Spain’s quick ascent to elite of Women’s soccer

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/07/2023 (1118 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

They made it look so easy. A “peaceful irruption,” according to creatively oxymoronic Barcelona daily Sport. With only a cameo appearance from the world’s best player, no less.

Going through their lineup, watching them, you quickly forget Spain is making only its third Women’s World Cup appearance. The tournament in Canada was their first, and they didn’t win a match. Four years later in France, they beat South Africa in the group stage.

Friday’s 3-0 win over Costa Rica, then, was La Roja’s second victory in the history of its participation at this competition. A third will likely follow on Wednesday when Spain faces Zambia in Auckland (2:30 a.m., all matches on TSN); a fourth in Wellington on July 31 (2:00 a.m.), although 2011 champions Japan could provide a difficult test.

For a program ranked 13th in the world only two years ago, it’s quite the trajectory. They’ve since risen to sixth–one place above Olympic gold medalists Canada — and aspire to nothing less than lifting the World Cup in Sydney next month.

It would be a monumental triumph, not only for the obvious footballing reasons but also the country’s unique cultural ones.

Women’s football was essentially banned under Franco, and even now, almost 50 years after the dictator’s death, it remains a subject of suspicion among Spain’s stodgy sporting establishment.

Though not among its clubs, incidentally.

Since professionalizing in 2015, Barcelona have perhaps been the biggest driver of women’s football in Spain. While it might be tempting to suggest the promotion of their Femení section has been enhanced because it’s the right thing to do, the reality is rather less moralistic: it’s simply good for business.

Record attendance numbers continue to be set at Barça, and last autumn DAZN picked up Liga F broadcasting rights — something that wouldn’t have been possible, or at least as lucrative, had traditionalists Real Madrid not reluctantly bolstered their own women’s setup if for no other reason than to keep up with their Catalonian archrivals.

The resulting pay-offs have come at the turnstiles, on streaming services, in player salaries and, evidently, with the national team.

Since losing in extra time to eventual champions England at the quarter-final stage of last summer’s Euros, Spain has failed to win only twice in 14 matches, drawing Sweden 1-1 in October and losing 3-2 to World Cup co-hosts Australia in a February invitational. Over the same period they’ve defeated Norway, Japan and the United States — all previous world champions — as well as Denmark and China.

Incredibly, it’s a run they put together in the absence of reigning two-time Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas, who spent 10 months on the sidelines after tearing her ACL last July. Still widely considered the best player in the world, the 29-year-old was introduced as a 77th-minute substitute against Costa Rica as she continues to train up to full fitness.

That there’s not a whole lot of urgency in Putellas’ return speaks to the quality of the Spain squad and the luxury manager Jorge Vilda can take in slowly building up her minutes as a result.

Aitana Bonmatí, who like Putellas plays her club football at Barcelona, shone against Las Ticas, who were flattered by a scoreline largely kept respectable by heroic goalkeeper Daniela Solera. Left-back Olga Carmona will have also impressed Vilda; ditto Ona Battle and Esther González.

By the time Putellas is ready to play from the start, look out.

Spain should have little difficulty advancing to a prospective semi-final against the United States. And while Germany, England and France, and maybe Canada, will likely provide the other World Cup finalist, the Spain-USA tilt might end up being the actual final.

With Spain the prohibitive favourites.

World Cup Notebook

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— Must-win matches come quickly at World Cups — on Wednesday if you’re Canada. The Nigeria draw might have been a decent result, what with the lack of competitive pre-tournament preparation, but while it kept the Canadian women alive in Group B it also produced a do-not-lose scenario for next week’s contest with Ireland (7 a.m.). The two sides have met just once before, when Canada prevailed 2-1 at the 2014 Cyprus Cup, and they really should be coming out on top in their second encounter as well. Win, and a spot in the round of 16 is all but locked up. Lose, and they won’t have deserved that knockout berth, anyway.

— Jessie Fleming was quite clearly missed against Nigeria. The Chelsea midfielder is Canada’s engine, and in a team already challenged offensively her creative contributions cannot be overstated. Manager Bev Priestman confirmed Thursday the 25-year-old had “felt something” in training. If Fleming is unable to start against Ireland we’ll know the injury is more serious than initially thought, which would be a massive blow. So here’s hoping we see her name on the team-sheet early Wednesday morning.

— Australia and New Zealand might be FIFA Women’s World Cup co-hosts, but they’re also hotbeds of rugby and, as the Netherlands has been reminded, cricket. The 2019 runners-up were already in tough without injured superstar Vivianne Miedema, and their preparations for Sunday’s match against Portugal (2:30 a.m.) were further hampered by the conditions of their Bay Oval training base. As its name suggests, Tauranga’s Bay Oval is a cricket ground, and one, apparently, with the sort of dry pitch that favours spin bowling. In other words, it’s a health hazard. It’s also inevitably, and unfortunately, the sort of story we still encounter far too often at women’s tournaments.

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