If it were a board game, the national team would be on square one. The World Cup won in Australia and New Zealand just over eight months ago is now meaningless, as is the recent Nations League title; Montse Tomé's side are on square one and looking forwards.
However, as Mariona Caldentey said in the build-up to Belgium vs Spain, "we are the team to beat now". As luck would have it, Belgium, Denmark and the Czech Republic emerged as the opponents to beat for the Spanish national team if they want to make it to the next European Championships in Switzerland in 2025. The first challenge, therefore, will be tonight's clash against Belgium at the Den Dreef Stadium in Leuven, less than 30 kilometres from the capital, Brussels.
Belgium-Spain, at 20:45 on La 1 TVE
It will be the seventeenth meeting between the two sides and Tomé's side will be looking for their tenth win in the head to head, the last previous meeting ending in a 3-0 win in Alcorcón (Madrid) with goals from Mariona, Alexia and Aitana. The national coach confirmed that "the team is doing well and in good harmony" and did so minutes of training everyone had the chance to see at the start of the last training session where the 23 called-up players completed an hour's training. On what to expect in the match, Montse Tomé commented that "Belgium are a strong team" to which Mariona Caldentey added that "we know that the Belgian team will be waiting for us in a mid or low block".
Spain will play their first match in the European Championships qualifiers with the aim of moving through the gears on the road to Switzerland in the summer of 2025.