It has been a taboo until today, but Alhama can’t help but dream of causing an upset in the Cup round of 16 match against Real Madrid (Tuesday, 7:00 p.m., TDP). “I decided that we were not going to talk about this game because we had very important commitments in the League and I am very proud of my players because they have been very professional with this”, assures in an interview with AS Randri García, coach and sports director of the Murcian team, founded in 2010 and one of the favorites to be promoted to First Division.
“Our objective in principle is not to ascendbut if we get to May with options for promotion, we will fight for it”, affirms Randri, who explains the great growth of the team in these years: “I have been here since the beginning and we have always tried to be better year after year, with more professional conditions for the players and investing in technology and coaching staff. At first I was the only one in the coaching staff and we trained at night and now we have been incorporating other specialists and we train in the afternoon”.
The players are “mileuristas” and 90% combine soccer and studies
“We are an independent club from a large men’s soccer entity, but we have managed to manage the economic resources to survive, with 13 sponsors and a brand that supports us as the main sponsor such as ElPozo, among other sources of income. We are working on the professionalization of the team and this helps us to continue growing”highlights the coach, who points out that the players in this category are “mileuristas” and that 90% of the soccer players on his squad combine studies with soccer.
“We don’t have any player who has a double job and, except for studying, they only play football because we understand that being a footballer goes far beyond two hours of training”, explains Randri, who has a mostly young squad. “The age ranges around 20 years, although we have a 15-year-old footballer who has a second team record and he is making a hole in the first team and, then, there is Mariela, who is 40 years old and is the most experienced. We are all a pineapple and that may be why we are doing so well”argues the coach of the Canarian team, which eliminated Eibar in the previous round.
For his part, Randri points out that Real Madrid is the second best women’s team in Spain after the “intractable” Barça and his goal against White is very clear: “You have to try to score a goal and then defend yourself like a cat belly up“. “The only thing left to do is enjoy because we have never experienced a match like this and it will benefit us. We have no pressure and we are going to try to beat them with enthusiasm and enthusiasm. We will try to make them comfortable and compete to the fullest to bring great joy to the town of Alhama“, he highlights.
“After the draw, they congratulated us as if we had won a title”
The Murcian coach also recounts how the cup draw was experienced in which luck gave him as a cup rival to Real Madrid: “We spent the whole week saying that we wanted Madrid. When Marina took out the ball in the draw in Las Rozas, she looked at me and said: ‘I have it’. People congratulated us as if we had won a title.”
Randri highlights Athenea as the most dangerous player in Madrid and praises Toril as a “great coach”. “I knew that when Toril took over the team, he was going to take off. I’ve been following him for a long time and I find him to be a coach of the highest level. They have a lot of high-level players, but from my way of understanding football, I would go with Athenea. I really like the club’s commitment to national players,” he says.
“10% for us and 90% for them”
Regarding the invitation from the mayor of Alhama de Murcia, Mariola Guevara, to the president of Real Madrid, Florentino Pérez, to attend this match. “Hopefully that day his schedule allows him and Florentino can come. We know it is complicated, but we would very much like. I also tell you that if the presidents of the big women’s clubs, such as Barça, Real Madrid, Atlético, Athletic, Real, etc., approached these events from their women’s section, it would surely give women’s football a boost”, opines.
In addition, the technician dares to give percentages in the distribution of favoritism. “10% for us and 90% for them. A double game would be impossible, but a single game we have some option. If we look at the squads, they clearly outnumber us, but we play at home, with a pitch that they are not very used to (a smaller pitch with artificial grass) and with our fans, with extra stands for the occasion,” says Randri, who judgment: “Beating Real Madrid would be a historic milestone.”