Game of Thrones in the national team: opposition from Hermoso or Paredes explains why Tome excluded them from the list | Football | Sport
“This is Game of Thrones,” say voices near the national team’s dressing room. Pieces of the board fall down. Monse Thomé decided on Tuesday not to call up Jenny Hermoso (30), Spain’s icon and top scorer, Irene Paredes (33), Barcelona’s captain and starter, and Misa Rodriguez (25), one of the goalkeepers who fit the least like Lola Gallardo, who has not returned to Las Roses since the crisis of 15 years, after the 2022 European Championship. to sports issues. An argument that quickly disappeared when asked by reporters. He then hinted that this decision was dictated by considerations of comradeship and behavior, which he apparently did not like. Sources close to the dressing room agree: “It’s neither understood nor explained.”
For some, this is a blow to the table, an attempt to dismantle the power of a group of veterans, of whom only Alexia Putellas (30) remains in this draft – 26-year-old Aitana Bonmati has never been so militant. And they also hint at the “insecurity” of Tome, who is trying to destroy this power. In front of the media, he said it between the lines: he wants to “put the past behind us” and “rebuild” Spain; although he avoided talking about “changing the cycle”. The federation claims that this is a personal and exclusive list of Monse Tome, and the reasons were explained at a press conference. Meanwhile, amid all the noise, the named players were surprised by their absence from the list.
The national team’s locker room still bears the scars of the ’15 conflict, Irene Paredes said in an interview with EL PAÍS. A locker room that broke down as someone led a revolution that culminated in the departure of then-president Luis Rubiales and his coach Jorge Vilda just over a year ago. And although they explain that there is no “bad atmosphere” today, there are sides. The strongest and most numerous are veterans. Some even claim that some young players have felt “ignored” this summer. At the head of the group, as a key figure, is Paredes. Last year, in a match with Sweden, Irene put on the captain’s armband for the first time after a 15-hour crisis. Although Alexia Putellas was elected with the most votes, she gave it to the defense, finishing second in the voting. Both, along with Jenny, are the focus of the documentary #SeAcabó: Diario de las Championas, which revolves around an unwanted kiss that Hermoso received while celebrating the World Cup. And also those who led the internal battles in the national team and the fight for improved conditions.
After Rubiales left, as evidenced by his performance at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, Paredes focused on sports, assures those around him. So, after Tome’s last list, the captain was surprised and touched. “There’s nothing I can do other than try to play at the highest level,” he explained to his men in an effort to return to the team. The captain competed in the final stretch of the Games in discomfort and was told that if she didn’t stop, she risked breaking herself and having to undergo surgery for a muscle injury. Upon returning to Barcelona, a medical report was issued: Paredes was out of the game and spent the pre-season at half throttle. A reason that seemed to be valid for his first absence from Thomé’s list a few weeks ago, but not for the last, when he had already played entire games as a starter for Barça.
Along with the national team players was Blanca Romero, the physical training coach at the World Championships and Games and a woman trusted by many of the players. But in September, as part of what the federation presented as a “new sports project,” she was appointed head of RFEF. “I decide the coaching staff,” Thome admitted when asked about her. The move took Romero away from the daily lives of footballers and was a prelude to what would come later.
Now Jenny, Paredes and Misa have fallen too. The striker, who inadvertently became the star of the celebrations in Sydney and one of the players with the most minutes at the World Cup, fell from grace with the arrival of Thome. He didn’t name her on his first list. “The best way to protect her is to not call her,” the coach said at the time. “Protect me from what? “Or from whom?” Hermoso responded on social media. And at the Games the distance was obvious. The forward played just a few minutes against Japan and was left out against Nigeria. In the match against Brazil, she started, but with the score scoreless, she was replaced in the 59th minute. “I’m the same player I was a month ago. There are things to which there is no answer. I have a different role, and whether I accept it or not, this is what I have to do,” he complained to Cope after the meeting. During his first call-up after the Games, he played just 16 minutes in one of two friendlies. Now, in the second list, Tome destroyed this piece, another one. “Don’t sell your soul to the devil,” the striker wrote on Instagram.
El Larguero reported that sources close to the federation hinted at “bad behavior” by Misa and Hermoso as they were deputies. The Canary didn’t expect to be on the top list after the Games, although that’s where she made it. The target is one of the goalkeepers who fits in least in the F league, along with Lola Gallardo, her friend. Precisely, the Atlético goalkeeper, who had just won his first Zamora, was not present after the crisis of 15 years and openly criticizes in the documentary #SeAcabó Tome the applause of Luis Rubiales in a meeting that would be the prelude to the fall of the now former president. Thome insists his absence is due to “sporting” decisions.
Working conditions in the national team have improved since the crisis a year ago, although “there is still work to be done,” say the most critical voices. At the moment, they no longer have to wait until two o’clock in the morning to see a physiotherapist, nor do they have to request tactical videos of the opponent from the Barcelona coaching staff. What doesn’t seem to have improved is the management of the group. The pieces continue to fall into general confusion. And the questions pile up. About the present and future of the team.