She, Sarina Wiegman, is experiencing her “fairytale” at the World Cup. And whatever the outcome of the final against Spain (next Sunday, 11am, RTP1), the English coach’s merit will remain intact. He led the Dutch women’s team towards the European title in 2017 and the 2019 World Cup final (lost to the US) and repeated that feat with England, the team became European champion in 2022. Chance? She hopes not… because she doesn’t want to miss another World Cup final. But the Spanish fairy tale also has a lot to work out…
A year ago, Jorge Vilda faced a dressing room revolt that spread around the world and led 15 players to resign LaRoja. They accused him of “not being qualified” for the position and Vilda did the opposite of what was expected: he faced a global disgrace with the same force with which he clung to the Spanish bench, where he sits this Sunday in the hope of lifting his first trophy of the career. Vilda and Wiegman have in common the determination and philosophy of Johan Cruijff.
50 years ago it was socially established that girls did not play football. Short hair and the complicity of her parents were the perfect disguise for Sarina (53 years old) to pretend to be her twin brother and play like the boys…until she started playing under her own name and made it to the Dutch national team . He finished his career with 100 caps. In 2007, when the Dutch Women’s Association was founded, she decided to quit “her safe job as a physical education teacher” to coach The Hague. Today she is the most successful coach in the world and she never gets tired of repeating how “it’s incredible” for a girl to be able to play soccer without any limitations.
Pragmatic and unemotional, Sarina hates being the center of attention. Someone who commands rigor and respect without causing fear. In the book Lioness: My journey to glory it is said that during the presentation tour of St. George’s Park stadium, home of the England teams, he heard: “This is the gentlemen’s field”. Wiegman pointed out that “man’s field” was not mentioned anywhere and asked if it was the best complex field. That was it. The answer: “then I can use it.” And that’s what he did in preparation for Euro 2022, even with Gareth Southgate also preparing the League of Nations for men there. Now, amazingly, it is pointed out responsible for Southgate.
Sarina Wiegman has gained direct experience at Cruijff and Van Gaal and is not afraid of difficult decisions. Face them and accept them. As she did when she decided not to call up captain Steph Houghton for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand – the player complained that she was not given a clear explanation for her absence, “just a vague conversation”. He had already done something similar when he decided at the helm of the Netherlands to leave captain Van den Berg in the group stage and become champion. He conveyed an image of leadership that many wondered if he had.
Won 30 of 38 games for England and lost only one friendly. At Euro 2022, he entered the field with the same eleven lionness in six games in a row and became champion again, showing that decisions are thoughtful and not technical whims. In this world he had to deal with the injuries of Beth Mead, Fran Kirby and Leah Williamson before the tournament and doubts about the physical condition of Millie Bright, the injury of Keira Walsh and the red card of Lauren James already during the match.
She is the first coach to reach the final with two different teams and that will have to counter the opponent born in Madrid in 1981. Son of Angel Vilda, a former physical trainer at Benfica during the Juup Heynckes era, he grew up immersed in the philosophy of Johan Cruyff, with whom his father worked in Barcelona’s heyday. Entering the Royal Spanish Football Federation through his father’s hand (and not on his own merit) is a weight he still carries. He was his father’s assistant in the under-17 team until he took charge a year later.
He also coached the under-19s before taking over the main squad in 2015. Vilda blindly trusts his ideas. One of them is the game in possession. The coach preferred the formation of 4-3-3 and managed to give a distinct and unique style to the match la roja in the midst of an unprecedented uprising. Frustrated by the quarter-finals at the 2019 World Cup and the eighth at Euro 2022 last August, the hard core of the team, led by the captains, appealed to the interest “of future generations” to favor his departure from someone to maximize team performance.
Shielded by the federation’s support, Vilda confessed to being “surprised and disappointed” and refused to abandon ship, facing the distrust of all of Spain. Nothing vindictive, the selector accepted who wanted back. Of the 15 players who signed the departure letter, only three did and were called up for the World Cup: Mariona Caldentey, Ona Batlle and Aitana Bonmatí.
Like Sarina Wiegman, Vilda was not afraid of new controversies: he handed the goal over to 22-year-old Cata Coll; managed the use of Putellas, the best in the world who arrived at the World Cup injured; he overcame the heavy defeat against Japan (4-0) in the group stage and also the apparent indifference of the players (he proudly celebrated each victory alone). And he was moved by the passage to the final: “It is a pride to be a coach in Spain, to see all the evolution, methodology and essence of our football being transferred to our players since they were 14 years old.”
This is his added value: the knowledge of basic talent such as Salma Paralluelo, 19 years old, decisive in the journey to the final and candidate for the prize for the best youngster in the competition, who will make history if she takes the trophy, not because of her youth, but because she was the only one in the world to join three world titles as she was champion of the Under-17 and Under-19 World.
Source: DN
