Spain's Women's National Team begins its World Cup journey on Thursday, with the tournament held entirely in Berlin and concluding next Sunday, the 13th. To start, Spain faces a tough challenge: against host nation Germany, with whom they will likely compete for the top spots in the group. The game can be watched live starting at 17:45 on Teledeporte.
A World Cup of the highest level of demand, as always with the United States as the great favorite and national teams such as Australia, France, Belgium, Germany itself, and even China, with its 2.20-meter center, aspiring to fight for medals, without ruling out some theoretically unexpected surprise. And Spain must open its path with a high-level challenge: the German hosts (17:45, Teledeporte).
The National Team closed an impeccable preparation phase, with five victories in as many games and also with an excellent level of individual and collective performance, but without the participation of five of the players who are in Berlin, those who joined at the last minute from the NBA and who have not had time to participate until the last moment in the preparation; Awa Fam, Raquel Carrera, María Conde, Alicia Flórez, and Megan Gustafson did not do so until this very Tuesday. Other national teams face the same situation, so it is an unknown which will better overcome this obvious handicap.
In its usual Power Ranking prior to the championships, FIBA places Spain among the three favorites, only behind the United States and France.
On an individual level, Alba Torrens is the only player under Miguel Méndez's command who has experience in a World Cup: she participated in the last three, in which Spain won a medal, will tie Luci Pascua and Amaya Valdemoro (4) but will still fall short of Laia Palau (5). And if Spain reaches the podium, she will become Spain's greatest World Cup medalist (4), surpassing Anna Cruz, Laura Nicholls, and Laia Palau.
The historical record in official games against Germany clearly favors Spain: only one loss against eight victories, three of them in the three most recent matches: 61-55 in the 2012 pre-Eurobasket, 67-42 in the 2023 Eurobasket, and 79-60 in the Eurobasket from a year ago. The last duel, although in a friendly game, was also won by Spain two weeks ago in Ludwigsburg (60-65).
Miguel Méndez: "We Have to Enjoy and Compete in Every Game"
The head coach faces the hours before his debut with the intention of continuing to build rhythm and arrive prepared for the first game. "We are expectant. If something doesn't happen in the body before an event like this…This is something special. We have to enjoy day by day and we have to be very grateful and satisfied with the work we have done to get here, with the formation of this team. Enjoy and compete in every game."
Furthermore, Miguel Méndez analyzed the scenario that Germany could present and how Spain should adapt to the absences in the German squad. "Germany's game will force us to compensate for physical deficits in some positions but I think they also have to read that situation the other way around. Each team will put its game on the court."
Regarding Spain's rivals, the head coach wanted to highlight the difficulty of the debut and avoid any overconfidence. "This is a World Cup and surely tomorrow's game is going to be very difficult because they have very good players. We want to be here until the last day. Therefore the championship is going to be long and we are prepared for anything that may happen and to play any type of basketball."