Inma Lidón Valencia

Valencia

Updated Thursday, February 29, 2024-16:29

  • Chronicle Spain, of steel and legend, wins the Nations League

"A year ago no one gave a dime for us."

That is the reflection with which the captain,

Irene Paredes

, verbalized the change in Spain, capable of winning a World Cup and the first Nations League in just six months.

On September 15, no one gave it a try for

Montse Tomé

, but now the Asturian has earned an extra life.

The team has grown despite carrying the wounds of the Rubiales case, it is stronger mentally and better in all facets of the game, something that has not gone unnoticed by the sports director,

Markel Zubizarreta

.

To know more

Interview.

Montse Tomé: "In those days of September it was difficult to see yourself on the bench in this final phase"

  • Editor: INMA LIDÓN (Special Envoy)Seville

Montse Tomé: "In those days of September it was difficult to see yourself on the bench in this final phase"

Women's Football.

The well-deserved 'lottery' of Montse Tomé and the liberating cry of Jenni Hermoso and the dinosaurs

  • Editor: INMA LIDÓN (Special Envoy)Seville

The well-deserved 'lottery' of Montse Tomé and the liberating cry of Jenni Hermoso and the dinosaurs

Her arrival at the RFEF occurred two months after the interim president,

Pedro Rocha

, designated Tomé as

Jorge Vilda

's successor .

Luis Rubiales

had put her in the spotlight by appointing her in voce as sports director in a controversial applauded speech and, although she resigned, her hiring for the bench was viewed with suspicion.

The call on September 15, her explanations for

Jenni Hermoso

's absence - "To protect her" -, and her early morning in Oliva predicted a very short future.

However, from a discreet profile, she has been working on everything that was not her knowledge.

Supported by the psychologist even in her personal interviews, she has been dominating the public scene, relaxing a defensive attitude and learning to overcome the noise that has accompanied her.

She showed her first laugh in public before the semifinal against the Netherlands.

When the Swedish referee blew the final whistle against France, Tomé was engulfed in a hug by her coaching staff, close collaborators who have been growing at the rate that the Federation has increased the professionalism that surrounds the champions.

"Many people gave their opinion about me without knowing me," said the Asturian with the medal around her neck and the champions' shirt.

Her boss, Markel Zubizarreta, admits this lack of knowledge, and will have to decide on his future when the Paris Games are over, which is when he has a contract, if the elections in the RFEF do not prevent him from doing so.

The

sports director came

to office with an idea that is now maturing.

"We are in the RFEF at a time that does not allow us to plan beyond the elections, but it reinforces all the people who have been part of it, the players and the coaching staff," he said.

Tomé, along with Jenni Hermoso, at the reception in Moncloa.EFE

There is one aspect that has especially surprised Zubizarreta about Tomé and his staff.

"I didn't know her, only as a second when she came to watch games, but a coaching staff until you see them work... We have had two days to prepare for this final and in this context, this coaching staff is elite," he admitted.

On December 22, Tomé began to work on this final phase, when the defeat against Italy had raised the first doubts.

A controversy with Aitana Bonmatí and an error that made Spain play at a disadvantage for a few minutes once again put the focus on the mess more than on football.

However, distrust was fading.

"The locker room is happy now

," the coach acknowledged in an interview with this newspaper.

The growth of the group, with the coach trying to keep a very low profile to give all the prominence to her players, has surprised the sports director as much as the fact that the team executes Tomé's plans with precision.

«It speaks very well of the ability of these footballers to assimilate them and of the staff to transmit it.

"I remember that night in Oliva and that this human group, players and coaching staff, has gone from that to this is brutal."

ELECTORAL PROCESS

Tomé has a contract until after the Games, and will have to focus on qualifying for the next European Championship in Switzerland, which will start at the end of March, but it does not seem that, unlike with De la Fuente, there are plans to extend his contract.

Zubizarreta warns that he must wait.

And the RFEF seems destined for a double electoral process.

Rocha wanted to avoid it in September, when some territorial presidents warned him that the statutes required Rubiales' replacement to be elected in an assembly.

He did not call them in the hope that the CSD would bring forward the mandate elections, but now he may be forced to provoke a challenge.

This may force the RFEF to undergo two processes: the first, before June, for the current assembly members to ratify Rocha, or another member, as president.

The second, in the fourth quarter, to renew the entire assembly and already being a process open to new candidates.