Work stressful? School overwhelming? Life confusing? The solution is simple, take a break. Although for Barcelona Femení’s professional footballers, players called up for international duty have about a split second to prepare, pack their bags and head off to the next destination where club badge turns into country crest. Sleepless and successful bears great sacrifice. With a short term international autumn break in-between the domestic season, Spain’s women’s team converged on October 21st in the “Ciudad del Fútbol” in Madrid with head coach Monste Tomé. Tomé last commandeered an embarrassingly underwhelming Olympics 2024 campaign in Paris with a fourth place finish and no medal to bring home for the world’s former number one. As of October 2024, FIFA’s official rankings place the United States at the top, with España falling below them and England’s Lionesses at rank number 3. A lot to prove not only to themselves but to be taken seriously as a high caliber contender globally.
This time around, Tomé selected six current Culers; Cata Coll, Patri Guijarro, Alexia Putellas, Vicky López, Ona Batlle, and Jana Fernández (a Barcelona youth product). Keep in mind that these current and upcoming matches are for international friendly and federation experimentation purposes. The next major tournament is set for summer of 2025, with the Women’s Euros in Switzerland. Spain have the capability to consistently perform well, although every now and then re-build some broken spots.
On Friday, October 25th, as Germany and England had a Euros 2022 Final friendly rematch at Wembley Stadium in front of nearly 50,000 live spectators, not so far away, La Roja of Spain hosted Canada’s cunning national team in Badajoz. Boasting a starting lineup with many 2023 FIFA World Cup winners, including four of Barcelona’s own, Spain started off strong. An astounding 32 shots with 10 shots on goal along with 72% of ball possession, including 88% pass accuracy and 773 completed passes actually saw Canada score first. After the first 45 minutes, both teams went into the halftime locker room at 0-0. All it took was four minutes after the second half for Canada’s Marie-Yasmine Alidou to net an impressive 1-0. Seemingly, the hosts wanted one back. With opportunity after opportunity, lack of discipline and heedlessness resulted in 9 fouls called on Spain with 2 offsides calls and 10 corner kicks with no results. Alexia Putellas, Patri Guijarro, Cata Coll and Ona Batlle stayed in until full time.
Fortunately, as football matches last 90 minutes until the final whistle is blown, saving grace Cristina Martín-Prieto, who plays her club football in Portugal for Benfica, came in and swooped over Canada’s defense for an equalizing goal in the 89th minute. Talk about nail biting. The final score was 1-1, with a lot of room for improvement. La Roja’s next challenge awaits October 29th, facing a more common European foe Italy. The results will be very telling as Femení resume league play on November 2nd.
