The youth women’s handball team won the title of world champion this summer, a milestone in the lower categories of this sport practiced by women. A light in the midst of the great sadness that the Paris Games had left: the Guerreras were the only one of the 12 teams that did not win a game. And worse than the five defeats was the feeling of a locker room overcome by the stage and adversity. By far one of the most disappointing performances by the Spanish delegation.
Those who dealt with the coach, Ambros Martín, in the following weeks, remember the personal blow that the team’s poor performance meant for him. Recruited in 2023 with the label of the most successful Spanish coach in the women’s category (four Champions Leagues), his first goal was the Games. However, the enormous French disappointment led him to make his position available on two occasions, as he himself has acknowledged. A gesture that was not accepted by the federation.
The 56-year-old Canarian coach continues, and he does so clinging to the hope of the future in view of the fact that the present has led the team to the worst result in decades. For the European Championship that begins this Thursday in Austria, Hungary and Switzerland (opener against Portugal; 6:00 p.m., Tdp), Ambros Martín has drawn up a very rejuvenated list of 18 players that represents a complete clean slate. Seven of the permanent players so far have been ruled out by technical decision (Merche Castellanos, Alicia Fernández, Mireya González, Maitane Etxeberria, Lysa Tchaptched, Sole López and even captain Lara González), absences that join the four that have already announced their departure. goodbye (Silvia Arderius, Marta López, Darly Zoqbi and Shandy Barbosa, who is retired from handball).
The transition perhaps should have been done more gradually
Imanol Álvarez, Bera Bera coach and former national team assistant
But more than the profound renewal, which has not only affected the veterans (Etxeberria is 27 years old and Tchaptched, 22), what has surprised the most is the coach’s speech to announce this change of cycle. In an interview in the specialized media SportOne hundred percentMartín clearly warned that from now on he would only call those who really want to go and not those who come just because they are summoned. “The national team is no longer open to everyone. It is limited to all players, regardless of their age, experience and level, who really want to help,” she stated bluntly in statements that appealed to sentiment, struggle and values. A few words about commitment that serve as a warning for the future; but, above all, they resonated because of what they dropped about what the experience and coexistence in the team had been like during the Games. A veiled complaint that they were already aware of in the corridors of the federation.
The consequence of this volte-face is a list where eight of the 18 called up make their debut in a big event, but of the remaining ten, only Carmen Campos, Paula Arcos, Kaba Gassama, Jennifer Gutiérrez and Eli Cesáreo accumulate flight hours and high-altitude tournaments with the selection. The average age is just over 24 years (five less than at the World Cup a year ago) and 11 of them compete in the League, without possible access to the Champions League. Since Carlos Viver’s renewal in 2017, the lists had been continuous. Until now.
The inexperience of the new group warns that they are entering a transition period in which it seems difficult to achieve results in the short term, although the great performance in the two preparatory duels, with a surprising victory against the world champion and Olympic runner-up France (27-28) has generated interest in a group where the flash of players like Danila So Delgado and Carmen Arroyo has drawn attention. The galas will be their second rival in the European Championship (the 30th, 6:00 p.m.) and the third, Poland (December 2, 6:00 p.m.), with the added handicap that only two pass. Main Roundand not three, as usual. The goal immediate They are the 2028 Games and the 2029 World Cup at home. A long sowing time that will require patience, and in which the successful days of men’s technical training will also be transferred to the base, one of the differences that explains the gap between one and the other. Those who saw Ambros Martín in September with the youth teams noticed that he was revived after the Olympic disappointment.
“We are entering a transition period,” confirms Imanol Álvarez, coach of Bera-Bera (winner of five of the last seven Leagues) and assistant in José Ignacio Prades’ national team between September 2021 and May 2023. [ha habido tres seleccionadores en tres años]. “Perhaps it should have been done more gradually, but the urgency of the results and the fact that there are annual championships has meant that it has been faced in a traumatic way,” explains the coach, who calls for patience and to definitively accept that the times of glory (bronze in London 2012) were left behind. “We were ninth in the 2022 European Championship, which helped us go to the pre-Olympic qualification, and it was considered almost an absolute failure when it was a more or less normal result.”
I didn’t see a lack of commitment in the Games
Nerea Pena, former national team player
Nerea Pena, protagonist of the best days of the national team (176 games and 595 goals between 2008 and 2021), insists that “the competitive level compared to the time from 2008 to 2016 has decreased”, assures that “success was entering the Games”, and warns of a possible danger. “Now they have a very complicated role because they must end up in positions that allow you to continue playing in European and World Cups, that do not make you go to a very complicated crossroads to qualify,” says the former player, who says that “I would not have made the same list.” than Ambros” but understands that he is working for the future. What he does not agree with is his commitment speech. “Results are one thing and commitment is another. I didn’t see a lack of commitment in the Games. I’m very sorry, but I don’t agree there. He would have to describe what kind of commitment he wants,” he says.
The 18 summoned
Goalkeepers: Nicole Wiggins (Nice) and Nicole Morales (Elche).
Central: Carmen Campos (Dortmund), Paola Bernabé (Elche), Elba Álvarez (Bera Bera) and Carmen Arroyo (Bera Bera).
Right back: Paula Arcos (Vipers) and María O’Mullony (Aula Valladolid).
Left back: Ester Somaza (Granollers) and Danila So Delgado (Gloria Bistrita).
Right wingers: Paulina Pérez Buforn (Porriño), Paula Agulló (Elche) and Anne Erauskin (Bera Bera).
Left wingers: Ona Vegué (Blomberg-Lippe) and Jennifer Gutiérrez (Krim Mercator).
Pivots: Eli Cesáreo (Málaga), Kaba Gassama (Bietigheim) and Lyndie Tchaptchet (Bera Bera)
Calendar
First phase
Portugal: Thursday 28, 6:00 p.m.
France: Saturday 30, 6:00 p.m.
Poland: Monday 2, 18.00
Two pass
Main Round
Spain would face the two qualifiers from groups A and B.
Two pass
Semifinals
December 13
Bronze and final
December 15
All groups
Group A: Sweden, Hungary, North Macedonia and Türkiye
Group B: Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Czech Republic
Group C: France, Spain, Poland and Portugal
Group D: Denmark, Switzerland, Croatia and Faroe Islands
Group E: Norway, Austria, Slovenia and Slovakia
Group F: Netherlands, Germany, Iceland and Ukraine
