José Ignacio Prades turns 46 this week, and it will as coach of Atlético Guardés and as the new women’s national coach. “Four years ago Carlos Viver and President Blázquez asked me to lend a hand, and I did; now they have asked me the same, and I do it because what it is about is to add,” says the Valencian who knows “you can’t control what people think” on whether he would have made Viver’s bed, but he is clear that whoever knows him knows that this is not possible.
-Have you talked to Carlos Viver about your success in the job?
-A week ago, and he already anticipated what was going to happen. Everything has been very fast. What’s more, I don’t even know for how long the commitment to the Federation is because I haven’t been able to sit down with Blázquez yet. We have two very important commitments shortly, qualifying for the European Championship, which we have already started, and the World Cup in Spain in December, and we have to focus on that.
–Since he was the assistant in the National Team, it is intuited that there will not be many changes.
– Of players, little, because we have worked with a very wide group. And the game, because it is about continuing with what worked and in some way improving aspects that have made us irregular. We were happy because we had competed, but with a bittersweet taste because there was no lack of continuity.
-You will have the list ready for the October commitments.
-We have two official matches, against the Czech Republic and against Portugal, and I’m working on it. Is not easy. You have to look at many things. For example, Marta López has suffered a serious injury in the Romanian Cup and will not play for a long time.
-Will players from your club enter?
-Paula Arcos has already been to the Olympics. She is versatile and a girl of the future. In Tokyo he made a great contribution to us.
