Only one monosyllable was needed by Mass to express the feeling of the Spanish internationals forcibly summoned by the new coach. “No,” she answered when asked if she was happy to be in the call. by Montse Tomé. The players’ faces were not happy. Neither those who gathered in Madrid, where Tere Abelleira, Oihane Hernández, Eva Navarro and Athenea accompanied Misa, nor those who traveled directly to Oliva to join a strange concentration, which changes the comforts of the City of Football to train in a field without artificial light. All to escape media attention.
The circumstances did not help to maintain normality either. The plane that was supposed to transport the players from Barcelona left an hour late due to a breakdown. “I don’t know what they have to protect Jenni from, if she’s all right,” said Alexia Putellas. “She is supported by people, yes, but not by whom she should,” he said. Mapi León, one of those who gave up the World Cup and who has now been forced to respond to the call of Montse Tomé. «It is not a safe place if we are forced», added the Barcelona central defense. “I have given up a lot,” said Mapi before traveling to Oliva.
The Secretary of State for Sports was waiting for them there, Victor Francoswho on Monday stated that it would be necessary apply the regulations and sanction the players to not show up and on Tuesday he stated that he was with them. «What happened yesterday is unacceptable and I have conveyed it to the president of the Federation., that it couldn’t be what was happening and that I felt that my obligation was to be on the side of the players,” he acknowledged. “The minimum is to listen to them and know what solutions they propose,” she added.
«The players I spoke with were very bad.», Francos acknowledged. And he declared: “We have made ourselves ridiculous as a country.” The president of the Higher Sports Council spoke with the coach and the soccer players and proposed that anyone who did not want to be in the concentration could be called off by the Federation and replaced by another player without sanction.
The Federation took steps to satisfy some of the players’ demands, but in the wrong direction. The press department that usually accompanies the internationals, made up of five people, did not travel with the players who did so from Madrid nor will they do so on the rest of the team’s trips, except for the trip to Gothenburg to face Sweden. The second step for the internationals to agree to continue in the national team is for there to be layoffs in the Federation. That of the general secretary, Andreu Campsand that of Tomás González Cuetothe external legal advisor for those who are already sharpening the guillotine.
The first to escape the call was Esther González. The former Real Madrid forward, who now plays in the United States for Gotham, has left his place to the Sevilla player Martín Prieto due to injury. For her, it is her first call-up with La Roja, an example of the rapprochement of positions between the Federation and the players, since instead of one of the captains chosen by Vilda, she has not called her successor any of the 39 signatories of the statement in the who gave up playing for the national team.