We have to be self-critical. To win the bronze medal against Germany, we have to change a lot of things that were going wrong in the last few games, but especially in this last one against Brazil. The best version of Spain hasn’t appeared in their first Olympic Games, where it was the clear favourite to win the gold metal.
An unrecognisable Spain:
The Spanish Women’s National Football Team already had a big scare in the quarter-finals against Colombia. Montse Tomé’s team started off two goals down against the Colombians after several defensive lapses. Spain’s backline doesn’t usually make serious mistakes, but in this competition, they are leaving a lot of space, they aren’t being very forceful and are losing the ball at the start of the game.
It seemed that the comeback against Colombia would give the team the morale to go all out for the gold medal. Winning on penalties was nothing to be proud of after a game in which they played almost nothing. Spain dominated the ball, but clear chances of danger were non-existent and the slightest arrival from the visitors was half a goal.
The semi-finals against Brazil could have served above all to fix the problems the Spanish were having. In the group stage, they had already beaten the ‘Canarinha’ with goals from Athenea del Castillo and Alexia Putellas, in a match that Spain won calmly without playing their best football.
On this occasion, it seems that the Brazil coach had studied Spain’s weaknesses very well. Montse Tomé wanted to make a revolution in the XI and made a complete mistake in the approach. The coach left out Alexia Putellas, the team’s top scorer and one of the best players in the tournament, as well as Laia Aleixandri, Patri Guijarro and Athenea, while she brought on Laia Codina, Tere Abelleira, Jenni Hermoso and Eva Navarro, players who hadn’t played so many minutes.
One can try to understand that some of the changes may have been because of the good performance they gave against Colombia in extra time, but leaving Alexia out is inexplicable at this stage. During the match, which started very badly with an own goal by Irene Paredes, there was no timely reaction from Montse Tomé either.
Alexia Putellas’ differential change would come in the 77th minute of the match with 3-0 down on the scoreboard. She was the best player of the match and the one who created the most chances, as she was involved in both Salma Paralluelo‘s goals to make up the score (4-2).
It was impossible to look for heroics again with a non-existent game. There was no danger and the players who were supposed to appear didn’t show up. Players who never fail, like Cata Coll, failed. It was a horrible match, which shouldn’t be forgotten in order to fix those mistakes in the future. We shouldn’t be so hard on a team that is giving us so much joy.
It’s true that we can’t talk about failure, but expectations were very high. Losing like that against Brazil is very tough. Spain must bring home the bronze medal, they have the team for that and much more. The bronze final will be played this Friday at 15:00 against Germany, one of their black beasts. The Germans are coming off the back of a loss to the United States, now a clear candidate for gold. Alexandra Popp is the leader of this team and the Spanish defenders won’t be able to make mistakes against this player.
The point is that we have become accustomed to winning and this is football. Years ago, we would never have imagined that Spain would be favourites for gold. Now it’s time to pick ourselves up after some self-criticism and trust that this team won’t leave Paris without a medal in their first appearance at the Olympic Games.
Translated by Marcos Rodríguez.
Main image: @SEFutbolFem.
At ELXIIDEAL we have a great opportunity to advertise your business via our website and social media network.
