A renewed group of 12 players and a Galician coach, Miguel Méndez, begin the Women's World Cup this Friday in Berlin, a championship that the Spanish national team is competing in eight years after its last participation. The ambition is as great as the difficulties that a team will face that has had little time to prepare for the tournament and will have to compete against teams of the level of the United States, France, Belgium or Australia.“We arrive at the competition in good shape, but we find ourselves in a new scenario. We have important players who have been competing in the WNBA and have only had a few days to join the national team. It is the first time this has happened to us, and we have to see how we adapt to it. We have prepared the team to compete without some of the important players. We have tried to organize it in the best way possible. Unlike other national teams that are more used to this, it is a new situation for us,” acknowledges Méndez to ARA.Five of the players (Awa Fam, María Conde, Raquel Carrera, Alicia Flórez, and Megan Gustafson) will have had only three days to adapt to a team that only includes one Catalan player, Mariona Ortiz. The Spanish national team will make its debut this Friday against host country Germany (5:45 PM, TDP). Japan and Mali complete the group. "We are aware of our potential," declares an optimistic Méndez.The coach, a lover of training, participated a few days ago in the Coach's Day, which was held in Vilafranca del Penedès. “It is a day of coexistence with a great tradition. We speakers try to contribute some detail that serves to help the attendees grow. It is about creating in them the curiosity to investigate. Young coaches do not go with the intention of copying things but of receiving new inputsthat force them to think”, he says.“I don’t like giving advice, but coaches who are starting out must work throughout their entire career, just like professionals do. There are many areas that are important. From the technical to the communicative, including psychology, leadership, or physical preparation. Our training never stops. The key is to have a very open mind and look for tools that help you develop your universe. The bible, the catechism that we coaches learn, changes year by year and you have to know how to adapt to new trends,” admits the national coach.The coach has accumulated four EuroLeague titles, the last one with Fenerbahçe. “I have been lucky enough to coach great teams with the capacity to reach their objectives. This is a stroke of luck for any coach. I feel the satisfaction of having achieved success, but it is clear that I have been through projects with resources,” he admits.An unbeatable favorite

Caitlin Clark, the player who receives the most media attention in the world, leads the United States team, a squad that has not lost any of the 30 matches it has played in the last four editions of the World Cup. Her chemistry with Angel Reese, with whom she has popularized a great rivalry for years, will be key. The absence of Kelsey Plum and A’ja Wilson due to physical reasons does not prevent the main international analysts from giving the North American team the label of heavy favorite in a tournament in which France aspires to cause an upset.

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Tight game. Growing emotion. The Minnesota Lynx and Los Angeles Sparks are battling for victory in a very close match. Kayla McBride visits the free-throw line, at which point the entire arena hears the shouts of a fan. "Rickea!", he exclaims. He says it with so much energy that the television broadcast picks it up. Oblivious to the game's score, the fan implores Rickea Jackson, forward for the Sparks, to try and score more points because he needs to win his parlay bet.

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Tired of the few future options he saw in Senegal, Awa Fam's father traveled to Alicante, where he had a friend who helped him process his papers and find work. His wife arrived shortly after and the family settled in Santa Pola. His parents, Madoumbe and Arane, ran an African craft shop, but when she was born at Elche Hospital they closed it to dedicate themselves to street vending.

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