Spain took the world championship with its own strengths. More incomprehensible is how Spain was able to win the world championship after all the commotion before the games, writes Urheilu’s Samu Saatsi.
Samu SaatsiYle Sports reporter
How do you stop the reigning European champion who has shown his ability to rise to victory in almost every situation?
For Spain, the answer against England was easy, because the solution was found directly in Spain’s own strengths.
Keep the ball, inoculate with exploits, score goals and force the champion to push his attacks towards your defensive shape. All as a united group.
The result is a world championship, which not many people would have guessed at first.
The head coach Jorge Vilda and his teams were battered by a whirlwind before the tournament.
Last fall, 15 players refused the national team invitation as long as Vilda was the team’s coach. The players were tired of the team’s atmosphere, its internal choices, the treatment of players’ injuries and the training conducted by Vilda.
Read more: The crisis of the champion candidate was suppressed with money – Spain gave the players a large sum so that their loved ones could get to New Zealand
Now three players from the same group of those who refused are celebrating the World Cup gold in Sydney with Vilda.
The champion melted, Spain’s game flourished
It is almost completely incomprehensible that the game of “La Roja” only improved during the World Cup after all the doubt before the Games.
Only Japan stripped Spain completely unarmed and downright squatted it in the opening block. Vilda’s team learned their lesson, strengthened their defense against the counterattack and were able to continue their effective attack.
Already at the beginning of the final match, it became clear how Spain’s Game Plan was supposed to work. When Spain attacked, they took advantage of their ability to move the ball into England’s weak wing spaces. The team kept the ball as expected, but also controlled the midfield very strongly.
Without the ball, Spain’s counter-press worked very well. Another successful method was to pressurize the English in the central area. When England’s ball players drifted to carry the ball for too long, the red shirts caught up with many players and took the ball away.
The only hit of the final also came from such a situation.
England, on the other hand, could not find a cure for its own problems. Trainer wizard Sarina Wiegman was able to bring something new when he changed his game system in the second half of the final match. Even so, the leading players of “Lionesses” were not at their best.
England had a lot to worry about from these games. Its game was good enough to advance to the finals, but the coughs were visible. In the end, the level was not enough for anything other than silver.
Although the stars were exhausted, new ones rose in the sky
After the crisis phase before the Games, several stars fell from Spain. For example, one of the best toppers in the football world Mapi Leon didn’t go “Down Under”.
New stars emerged. Fence Bonmati was a superior leader of his team and conductor of the game, who deservedly received the best player award of the tournament. Olga Carmona solved games and most recently with his world championship goal. 18 years old Salma Parallel life clearly emerged as one of the most interesting young footballers during the Games.
This all happened despite the internal rift within the team.
According to The Athletic many of the team’s players did not speak to each other at all until three weeks before the World Cup, when Spain began its preparations.
One of the people who started the boycott e-mail against Vilda, a topper Ona Batlle summarized the situation of the team before the games so that the players know why they are in the tournament.
– You don’t have to be best friends with a teammate to work together on the field, Batlle said.
The reason was nothing more and nothing less than the pursuit of the World Championship gold. To top it all off, that goal was fulfilled.
If there’s one place I want to read a football-themed book, it’s about this team’s journey. Not everything has been heard yet.
What thoughts did the story evoke? You can discuss the topic on 21.8. until 11 p.m. Tunnus is required for commenting.