Another lost final: Spain misses the World Cup on penalties

More opportunities will come because there is plenty of youth, talent, and motivation, but the curse will continue. For Spain the finals are to lose. In the big events he has played six and lost five, the last one this Friday, against the Netherlands in the Fukuoka World Cup (17-16). He only won the 2013 World Cup, in the Picornell pools in Barcelona, a blessed setting for national water polo.

Until now, the jinx, the sentence, the bad streak, had a justifiable reason: the United States. He was an executioner in the finals of the London 2012 and Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and in the 2017 Budapest and Gwangju 2019 World Cups. But this time, with the North American team already at home, eliminated in the quarterfinals, the disappointment was repeated. The Netherlands took a game that they really deserved on penalties.

The punishment was for Bea Ortiz, a benchmark for the new generation along with Judith Forca. She was the only one who missed her shot in the decisive round, where the Spanish goalkeeper, Martina Tarré, was not successful. But the selection had already been on the wire for too long.

From the break, discovering their defense of the buoy, the team led by Miki Oca let the Netherlands take the lead and turned gold into a miracle. He arrived at the last quarter with a two-goal deficit (9-7) and never in history has such a comeback been completed. If there was an opportunity, if the penalties were reached (12-12) it was because Paula Crespí and Forca herself stood out, but after five meters the Spanish arrived exhausted.

Strength and confidence were lacking: the remains of so many past defeats. On the way to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, with qualification already guaranteed, the team will have to do an exercise in psychological growth to achieve glory.

The United States, previously an unbreakable ceiling, is now defeatable and there are other teams that are presenting themselves to the fight for gold without the complexes that Spain drags. Despite the poor performance of some young women, such as Tarré or Elena Ruiz, the group faces the most important event with a successful generational change, young leaders like Forca and Ortiz and veterans capable of standing out like Maica García. Now all that remains is to climb again to a final so that, finally, after so many attempts, end the curse.