That the FIFA Women's World Cup no longer seems like the exclusive property of the United States feels like a step forward for the game on a global scale.
That Spain won the trophy for the first time after roughly half its player pool stayed home to protest substandard treatment by the country's federation and coaching staff feels like a step back.
That Spain and England would play their way to a World Cup final relatively soon after major clubs in each country devoted substantial interest and investment in the women's game feels like a massive step forward.
That captain Ivana Andres would tumble off the edge of the medal stand immediately after lifting the World Cup trophy in celebration of Spain's achievement felt like a step forward and a step back at the same time.
Fortunately, she was fine. She did not let her stumble interrupt the festivities in the least, because too much work went into this triumph, and one never knows when a ceremony of this degree again will be warranted.
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Spain are the world champions. This is something that's been accurate only once before in the history of the game, when they defeated the Netherlands in 2010 at South Africa. That the Spanish women's team would win their first employing a possession-based style very similar to that which led Andres Iniesta, Xavi and Carlos Puyol to their trophy raise — goalkeeper Iker Casillas did the honors, and did not fall off the platform — seemed both fitting and problematic for those planning to wrest away that prize four years from now.
The possession game only served to mute England's attack, though. What punished the Lionesses was Spain's astonishing ability to crowd the ball, win it back and almost immediately generate scoring chances. That's how the game-winning chance came to left-back Olga Carmona, who scored the game's only goal. England veteran Lucy Bronze made a reckless advance into midfield, found herself surrounded by four players and had the ball stripped from her, too easily. A quick switch by midfielder Teresa Abelleira on the right to Mariona Caldentey toward the left led to a layoff to Carmona, who fired inside the right post.
Andrés Iniesta 🤝 Olga Carmona
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) August 20, 2023
The only two players to have scored for Spain in a senior World Cup final 🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/ShLeHyGSm8
"I don't have any words for this moment. Unbelievable. I'm so proud because we had a great tournament. We're so proud that also we enjoyed it. And we deserve it," midfielder Aitana Bonmati, named the winner of the Golden Ball, told Fox Sports. "Everyone knew their goal at the beginning of the preparation for the tournament. Everyone is competitive… Everyone is strong mentally to win. We have been working a lot of years for this moment, and we have it. We have the trophy."
Spain's rapid ascent to this peak has not been without its obstacles. At the 2019 Women's World Cup in France, a Spanish side that included only two of the same starters as opened Sunday against England gave the United States women's national team a scare before falling, 2-1, in a Round of 16 game. Last summer at Euro 2022, Spain were eliminated in the quarterfinals by the same score against England, with a lineup that included many of the players missing from this World Cup because of a private protest their federation chose to make a public dispute.
The protest of "las 15" became known last September, not long before the team was scheduled to play an important friendly against the USWNT, who had won the World Cup in both 2015 and 2019.
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The Real Federacion Espanola de Futbol revealed 15 players had sent identical e-mails to the Federation requesting they not be called into the national team citing the "important effect on my emotional state and by extension my health". They insisted the RFEF demonstrate a "clear commitment to a professional project with attention paid to all the aspects needed to get the best performance of this group of players".
The Athletic reported the players contended preparation time often was insufficient, that travel sometimes was substandard — bussing on trips that should have been flights — and their privacy was being violated.
Two-time Ballon d'Or winner Alexia Putellas did not send an e-mail, but she, Jennifer Hermoso and veteran defender Irene Paredes made public their support for the protest. Their contentions were soundly rejected by the RFEF, with the players informed they would need to apologize if they wished to return to playing for the national team.
Eventually, conversations between the two sides grew promising enough that eight of the players returned to the national team player pool, although only three were chosen for the World Cup roster.
Their performances in Oceania suggested they were chosen carefully; Bonmati, Caldentey and right-back Ona Batlle all started the final. Paredes, Hermoso and Putellas also made the team; the first two also started against England, although Putellas was limited throughout the tournament as the result of her recovery from a 2022 knee injury.
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Spain almost certainly would not have won this trophy had not such essential players as Bonmati returned to the squad. The absences of the veterans, though, including Putellas, presented opportunities that were seized by young players such as Salma Paralluelo, a 19-year-old who became the single most exciting player in the tournament and scored in both the quarterfinals and semis to get her country to this moment.
She grew up playing for clubs in Zaragoza, where she was born, and then played three seasons and scored 23 goals in 37 games at Villarreal before signing at Barcelona last summer. She won the Champions League in her first season.
Barca has sponsored a women's team since 1988, but it was their decision to make the squad a professional outfit in 2015 that ignited both their own extraordinary success — four consecutive Superliga titles, two UEFA Women's Champions League wins — and Spain's emergence as a national team. Seven starters in Sunday's final play for Barcelona. Real Madrid, which introduced a pro women's team only three years ago, delivered two starters, including the hero, Carmona.
Spain's federation can enjoy the celebration and display the trophy and cash their share of the prize money cheque, but the evidence suggests the best work toward producing this result took place outside its offices. That appears to be where the real strength in Spanish women's soccer — and, at least for now, the world's game — resides.