Mariona Caldentey greets on a video name from her residence in St Albans, north of London. It’s a Friday in February and the Arsenal and Spain ahead’s household are coming to go to her that weekend.
Caldentey, 28, left her hometown of Felanitx, Mallorca, when she was 18 to maneuver to Barcelona, the place she established herself and . Now, six months after transferring to the UK, she is as soon as once more a newcomer in a unique metropolis.
“Having the ocean close by is probably one of many issues I miss probably the most (of Barcelona and Mallorca), aside from not having individuals exterior the soccer atmosphere,” she says. “What I discover hardest isn’t having that disconnection from soccer.”
Tonight, Caldentey faces a sport of additional significance to her: taking part in her adopted nation England at Wembley in a rematch of the 2023 Ladies’s World Cup remaining in Sydney.
The aftermath of that sport grew to become recognized for then-Spanish soccer federation (RFEF) president Luis Rubiales’ . That led to a court docket case which concluded final week and which featured testimony from a few of Hermoso’s worldwide team-mates and present coach Montse Tome. Rubiales was discovered responsible of sexual assault and fined greater than €10,000 ($10,500; £8,000). He intends to attraction the choice.
However now, Caldentey and the remainder of the squad need to . And this sport in opposition to England brings into focus the difficult technique of adaptation Caldentey has confronted since leaving Spain final yr. She has scored 12 objectives in 27 video games throughout all competitions for Arsenal — however language proved a barrier at first.
“Once I arrived, I assumed my English was roughly good, however after I received right here I realised it was fairly low stage,” she says. “At first, I struggled above all, in additional social conditions, to participate in conversations. I might finish the day feeling fairly overwhelmed. After a couple of months, I’ve to say that I really feel extra comfy now too.”
In her autobiography printed in November, entitled How We Modified Historical past and written with the Catalan journalist Laia Coll, Caldentey explains how in her first Arsenal coaching session a participant shouted “Mariona! Within the pocket!” at her, leaving her baffled.
“You suppose you know the way to talk English after which this stuff occur to you,” she tells . “For me, pocket was a (a small bag sewn into or on clothes in Spain) and I assumed, ‘What do they need from me now?’ Within the area, when you need to converse shortly or perceive messages, it’s tough while you’re at such a excessive pulse fee.”
Caldentey is the daughter of a nurse, Maria Oliver, and Miguel Angel, nicknamed Morete. Morete handed his love of soccer on to her — he coached a number of groups in Mallorca — and his love of Barcelona. He based an official supporters’ group within the Balearic Islands and she or he all the time wished to play for Barca consequently.
Caldentey joined Barcelona Femeni from Mallorcan aspect UD Collerense in 2014 and went on to win six league titles, three Champions Leagues and 6 Copas de la Reina with the Catalans. However her father was not in a position to see that Barca aspect attain their peak. He died abruptly in November 2018 whereas Caldentey was with the group in Valencia, the day earlier than a match.
Her father’s ardour for the membership was one thing Caldentey thought-about earlier than her exit final summer season.
“My father’s love for Barca was non-negotiable,” she says. “This weighed on me throughout all of the contract renewals. However I additionally had the sensation that I wished new challenges as a footballer.
“I can’t say what made me resolve (to hitch Arsenal). It was a rollercoaster of emotions, however it was the choice I made. As a footballer, having to adapt to different contexts is a really attention-grabbing problem, which makes you a greater participant and permits you to have extra registers. Clearly, it’s tough to go away Barca and it’s arduous, however it’s what I felt I needed to do.”
Caldentey has needed to modify shortly to the tradition and the language in England, though her worldwide team-mate Laia Codina can be a part of the Arsenal squad. For the primary time in 5 years, the group she performs for isn’t prime of the league desk: following an underwhelming begin to the season, Arsenal are third within the Ladies’s Tremendous League, 10 factors off leaders Chelsea. Coach Jonas Eidevall left his function in October after profitable simply two of his remaining seven matches throughout all competitions and his assistant Renee Slegers grew to become everlasting boss in January after an interim spell in cost.
“Whenever you’re used to profitable, it’s tough to see your self in these positions — however it’s my first season right here,” she says. “I need to take it simple, understanding that it’s a query of adaptation, attending to know the league and the group and never getting overwhelmed at first. But it surely’s one thing I suffered from originally.
The poor state of the Spanish girls’s top-flight Liga F was one other think about her transfer overseas. In an , the Ballon d’Or-winning Barca and Spain midfielder Aitana Bonmati mentioned it was “unhappy to see at an unimaginable pace” and Caldentey thinks a possible expertise drain might change into an issue.
“It’s a hazard,” she says. “Everybody desires to signal Spanish gamers as a result of there’s loads of expertise in Spain — however you need to take care of that expertise.
“In my case, I had performed for 15 years within the Spanish league, however there are instances of younger gamers who’ve hardly performed in Spain and already need to exit and take a look at different issues, which makes you suppose that possibly you need to rethink how the Spanish league is run.
“It needs to be enticing for gamers to remain as a result of the expertise that there’s in Spain isn’t there anyplace else. We might have one of the best league and there are issues that don’t go along with it.”
Caldentey notices the variations in comparison with her expertise in Spain.
“The followers expertise soccer in a different way,” she says. “In Spain, they must take the aircraft for many journeys; right here, they will take the prepare, bus or automotive. And that signifies that individuals can all the time be nearer to the group. Though Barca have followers who journey lots.
“At membership stage, Arsenal’s services are additionally totally different. You could have the entire constructing only for the ladies’s group… At Barca, we shared the house with La Masia (the membership’s youth academy) and the youth groups. It’s one thing I do know they wished to vary.
“Right here (at Arsenal) it’s a extra personal house, only for us. We even have our personal chef and he travels on the bus with us after we play away, he sits on the again. Right here we additionally journey extra by bus and the bus is best ready.”
That made it much more exceptional when a few of these gamers returned to play for the group and helped Spain carry the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. The emotional toll of the struggles earlier than and after the event led Caldentey to hunt psychological assist for the primary time in her profession.
“Soccer is usually so capricious,” says Caldentey. “At Euro 2022 in England, we had a group that would win. At that second, issues have been going nicely and we didn’t win. Then we arrived on the World Cup with all of the chaos and we ended up profitable. There was one key factor, which all of us knew very nicely, that after we have been on the sphere it was work and all of us wished to win.
“As soon as the work was over in coaching or in matches and we needed to go to the lodge it was a unique matter, however all of us made that click on of understanding that after we have been on the sphere, we have been on the sphere. Making that separation of what occurred inside and outside — if it made us a united group on the sphere, (then) leaving apart what might occur exterior.”
These struggles continued with the kiss from Rubiales on Hermoso in the course of the medal ceremony and the saga that adopted. Present Spain gamers Codina, Alexia Putellas, Irene Paredes and Misa Rodriguez all testified within the court docket case in opposition to the ex-RFEF president. Caldentey says she adopted “every little thing” in the course of the two-week trial (this interview came about in the course of the trial and earlier than the decision was introduced).
With Spain going through England once more, it’s arduous not to consider every little thing the group have been via since that night in Sydney 18 months in the past. What did Caldentey study from the method?
“We’re higher, however I don’t know if this battle of girls in such a masculinised place will ever finish,” Caldentey says.
“I don’t know if it’s a part of our job or not, however it’s what we and former generations have needed to take care of. It’s an additional effort that we’ve got to make for the society we stay in. We’ve to attempt to go away soccer higher for the subsequent generations than it’s now.”
This text initially appeared in .
Arsenal, Barcelona, Spain, Soccer, UK Ladies’s Soccer, Ladies’s World Cup
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