The moment of truth arrives. This Friday the ball will roll for the first time for Spain and will confirm if the wounds have really closed. It has not been an easy few months in the Spanish team. The dispute with the Federation has worn a lot, but in recent weeks it has been insisted that the team is more united than ever. Appealing to their professionalism, the 23 internationals that are finally in the team have opted to put aside all differences and fight together for the common goal, to overcome for the first time in history a tie in a major tournament. Spain has never managed to pass the round. In their debut in 2015 they fell in the group stage, and in France 2019 they were knocked out in the round of 16 by the United States, who would end up proclaiming themselves champions of the tournament.
The one in Australia and New Zealand will be the third World Cup for the reds and, in a historic nod, they will start the tournament against Costa Rica, the rival against whom they debuted in their first participation in a World Cup. The Costa Rican team does not arrive in good shape, so Spain will be the favourite. A role that they will also play against the newcomer Zambia (July 26) and Japan (July 31), the most important team that will meet in the previous phase, but that should not prevent Jorge Vilda's team from finishing first in the group.
"We know that there is great expectation with what we can do on the field and that in the end is a privilege and extra motivation," the Spanish coach confessed in the preview. Vilda assured that Spain is the best team in the world with "quite a difference" compared to the others in lower categories, but that up to now they have not managed to transfer the successes to the senior team: "Because of small details we have been left out of the qualifying rounds and now we want to go for everything, so we want to go very far".
The expedition arrived in Wellington this Thursday from its headquarters in Palmerston North, about 140 kilometers away, to carry out one last training session, the first that Alexia Putellas has completed with the group after several days working on the sidelines. The blaugrana follows a personalized plan for her reincorporation into the competition after having been out for almost ten months due to a knee injury. “We are being very, very delicate with everything that is done and putting all the means so that Alexia arrives in the best conditions”, Vilda has reassured.
The Spanish coach has assured that the 23 internationals "are available to play", but he maintained the secrecy around the eleven with which Costa Rica will be measured, highlighting that one of the "strengths" of the Spanish team is precisely its versatility: "We are not closed to only one system".
Spain will also have to deal with the low temperatures typical of the New Zealand winter. But neither the rain nor the intense wind have managed to call off the massive mobilization of the local public. More than 23,000 tickets have been sold for the Spain-Costa Rica match and yesterday the debut of co-hosts Australia against Ireland in Sydney was attended by 75,784 spectators, the highest number in Australian football history. It will be more difficult to follow the tournament from Spain, with schedules that are not very grateful. The red will play the group stage around 9 in the morning, but there will be games from 3 in the morning.
