Well, here they are again, the Hispanos. Once again in agony, once again unbreakable, once again returning from far away places, once again Olympic semi-finalists after defeating Egypt in overtime (29-28). Once again Gonzalo Pérez de Vargas to lift up a bleary-eyed team. Once again Aleix Gómez, the gunslinger who doesn’t speak. Once again Álex Dujshebaev to move all the pieces in time. Once again Jordi Ribera sharpening the board. A morning in which the team started with the sheets glued together and ended up forming a human mountain of ecstasy and liberation under the sticks of the Toledo goalkeeper.
It was a semi-final that was snatched from Egypt, the team led by Juan Carlos Pastor, the coach who made Spain world champions for the first time in 2005. With a lot of effort and tightening the screws that had been loose for many minutes (they were losing by four midway through the second half), Spain reached extra time as a triumph, took the lead in extra time, Gomez fine-tuned with 25 seconds left in a seven-meter forced by the elder Dujshebaev, and Perez de Vargas stopped the last pharaoh shot with ten seconds to go. On Friday they will face Germany, who defeated the host France in extra time (35-34).
“There was a moment when it seemed like we had lost the game, that everything was against us, and it was incredible how the team fought until the end,” said Alex Dujshebaev. “It seems like they are down, that things are not going well, and suddenly they are able to get through it. That spirit has been passed down from generation to generation,” said Ribera, the man who never gets upset.
Two weeks ago, 20 minutes before the plane took off for Paris, David Barrufet was talking about rivals, groups and the convenience of having fallen on one side or the other of the draw. Until after many turns, he reached the familiar point: “In the end, everything depends on the quarter-finals. You have to get there well, against whoever,” he said. The national team was forced to face Egypt. A giant, but beatable. It was not Denmark, which is what they would have been drawn against if Aleix Gómez had not scored in the last second of Sunday’s match against Croatia.
Spain’s problem on Wednesday was that it arrived late to the Lille stadium. Eight meager goals at half-time, and half of them on the counterattack (three in one minute) with the net already empty. “We have to shoot,” Jordi Ribera asked his players. They had to shoot because they were making a very unusual mistake: losing the ball (nine at half-time). They insisted on contacting the pivot in a funnel and that’s where several possessions went down the drain.
The two teams had a hard time getting up early at 9.30. The only ones in good shape were the goalkeepers: Mohamed Aly and, of course, Pérez de Vargas. The man from Toledo is the man who always rests well, who always arrives on time to the right place. He gave his men a couple of scoldings to get them to wake up once and for all. They didn’t have much effect either. He stopped and stopped (nine at half-time and 17 at the end) an Egypt that wasn’t exactly a great team either.
At half-time, the one-eyed man was king. The four-goal deficit (8-12) was almost the minimum that Spain could concede with its record of eight goals. The Africans were no wonder, but Ali Zein had the pleasure of scoring a lob penalty against the Barça player.
Jordi Ribera’s seven against six
For several minutes in the second half, Spain’s cover remained short. They improved in attack, yes, but in defence they did not close the gaps. The Elderaa brothers (eight goals from Yahia and six from Seif) plus Ahmed Hesham (five) continued to hammer away. The match was in an exchange of blows that did not get Spain out of poverty. They needed more.
“With four goals down with 15 minutes to go, we decided to go for it, to risk it all with the seven against six, because we had to take a chance, and it worked out well for us,” explained Alex Dujshebaev. Ian Tarrafeta appeared, again him, the eldest of the Dujshebaev brothers took charge of the operations and the silent Aleix Gómez did not miss (nine out of nine at the end of the match). He put some through the eye of a needle. Jordi Ribera’s decision to go into a seven against six also proved key.
With seven minutes to go, the national team was one point behind (21-22) and with two minutes to go, they tied the game (24-24). Aleix Gómez, of course. In extra time, Spain quickly took the lead and never found themselves behind again. In the last minute and a half, they played with one less player due to Casado’s exclusion, but they had already bitten the prey. They arrived late, but they were not going away. The eldest of the Dujshebaev brothers forced the seven-meter shot with 25 seconds left, which Gómez did not miss, and Pérez de Vargas locked the ball in.
Spain started the year off the rails at the European Championships and continued with a jagged trajectory. But the day Barrufet reminded them that they had to be there, they arrived in time to reach the semi-finals. Once again, the Spanish were in the fight for medals. In Tokyo they won bronze.
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