to grow, on a mental level it has taken a step further. The players are super focused, centered, and that is what is taking us to the final," she added.
The last meeting between Spain and England was last year, when the British eliminated the Spanish in the quarterfinals of Euro 2022, a result that Vilda hopes to reverse tomorrow. "We are super excited to be here, we knew we were better last year, but the result is what counts. But I know what England felt in that game," said the coach. He added that, in the final, the Spanish team will take the field to play their game, with their fast and attacking style. "Tomorrow is not the day to change, it is the day to be us, to press as we know how, attack as we know how, play with a united team that fights and helps each other," he considered.
Her counterpart on the Lionesses' bench, Sarina Wiegman, was confident of beating Spain again in a tournament: "We have analyzed Spain in depth and I think we are ready." "They are very good. They always look for the ball, they have a very offensive game but they haven't really changed their way of playing much, ”she acknowledged. She highlighted the "unity" of her team and the ability to adapt that they have shown during the World Cup: "We are very adaptable, resilient, I think we have shown it and we have also created a recognizable style of play."
Wiegman, who reached the final of the 2019 World Cup in France leading the Netherlands four years ago and who has just lifted the Euro Cup with England a year ago, assures that England "comes from a very good place." "We have grown in the championship, we have grown in our confidence and we will have one last meeting in the next 24 hours" to decide the eleven, Wiegman said at a press conference at the Australia Stadium on the eve of the game.
