It wasn't a child, it was Vicky López
There are some gestures that allow us to predict at an early age who will excel at the professional level. It's true that the debate is eternal, as in the lower categories there are always the typical comments like, "Remember so-and- so , who was really good in the youth teams and hasn't achieved anything." Vicky López 's case was one that leaves no room for doubt: watching her play as a child was a spectacle that foreshadowed that she would become, in the future, not only a professional player, but a player who would become part of the history of Spanish and possibly world women's football.
Tall and slender, lightning-fast, with a brutal ball control and an exceptional competitive spirit, Vicky was impossible to miss. Vicky was well-known and talked about in the Community of Madrid, but her introduction to the world of national football came in the first and only edition of the Liga Promises Femenina tournament, the U-12 women's tournament organized by La Liga (it's incomprehensible why there haven't been more).
It was held in June 2019 at the Ciudad Deportiva de Abegondo (A Coruña). The tournament was broadcast on Gol Televisión and LaLigaSports TV. It was just girls playing soccer, and it was broadcast on TV (those of us who had been fighting in women's soccer for a long time doubted it was real and not a dream). Madrid CFF was crowned champion, beating Levante UD 4-2 in the final, where a stellar Vicky López was crowned champion, scoring a hat trick, becoming top scorer (7 goals) and best player of the tournament. In addition to Vicky, that Madrid CFF team included players such as Laia López, Silvia Cristóbal, and Paula Comendador (who have already made their first division debut with Real Madrid). That winning team was coached by Rubén Cordero, the best youth coach in Spain. He currently coaches and trains the youth teams of the Moroccan Federation.
Spanish football had discovered Vicky López, and from then on, her talent and performance have only grown. Her rise knows no bounds, and she is already breaking record after record. On September 5, 2021, López made her debut with Madrid CFF's professional team, the youngest player in the history of the F League. She is also the youngest to score in the F League, at 16 years, five months, and 27 days old. At 17, she made her debut with the senior national team. She was voted Ballon d'Or (ahead of Linda Caicedo ) at the 2022 U-17 Women's World Cup in India, which Spain won. And now, against Portugal , she became the youngest to score in a major tournament (European Championship or World Cup) with the national team.
A few years ago, I remember watching a youth team match, and at the end of the game, a boy was crying. His parents said the "boys had played terribly," of course. But they didn't say they'd lost because the girls had played fantastically... The boy was crying plaintively and insisting the girls had won by cheating. "There's a boy on the girls' team." There wasn't a boy. It was Vicky, who, with her very short hair (who would have thought that today) and unbeatable speed, made everyone believe she was a boy. That's Vicky.
ABC.es
