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After spending all of your career coaching in Spain, since June you have been coaching in the American NWSL, as the head coach of Washington Spirit. Thinking more broadly about the NWSL, what differences have you observed in style of play in this league, compared to European football? “Yes, being honest, it’s different. I think in Spain and Europe, regarding tactical plans, there is a high, high level, and here it is very entertaining, because the style of play [here] is thinking ‘what do I have to do to give my best to the supporters and make the people enjoy?’ Only 25-30% of the games here are won by a difference of two goals. The rest of the games, there’s only one goal difference. That means that the league is very competitive. So this is very difficult if you compare it with my past with Barcelona in Spain because most of the games we won 4-0, 5-0, 6-0, easy, and in Europe other games too, but the level of tactics was very, very high. Here the level of the player is high too but everything is related to the entertainment. It’s more physical, more direct, transitions, chances, not too much control. I am trying to change it a little bit. I want to increase the entertainment, for sure, but I want to reduce the transitions and have more control in the games.”
At the end of your first half-season in charge of Washington Spirit you reached the NWSL Championship final but ultimately lost 1-0 to Orlando Pride in the final game of the season in November. As a coach, how long does it take for you to get over a narrow defeat like that, when the trophy was so close? “You need days, weeks, because I consider myself a very competitive person, and I don’t like to lose. But when you are analysing what you did well, what you can improve for the next season, you have to be proud of the project and the way that you are doing so far, because there are other amazing teams in the league. We beat the [defending] Championship team, Gotham, we got in a better position than Kansas and Portland, North Carolina, teams that have the experience and are doing a good job in the last seasons.”
Overall, then, how would you reflect on your time at the club so far since you arrived in June, on the pitch? “We arrived late, for sure, in the middle of the season, in June. [We had] to compete from the beginning in important games. But we wanted to compete in every single game and try to win. I don’t like to say things like ‘ok, I need one, two, three years’ - that’s very easy, that’s very simple. For me it’s ‘Ok, that’s the situation, that’s the roster, that’s the training session, that’s the facility, that’s the staff. This is everything that we have to have. After ending the season, I was not happy of course, because we lost the final and got second position but, seeing the big picture, I think we did a good job and we have to be proud of it.”
Tactically, would you say your tactical approach is different with Washington Spirit compared to the tactics you deployed at your former club, Barcelona, where you won the Women’s Champions League two times in a row? “This is a good question. When I tell the people that I am doing the same things, people are surprised. I’ll explain to you why. The only things that I’m doing differently are the contents that I use to carry out with the players, but the game-model is the same. When we have the ball possession, when we don’t have the ball possession, or take communication between the players, it’s the same. I understand that here I have other types of players, other characteristics of players, so what I try to do is to use that, and the way that I want to attack and defend is different, but the methodology is the same. I don’t have Patri [Patricia Guijarro], I don’t have Aitana [Bonmati], I have other players. I am not speaking about ‘better or worse’. Other ones. So what I have to do as a coach is exploit their level as much as possible to make sure they compete at the highest-possible level. But in terms of methodology, my methodology is exactly the same as I was doing in Barca.”
How big a decision was it for you to relocate by such a large distance across the Atlantic? “It’s not my first time living far away from my house, but it’s not the same for sure because it’s [now] another language, but I had to move in 2012 from Galicia to Catalonia, so it’s not my first experience. The adaptation in the club, with the staff, with the players, and also the facility, the city, in the place that we are living here pretty close to the facility, the neighbours, I have to say that everything is fine. The only thing that I missed is for sure my family. They are not living close, in Barcelona and Galicia you are closer than here, but I am enjoying my experience a lot. I think we had a good period of resting during the holidays. In the past 13 years, this is the first time I could spend the whole of the holidays at home [because of the NWSL’s calendar].”
The owner of Washington Spirit, the American businesswoman Michele Kang, has been investing a lot of money into women’s sports. Can you tell us what it is like to work with her, and how did she convince you to join the club? “When we had the negotiations, that moment was very easy because I heard about her and the vision she has for women’s soccer. She wants to give the same opportunities for men and women, and that’s very important because when you can live like an athlete 24 hours a day, you can think just about soccer. There are places [clubs] where you have to go outside to work on different things because you don’t have the chance in your facility. Here, she is very close to the players. When I need something about resources, she’s always open, [she says] ‘if that improves the performance of the players, go ahead’. We share the vision to make women’s soccer bigger.”
Women’s ‘soccer’ is undoubtedly popular in the United States, and NWSL matches attracted an average crowd of more than 11,000 last season. What differences have you noticed in the support compared to European women’s football? “The fan culture is completely different, being honest. In Spain, people are very, very close, they have a high, high energy, they feel like they are playing the game. Here, people are enjoying entertainment. They go to the stadium one hour early. They enjoy it with their family. If you win it’s OK, if you don’t win, I think they enjoy it too. They are, until the last minute, pushing and pushing and pushing. They are enjoying it when we are defending. So it’s a completely different environment. I was living in Barca [where] you have to win every game, you have to score a lot of goals, because if not, you are not doing well. Here people just believe in having a fun time and [they want you to] qualify for the play-offs, and when you are there, compete to win, but in the regular season, just enjoy, Me, I would like to win all the games and in the regular season too. We have to give our best in the regular season. But, I’m happy. It’s a new type of supporting the team, but I’m enjoying it a lot.”
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As we look ahead to the 2025 season, what can you tell us about your preparations for the new campaign? “Arriving in the middle of the season [last season] was complicated, for sure, but now, starting from the beginning I can decide exactly what I want to do, every single week, to be prepared to play the first tournament, the week before starting the season. So I’m happy, because starting from the beginning, I have no excuse. I have no excuse, to not start in a positive way. And the team is going to be prepared for the first official game at the beginning of the season.”
What needs to happen in order for your team to make the step up from finishing second to finishing first? “Improve. This season we have to start and get up every day to give our best in the training session, to be a better player than we were the last season. That’s the main goal. I am very sure about my capacity and the capacity of the players, because I am convinced that this season is going to be better than the last one.”
