Vilda: "I have looked for the list that can bring us closer to winning"

"Euphoria doesn't help us win, it can take away from us; we know where we're going and where we come from," warned the women's soccer coach

LAS ROZAS (MADRID), June 27 (EUROPA PRESS) -

The women's national soccer coach, Jorge Vilda, stated that the list of 23 players that he has made public this Monday to play, from July 6 to 31, the European Championship in England is the one that "can bring the team closer to winning", and warned that the euphoria "can subtract" to achieve a good role in the continental championship.

"We have looked for the list that can bring us closer to victory, to winning. It is a competitive team and from which five established players have been left out who we know are the future of the team. Those who have been left out speak of the value that the summoned have", he argued at a press conference at the RFEF's Ciudad del Fútbol in Las Rozas (Madrid).

Jorge Vilda stressed that the 28 pre-selected players have made it "very complicated" during the two "frantic" weeks of concentration. "We have had to make a tough decision to leave out five players who, a priori, do not come to the European Championship," said the coach, who recalled that up to 24 hours before the start of the European Championship changes can be made due to injury or positive by COVID-19.

Regarding the absences, Vilda assured that she "does not" pay attention to the club of origin to make the lists, that the discarded ones will continue working because "they can be" next summer in the 2023 World Cup, and explained the absence again due to injury to former FC Barcelona striker Jenni Hermoso, who has just announced her signing for Mexican side Pachuca.

"We don't look at whether they are from Barça, Real Madrid, Atlético or Granadilla. We spoke with Jenni the day she left the concentration camp. It's a medical issue, of deadlines, and unfortunately for the team and for her she cannot compete in this European Championship", he stressed.

He also explained that Villarreal striker Salma Paralluelo stayed in the Nuevo Colombino stands "as a precaution" in the friendly against Australia, she has edema in the outer calf "which will be resolved in the next few days" and that she will be "very soon available".

"Salma is a player who has arrived well, who has entered with the 'right foot' and has given us signs of being a player of a very high level against great centre-backs. She is a player with the future, young and differential. If she is going to leave athletics? It's something I don't pay attention to. It's her decision, her life. She's a differential footballer, and that's what we look at when calling her up", she pointed out.

Regarding the position of Laia Alexandri, he justified that in the first call he entered as a midfielder and that "it is not the first time he has played as a 6". "In the 'pure nine' we have quite a few alternatives: false nines; Lucía can be a pure nine; Esther (González) is a pin-point player; include Salma, Mariona, Athenea... Any of the forward six can play nine he reasoned.

In his opinion, there is a "balance" in all lines to face "any contingency." "Salma can play as a nine, on the far left and the only left-hander; in midfield they can play forward like Pina. We have three guaranteed goalkeepers. In the end, Spain's game is offensive and this list is offensive. Even our defenses we like them to be 'long'", he declared.

The win (7-0) against Australia has once again raised expectations of Spain's role in the European Championship, although Vilda was once again cautious. "It was something that I knew could come, that those expectations were high. We continue with our feet on the ground, we know where we are going and where we come from, and what our rivals like Germany and Denmark are doing, who are pushing hard", he pointed.

Euphoria is an agent, according to him, "at the external level." "They are not euphoric, I did notice them happy because, when the game plan comes out almost perfectly, it is a good start. You see the faces and you think we have done well, but we continue. The euphoria does not help us win the games, it can subtract us. We think about arriving well to that first game on the 8th", he assured.

To do this, he asked that the COVID "respect" the team because it has "hit them hard" in the previous weeks, although he reported that all the positive cases have already tested negative. "But bubble or no bubble, no one is free from contagion at the airport or a coffee shop," she lamented.

Likewise, he trusts that the mixture between the veteran soccer players such as Irene Paredes or Alexia Putellas, the best soccer player in the world in 2021, and the younger ones will bring "freshness" and "maturity" to the game. The 23 internationals will meet this Tuesday and the next day they will travel to Naples to face the last friendly against Italy, on Friday, before their debut in the European Championship on July 8 against Finland.