Jorge Vilda (Madrid, 1981) is a serious man. More relaxed in the short distance than in the press room. “Are you going for a run?” she asks as she makes coffee and attends to the hundreds of messages that flood her phone. She is in the rush of someone who is preparing a World Cup final, but she has no problem regarding the length of the interview.
Question: It took us a long time to talk to you…
Answer: Well, in the end I am not the one who decides when I speak… I am always delighted to speak.
Q: How are you facing the final?
A: We know what this means for Spanish football, for Spanish sport and, above all, for the national team. I’m very happy. Happy with everything. Happy with being in a final, of course, but also because of what I see in the team, the players, the team. I think everything is going very well. We have to arrive very well on a mental level, I am sure that this group will compete well in the final and now what we want is to win it.
We know what this means for Spanish football
Q: Have you already decided on the eleven, although you don’t tell me?
A: I still haven’t decided on the eleven. We are taking a good look at England, trying to predict what they can do, but I think whatever I do, the players are going to be prepared and psyched up to have a great game.
Q: You break a lot with the cliché that what works cannot be touched. Will you make a lot of change?
A: We have shown that we have 23 players. I have not tired of repeating it. The only player who hasn’t played has been Enith Salom who, by the way, I would love for her to play because it’s amazing to see her train. We look at the rival, but our essence does not change, we are going to play what everyone knows. We introduce some change, but we are clear about what we want to do.
Q: A year ago I was playing against England in Brighton. Have you seen that game again?
Yes… I think we were better that day. The statistics say so. In terms of possession and in terms of occasions we were superior in the game, but in the end they scored the goal at the decisive moment, which is what counts.
Q: That day I bet on Tere…
R: Yes, she had not been among the 23 chosen at the beginning, that’s true. That day she played indoors, it was the first staging at an international level for her and she performed very well. During this season she hasn’t played many minutes, but we’ve liked what we’ve seen. We have bet on her, we knew what she could give us and I think she is showing her growth at a competitive level at a football level. Tere and the team are performing very well and we hope that for the final there will still be the best.
Q: They say that you are a very sensational coach, for example the ones you had with Mara Prez and Cata Coll…
A: I think one of the things a coach should have is intuition. More than sensation, you have to try to anticipate the performance that a player is going to give. In the case of Cata it is that when we have seen her here training and she was extraordinarily well, because the others are well. With Mara, I have no doubt that she is going to be one of the best soccer players in her position in the world. She’s going to shine for sure, if she doesn’t twist. And it is not that we are visionaries, it is that we are aware of what they do.
I could not tolerate my honor being doubted.
How would you define this year for you?
A: Hard. They have been very hard times. I also think it has been a year that has made us all improve. After the year we’ve had, if all this had to happen for us to be here in a World Cup final, we value it as positive.
Q: How has Jorge Vilda Sr. done to explain to his son everything that they were saying about his father and everything that they have come to say to him?
A: I think that has been the most difficult part of this year. Professionally, you can doubt whether you are better or worse, but when personal issues came up, that was the most complicated. I have always had the support of my family and I have always felt that no one around me has doubted me. They have been my support in the most difficult moments. They are very responsible for me being here and for everything that is happening to happen.
Q: What’s behind the call the other day in the locker room?
A: There is a very emotional first call to my family. I could barely speak… Being able to share a World Cup final with who you love the most is amazing. It is something to stay forever.
Jorge Vilda during a World Cup matchPA
Q: What is it like to face a dressing room that has doubted the value of the coach and the staff?
A: You have no choice but to focus on work and do what we have always been doing, which is to demand a lot from ourselves after each game and after each training session. You only have to focus on working with your staff, who help a lot and who work more than 16 hours a day. You have to focus on your work, look at the performance of the players and try to facilitate everything as much as possible so that the group is encouraged and happy. It has been a two-month job, but I think we are now a team with all the letters.
Q: Do you feel good, bad or fairly treated by the media?
A: I don’t value it. I know what this business is about. When you win you are very good and when you lose you are very bad and you have to relativize. What did bother me is when there was question of honor and that’s when we went to the press conference and said that any player who had not been treated with respect should come out. No one has left and it has been shown that in these fifteen years, the relationship has been professional.
Q: You come out stronger from this World Cup, but you know that you bet very hard on the day in Switzerland…
A: Well, football in the end are moments. Sometimes it goes in, sometimes it doesn’t. He was convinced that it was what had to be done that day. Both me and the staff. If it had gone wrong, it would have gone wrong with our convictions. I know that if I had lost, many things would have been discussed. We did what we thought we had to do and here we are.
Q: How do you tell a goalkeeper like Misa that she is not going to start without being guilty, surely, of any of the goals against Japan?
A: I agree, Misa had nothing to do with the goals against Japan. The work belongs to the whole team. It is a special position and I know that it is very rare that it is changed. But they also know that we see how they work and that we are aware of the training and that small details leave you in and out. That leads to day by day, they have to show that they deserve to be starters.
The management of Alexia Putellas
Q: How is it managed that Alexia, meaning what she means, does not have a main role in the team?
A: Alexia is aware of everything. The effort that she has made in her recovery must be greatly appreciated, we have been very careful to coordinate with the medical services of the Bara. We are still in a fine-tuning stage, because after a year out, we have to continue working with her to find hers one hundred percent hers. The minutes that she has had have been good, she works very well in training, she wants extra work and sometimes you have to stop her because she keeps asking for more work. And to all that she adds everything she contributes off the field. She is having a very good World Cup and only good words will come out of me.
Q: How much did the RFEF have to do with Salma Paralluelo betting on soccer?
A: Well, we didn’t want to pressure her. We respect her a lot. We wanted her to be her decision. When we were with her, we only thought about creating her perfect environment for her to perform at her highest level. At no time were we behind her. We wanted her to be her decision… I think we would not have been right to put pressure on Salma.
Q: You said in an interview with MARCA in your first days as coach that you don’t see yourself leading the national team for so long. He is eight years old… How does he look? How are you? What challenge could seduce Jorge Vilda?
A: Now we only think about the World Cup final. I don’t think about the future. I think about being focused on what is important. I don’t think beyond.
