“I need my son in the World Cup and he needs me…”

Irene Paredes (Legazpi, 1991) reaches the World Cup being one of the best central defenders in the world. Her proven career is linked to her serious and competitive character. Nothing knocks down the central Barcelona. This one from Australia and New Zealand will be her third World Cup, the same ones that Spain has in her history. The Basque is an example on and off the field

He reaches his third World Cup, the third also in Spain. He has been in all of them. How does he get there now, how is he?

I face it with great desire, the truth. We want to play a good role, punch the table. Consolidate ourselves among the greats, because we have shown it in matches, but in tournaments we always have a little ‘oh, almost, we could have done it’. That as players and as professionals hurts us.

“It was always an ‘oh, almost’… You have to punch the table”

Walls

If you had to put this team, this Spain, on a scale against the 32 teams in the tournament, where would you be?

We are capable of fighting for everything, I am sure and convinced. There are many teams that are also fighting for the same thing, yes. In the World Cup, all of us who are here have earned it. So let’s go for it. We focus on game by game, because, although it sounds like a cliché, it is reality.

This National Team has key players like you and is also made up of a new generation… Are there positives in it?

Well, luckily all this new litter that has arrived has more experience than we had in their day. It is a very important aspect to go out onto the field and not to see everything as new. They already have that. From there it is to enjoy and work, in good times and in not so good ones.

Something very different from what you experienced at that World Cup in Canada in 2015, the first… Do you think they paid for the hazing?

That’s what I mean. The young and the not so young arrived without having experience in anything. Not in big tournaments, not in big matches. Not even playing in stadiums with people. It seems crazy today. That preparation, moreover, was not ideal. It was almost a miracle that we could do anything. Today we are a very different Spain. We have more experience, which does not say that we will go further. I wish yes. But when you have already lived this and worked on it, it does not surprise you. What’s more, it gives you some peace of mind when competing.

One of the reasons, in part, is that the group of players who then traveled to the first World Cup was not even professional…

Obviously, days ago we talked about it. In the 2015 World Cup there were players, among them I remember Eli Ibarra, who had to take leave and vacations from work to be able to be in the World Cup. The change that has taken place is summed up in those things, in how we were then and how we are now.

Eight years later, it can be said that everything has changed a lot. Women’s football is already highly developed… How do you rate the progress?

Right now it’s preparing all day to get to training in the best conditions. This implies eating well, resting well, recovering… all the details to be able to perform at the highest level. With these premises it is clear that a team like Spain has a better chance of doing well and achieving something.

It is a special season for you, the thorn in the Champions League has been removed, the one that you did not get when you were a member of PSG…

More than a weight off his shoulders, it was a dream he had: to win the Champions League. And it is won. I still have dreams. Doing it once is fine, let’s see if now it can be repeated and, of course, achieve something great with the National Team. I’d love to.

You are, for the moment, the only mother in this Selection. Of the 23, she is the only one who experiences such a wonderful adventure. What has it meant for you to have to combine football and motherhood?

Being a mother and a soccer player changes your life. Perhaps the most complicated thing is the issue of rest. Not now because we have a child who is very formal and sleeps very well. But it is true that the first months were hard, because you do not sleep as much as your body needs. And for many months I was avoiding getting injured in training instead of focusing on continuing to improve. That was because she was very, very tired. The rest, like any mother or father, is to organize and spend time with him. Educate him in the best way, which goes through the illusion and organize well. Thanks to him I have extra strength.

Before leaving for New Zealand, the RFEF approved a conciliation plan by which mothers will be able to be accompanied by their children in the tournament and the players will have their relatives close…

They are details that are not so details. To perform at the highest level, it is clear that there is training, but also everything that is around it: hours of rest, meals, leisure… It is absolutely necessary that I be with him and he be with me. Until now it had not been thought of, perhaps because it had not occurred. This is appreciated.

“I don’t think about whether it’s my last World Cup, but about winning it”

Walls

He arrives at this adventure at 32 years old, the next World Cup may be far away…

Maybe that’s the way it is, it’s true, that’s why winning it is in my head. It’s a dream. The focus cannot be in the future, it has to be in today and in the present. Day by day we are seeing the evolution of all of them. Things are being worked on and problems are being solved.

What is talked about at meals and in free time in New Zealand?

We talk about everything, we don’t leave any topic behind (laughs).

I have to ask about Alexia Putellas. He arrives after a very tough season and with expectations of a double Ballon d’Or…

Alexia needed it, she needed to feel like a footballer again, you don’t know how important it is and even more so for a person like her… After so many months away it’s very hard, and even more so with the media pressure she has. It is difficult to recover sensations, everything takes time. You have to leave her alone. Hopefully in the World Cup she will be at her best level again because she makes a difference. We are very lucky.

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