Spain’s brilliant rise to the World Cup final is clouded by players protesting the manager

SYDNEY, Australia — The Spain team that will take the field in Sunday’s women’s World Cup final against England (6 a.m. ET, Fox29, Telemundo 62, Peacock) is one of the most skilled, dynamic squads in the history of women’s soccer.

But while the TV cameras will show you the spectacular skills of Aitana Bonmatí, teenage phenom Salma Paralluelo, and two-time world player of the year Alexia Putellas, you won’t see the whole picture.

Beneath the surface, La Roja remains wracked by a tumultuous relationship between the players and its long-controversial manager, Jorge Vilda.

While Spain’s elite club teams Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Atlético Madrid led a big-money charge into professionalization, Vilda held an iron grip on the national team that sparked a public revolt last fall. Fifteen star players including Bonmatí, Mapi León, Ona Batlle, and Patri Guijarro refused to play for Spain anymore, confronting Vilda and the Spanish federation in person and by email.

Among their complaints, according to Spain’s Mundo Deportivo newspaper, was that Vilda allegedly forced the players to keep their hotel room doors open until midnight so he could personally see that they were there. He also would inspect their bags if they went shopping and required them to report to him who they were going out for coffee with.

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As a recent ESPN report on Vilda put it: “There are no allegations of inappropriate behavior against him but there are grievances about his management style on and off the pitch. Off the pitch, sources said he could be controlling and had not dealt with non-sporting issues well. On the pitch, there were protests about preparation, training and tactics, especially in big matches.”

The Spanish federation — officially the Real Federación Española de Fútbol — didn’t just brush off the protest, it fired back at them.

“The RFEF is not going to allow the players to question the continuity of the national coach and his coaching staff, since making those decisions does not fall within their powers,” the governing body said in a statement. “These types of maneuvers are far from exemplary and outside the values of football and sport, and are harmful.”

It pointedly added: “The Federation will only have committed footballers even if they have to play with youth. … The players who have submitted their resignation will only return to [play for] the national team in the future if they accept their mistake and ask for forgiveness.”

The players’ protest did not stop, rolling on through a visit from the U.S. women last October. But the replacement-filled squad beat the Americans, 2-0, boosting the bosses in charge. (It also gave then-U.S. manager Vlatko Andonovski a mighty headache because it was part of his team’s first three-game losing streak in nearly 30 years.)

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That came two months after Spain’s under-20 women’s team won that age group’s World Cup and a few weeks before the under-17 team won its second straight world title.

By the start of this summer, relations between the players and Vilda reportedly had improved somewhat. But when Spain’s World Cup roster was announced, just three of the protesting 15 were on the squad: Bonmatí, Batlle, and Mariona Caldentey.

Two more of Spain’s biggest names who backed the protesters on social media, Putellas and Jenni Hermoso, also made the team.

As impressive as La Roja has been in reaching this World Cup final, especially after getting shellacked by Japan, 4-0, in its group stage finale, it could be even better with León, Guijarro, and previous starting goalkeeper Sandra Paños — all of whom won their second women’s Champions League title in three years with Barcelona this past May.

“It’s not a decision that one takes easily, but it is something that I decided and my decision was clear,” León told Barcelona-based radio station RAC1 in May. “I can’t just go back without anything having changed. If they told me that this or that has changed, or if they had a plan, that they were trying — and I am not saying that they are not trying, they most likely are trying to change, but I don’t see it.”

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The protest has left many fans worldwide conflicted. They’d like to see the players win a World Cup, but they don’t want to see Vilda triumph.

The players seem aware of that.

“For all those people that don’t know us, I hope that they like us — I hope that we can perform well, because we can do really well,” defender Irene Paredes said at a news conference Saturday.

She sat at the podium with Vilda on one side of her and a national team PR staffer on the other, which may have forced her to pick her words. But she still was able to get a message across.

“And for those people that are getting on board now with our games, I will ask them to support us, to give us a chance,” Paredes said. “Even for the institutions and the clubs, I would ask them to support our youth setup. With a bit of an effort, we can achieve really important and beautiful things. That’s it, please follow and support us.”

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Vilda showed his awareness too, in a way that was far less positive — but entirely predictable.

He answered one question about the controversy by not answering it, only saying: “What we want to do tomorrow is to be the best in the world. And we’ll do this by winning the final.”

And to another pointed inquiry, he gave an answer that will sound familiar to Philadelphians, whether they know soccer or not: “Next question.”

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