Luis Núñez-Villavearán
Updated Tuesday, February 27, 2024-22:29
Soccer Jenni Hermoso: "I will never understand why I missed the first call. It will always hurt me"
It is one of the three vertices that form the triangle of the Spanish team.
Alexia Putellas
and
Jenni Hermoso
are the other two.
Before closing a perfect week,
Irene Paredes
(Legazpi, 1991) attends ELMUNDO to analyze not only the rival, France, against whom they could obtain their second title with the national team, but also the current situation of the national team after the
Rubiales
earthquake .
What a week they would end if they beat France, they have gone 13 games without losing.
Hopefully, that's what we want.
They are among the best in the world, they have been able to win titles for many years and, for whatever reason, they are not doing it, but it is not due to ability.
I think they really want to win their first title and it's going to be a great game.
Both teams are feeling good.
You will know them well from your time at PSG.
Yes, I have played with some and I have had the rest as rivals, so it is a team that I know quite well even though we have not faced them in years.
What situation is the team in today? Good, well prepared physically and emotionally.
Trusting the team because we know what we are capable of.
Also very aware of the difficulty of playing these games because the other day we did very well, but there are many things that were done wrong and sometimes small details can leave you out.
We are calm, trusting the team a lot, but knowing that it is going to be a very difficult game. Do you think that with Montse Tomé stability has come to the national team? We have been focusing away from football for a long time and little by little we are returning to it , which is what we want and what we are for. Even so: Oliva, Alexia's call, the change of headquarters... the controversy follows them, why? There has been nonsense and not nonsense, but it is true that there is things we don't have to get into.
We want to focus on playing, we come here to perform and the rest is noise that we have to escape from.
Irene Paredes, soccer player of the senior women's team.Angel NavarreteWORLD
Despite the noise, world champions and qualified for the Olympic Games. There are many reasons to smile.
That is there and we have been talking for a long time about something that until recently was unthinkable.
Inside the locker room we had a lot of confidence and we knew we could do it, but we didn't end up doing it, especially in important games.
We are achieving it now and we want it to continue. How do they manage to perform with everything that has surrounded them? In the end what we like is to play.
When you're on the field you forget everything and that's what makes you enjoy it and the better you do it's like you go into a loop, you get more excited and you want to improve yourself.
We have a very competitive team, we all want to be better every day and that is showing. I think Jenni said that they were an unrepeatable generation, do you agree with her? Maybe.
I trust that from now on the girls who come will believe that this is just the beginning, but it is true that it is difficult to improve on today's generation. Tell me about the photo of you with Jenni and Alexia in La Cartuja after qualifying for the JJOO. We have been together for many years.
From the beginning we have experienced all the change, we have gone through very difficult circumstances inside and being able to have such beautiful moments as winning a World Cup or qualifying for the Games makes us especially excited and it is something very cool to share it with them.
Alexia, Irene and Jenni after Spain's qualification for the Olympic Games.Jose BretonAP
Her performance is incredible and even more so that of Jenni, who has experienced this whole whirlwind the most. How does she manage it? She has suffered and suffers a lot. What happens is that she has made a very big armor for herself and has surrounded herself with people who It has helped him manage everything very well.
In the end what she likes is to play soccer, where she doesn't remember anything, she escapes, she shows her magic and that's what frees her, but it's amazing how she performs with her whole situation. When she retires, What will you tell your son with more pride, the star he achieved or the fact that he led the change in women's football, #SeAcabó? I don't think he remembers anything, but I will remind him that he was a key player in The World Cup.
He was with the team and brought us a lot of happiness.
I will also explain to him what needs to be explained to him, but I trust that there are many situations that sound like something out of a movie, that by the time he is older, things will have changed.
At the moment it seems normal to him and he watches a lot more girls' football than boys' football, so I hope he grows up in a different reality. About everything that happened in the past, do you regret anything or would you have done it differently? No, I think things happen always for something and you have to accept them and move forward. She is 32 years old and speaks with the poise of a veteran. I think I have always been quite sensible and thorough.
Everything I do I think about a lot and I think it is the best.
origins
Tell me about your football origins in Legazpi? I come back often because I have family, friends and I like it.
Many times it is a refuge where I feel safe and calm.
It's my beginnings, it's where I started and I remember it with great affection, although football was difficult.
I played since I can remember and until I was 14 I couldn't play on a team because there were no girls.
So, I always played in the street.
That has changed and I like to return to the town and see how there are more girls' teams and it is becoming more and more encouraged.
Furthermore, I have a campus in the summer and I am especially excited to contribute that grain of sand. At those ages, who did I dream of being? I was very much a Real Sociedad fan and I saw the kids, but I didn't dream of being anyone because I knew I wasn't a posibility.
So, when there is no possibility, you don't dream of being anything like that, or playing football, or being a professional or anything.
These are doors that have been opened to me subsequently.
And hence the importance of making ourselves visible, that it is normalized and that all those girls see that they can be a professional soccer player and win a World Cup or play in the Olympic Games.
The more girls there are playing, the more the level will increase.
The better those who arrive and play with the national team will be and the greater the spectacle will be.
Irene Paredes in one of the training camps in Las Rozas.Angel NavarreteWORLD
It is needed in Spain because at Barça they are a roller. There is always room for improvement.
Although we are a reference, it is still difficult for girls to have equal opportunities, to be valued equally.
Well, there is work to do, but it is true that what is being done is very good and when you win it is true that you attract more people. With the national team already more than 100 games, who would have told you? When I started it seemed difficult .
It has rained a little, but I am happy to have reached that figure and to be able to continue being part of this. How much glass is left to the roof of women's football? Yes, there is still a lot, but we are on the right track and we hope that it will be the start of good things.
We focus on playing, on continuing to win, which is engaging and gives us reasons to continue pushing. Did you hear Rafa Nadal's words about salaries between boys and girls?
What did you think? I prefer not to discuss that conversation. Besides Paris, what are his plans for the summer? I haven't thought about it.
Now we only have a chance to win on Wednesday.
Then there will also be a list and the objective will be to be on it and arrive in good condition. What do you like to do outside of football? I really like spending time with Lucía, Mateo and the dog.
Relax a lot in nature, visit things, tranquility.
Flash interview
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