Spain has gotten into trouble in the Women's Handball World Cup. This Sunday (4:30 p.m., TDP) they will have to beat the Netherlands, which is virtually qualified, but will want to defend its group leadership. If the team falls, it will depend on a difficult carom to be in the quarterfinals. As I said: a good mess. The defeat this Friday against the Czech Republic (30-22) was a painful setback for several reasons. Because of the shearing it caused in the classification, of course, but also because of the sensations.

Because until now Spain had an immaculate World Cup – four victories in four games – but it was aware that all its rivals were not up to par. The oversize of a championship with 32 teams and the nature of handball, eminently Central European, cause these anomalies. They passed Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Brazil and Argentina and you couldn't tell if the team was playing well or badly. Against Brazil, if anything, it was proven that there is character. Little more. Czech Republic was the first real test and it ended in disappointment.

Faced with a team with a very sunk 6:0 defense, on the line, the team missed an outside shot – Shandy Barbosa was absent in the tournament – and turned to the creation of Silvia Arderius. It barely worked. In the first half he could only score nine goals and in the second, despite the momentum, 13 more. The performances of Petra Kudlackova, the Czech goalkeeper, and Marketa Jerabkova, the most experienced full-back of a very young team, were commendable, but above all the defeat was a demerit for Spain.

The Czech Republic was supposed to be an affordable rival – it has never played in the Olympic Games, it has never been in the quarterfinals of a World Cup – and now the Netherlands will demand a higher level. The 'Oranje' team was world champion just recently, in 2019, and maintains references from then such as the center back Estavana Polman, MVP of that tournament, or the winger Lois Abbingh, top scorer. Spain has gotten into trouble.