Spain‘s women’s team coach Jorge Vilda has extended an olive branch to the rebel 15 players by declaring his willingness to have dialogue but is also ready to move forward without them.
With the World Cup eight months away, Vilda on Friday left out the players that refused to be selected in the previous call-up and has instead named the group that drew with Sweden and beat the United States in last month’s friendlies.
– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, MLS, more (U.S.)
Spain take on Argentina on Nov. 11 and face Japan four days later as part of their World Cup preparations.
“We are open to dialogue,” Vilda said. “I believe in dialogue and problems can be resolved by doing that.”
The rebel players denied claims they wanted Vilda sacked but stated they wanted a “firm commitment towards a professional project.”
“We don’t know what has happened,” Vilda said. “We are waiting to get that information. I would like to know. I’ve encouraged any of those players to come out and say if anything was done that was not correct.One day things will have to be cleared.
“What we know is that they have excluded themselves from the national team and for the time being there hasn’t been any contact.
“You don’t expect this, especially with the national team having grown in the past seven years. It’s unpleasant and we wish it hadn’t happened. But we have to accept the situation. There are 15 players that cannot be called up because they have excluded themselves.”
