Before Sunday’s Women’s World Cup final match versus England, Spain head coach Jorge Vilda refused to address questions concerning rumors of splits in the team camp. He later claimed that his team is “united” in a sarcastic pre-game press conference.
Despite 15 of his players writing to the Spanish Federation (RFEF) last October to urge changes behind the scenes after citing reservations about the 42-year-old’s managerial style, Vilda, who has been in charge of Spain since 2015, has led the country to its first World Cup final.
Only three of those 15 players—commonly referred to as Las 15—were chosen for Vilda’s World Cup team. According to Spanish media, there are divisions within the squad that go back to the alleged mutiny, after which Vilda had the public support of RFEF president Luis Rubiales.
When asked explicitly about the reported ongoing disagreement, Vilda responded, “Next question,” and she also responded dismissively when asked why Spain was missing many of the top players in the world, but “not because of injury like England.”
Vilda was careful to emphasize that he had a close-knit group of teammates on the month-long trip to New Zealand and Australia, though.
“From the very beginning, the players have been united and working a lot,” Vilda said. “Today will be the 65th training session and all have come out very well — the training, games, everything inside the squad has been extraordinary. They have had fun, we’ve been together.
“Mentally, the players are super-concentrated on football and what we want to do tomorrow is be the best in the world and we’ll do this by winning the final.”
Sarina Wiegman’s team advanced to the final against Germany to win the competition, but Spain fell to England in the quarterfinal of Euro 2022.
Vilda claimed that his team has improved throughout the competition, despite the most recent defeat against England.
“The game of last year, we know we were on top, but the result is what counts,” Vilda said. “But England knows what is front of them tomorrow — these games require our best, but the team has evolved and grown in this World Cup.
“We had never beaten Sweden before we met them in the semifinal, but we won the game and now we are here to face England in a World Cup final.
“It is not a day to change our style, it is a time to be ourselves and pressure and attack as we know how to, be a united team, and play the game as we have been.
“I am extremely pleased to play a World Cup final tomorrow, with a country that is supporting the team. It could be the happiest day of their lives. We feel very supported.”
