The Spanish coach, Jorge Vilda, stated this Friday that Salma Paralluelo, scorer of the winning goal that sealed Spain’s ticket to the World Cup semifinals for the first time, is a player with “enormous potential” that “has not yet touched ceiling”. “Salma is a player with enormous potential and by no means has she reached the ceiling. She is a very young player, she has been in professional football for a year,” she said at a press conference after Spain’s victory against the Netherlands in the quarterfinals. World Cup final in Australia and New Zealand.
“She is very young and she will continue to shine, surely in the future we will see much more of what she can do”, he completed about the 19-year-old player.
With a penalty goal from Mariona Caldentey and a decisive goal from Salma in the second part of extra time, which Vilda described as “an explosion of joy”, Spain reached the championship podium for the first time in history. “Today is a historic day for Spanish football,” summarized the coach.
The coach chose to leave Salma on the bench in this match, in line with his strategy of “tiring out rivals”. The winger entered the final stretch of the match and made the most of his unique skills as a former sprinter.
The strategy “was part of what we wanted: work on that game, tire the centrals and then have Salma with her speed,” said Vilda, about the Barcelona player, who at 15 years and 3 months old won the bronze medal in the 400 meters of the Spanish Athletics Championships and achieved the national record under-18 and under-20.
The coach also praised the performance shown on the field by the entire team, in a performance that he defined as a “Spanish earthquake”. “The team has not stopped believing, the players have been at an extraordinary level, a match with a lot of tension and a lot of emotions. Then Salma’s goal, an explosion of joy,” he said.
After the Spanish squad “arrived to a place that had never been reached”, the coach said he was confident that Spain “can reach the highest level” in this World Cup event. For this, he assured that La Roja will begin to prepare for their next commitment, against Japan or Sweden in the semifinals but with their eye on the final.
“We are among the four best in the world, but we are not going to stop. Today we do want to celebrate, but tomorrow we will prepare for the semifinals, because we want to be in the final,” he added. After their triumph, the Spanish delegation will travel this Friday to Auckland, where they will meet the winner of the match between Japan and Sweden on August 15 in the semifinals.
