“Also let me be happy from time to time, let out all the tension,” said Santi Denia (Albacete, 50 years old) with a shy smile at midnight on Monday in Marseille after making it to the Olympic final. The man did the logical thing, exploding with happiness on the pitch with the victory against Morocco and in front of 55,000 Moroccans in the stands of the Velodrome, but this effusiveness contrasted with the usual image of the Spanish coach, a very calm guy who avoids the stridency and shouting of football.
This Friday’s game at the Parc des Princes against Thierry Henry’s France, which is devoid of big stars (18:00, TVE and Eurosport) will be their sixth final after having gone through the entire Las Rozas ladder since 2010: two European Under-17s, one World Under-17, one European Under-19 and one European Under-21. They lost the latter just 13 months ago against England and with a team that included nine players who are now aiming for gold in Paris: Arnau Tenas, Jon Pacheco, Juan Miranda, Álex Baena, Sergio Gómez, Abel Ruiz -starters in the final-, Adrián Bernabé, Aimar Oroz and Sergio Camello.
It was early summer then and he had not yet had to deal with the great tsunami of Spanish football caused by the non-consensual kiss of the former president of the federation, Luis Rubiales, and his obscene gestures in the box of the final of the Women’s World Cup. The crisis put a microscopic magnifying glass on all the employees of the organization, without exception, and Santi Denia ended up becoming one of those exceptions. He did not applaud Rubiales at the assembly of August 25, 2023, in which the former head of the entity entrenched himself in office with multiple accusations in all directions that multiplied the dimension of the personal and institutional collapse.
A week later, during a routine press conference – if there was anything routine in Las Rozas in those days – for a call-up to the under-21s, the coach explained himself. “I have made many mistakes in my sporting life and in my life in general,” he began. “Age and perhaps grey hair make you more reflective. I went to the assembly to listen. I analysed and reacted. And I reacted as I felt, in a genuine way. I decided not to applaud and that is what I felt,” argued Santi Denia after describing Rubiales’ behaviour as “unacceptable” and “unfortunate”.
Unlike many sporting and management officials at Las Rozas, who in the days that followed had to apologize – or justify themselves – for their applause for Rubiales, including Luis de la Fuente, the Olympic coach’s public image did not suffer damage. Although he did have to deal with internal pressure from those loyal to the RubialismAs this newspaper reported, this clear, express and public distance from the still top management of the Spanish federation earned him a harsh reprimand from Francis Hernández, a man very close to the former president and coordinator of the lower categories. A scolding of an unpleasant tone.
The embers of that fire that ravaged Las Rozas are still present, but the main focus has returned to the competition. There, Santi Denia has led the team without any footballing ostentation in the last two weeks to the final against the hosts. The calm man and not at all expansive in his social relations – different from the public profile of Luis de la Fuente – has not surprised with his technical decisions during the tournament. Since the debut against Uzbekistan (2-1) at the Parc des Princes (2-1), he has left no doubts about his starting eleven: Tenas, Pubill, Eric García, Cubarsí, Miranda; Barrios, Baena, Fermín; Sergio Gómez, Oroz and Abel Ruiz. Neither the heat, the humidity and the accumulation of matches, reasons that he has offered these days in France to explain the team’s difficulties at times in putting together good play, have made him stray from his bet.
Outside the Olympic Village
These are his third Games, each one with a different role. The first, in Atlanta 96, as a player in the team led by Javier Clemente (they lost in the quarter-finals). The second, in Tokyo 2020 (silver), as assistant to Luis de la Fuente, from whom he inherited the second tier of Spain (under-21 and Olympic) when he was promoted to the senior team. And now in Paris, as head of sports operations.
The memory of the Olympic title in Barcelona 92 came back to haunt the build-up to Friday’s final. “If we have gone so many years without a gold, it is one more challenge,” said Denia. The challenge for the football team, which has four Olympic medals (silver from Antwerp 1920, Sydney 2000 and Tokyo 2020, plus the gold from 92), also goes beyond its world because Spain has not won a gold in team sports since men’s water polo in Atlanta 96. A significant absence in a field where the country is a powerhouse.
Forced into a life of itinerant activity in the last two weeks after their debut at the Parc des Princes, the team has not returned to the Olympic Village after the semi-finals, where they were for the opening match against Uzbekistan. On Tuesday, the expedition moved from Marseille to a hotel in the French capital. 28 years ago, Santi Denia did not even set foot in the Olympic Village in Atlanta. He did not even make it to the final that he will fight against the hosts on Friday in the ebullient Parc des Princes.
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