:format(webp)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/grupoclarin/YO6BWKC6ZBB6NCMWL3ASHAJDVI.gif "Estefanía Banini, the end of her career in the national team and her memory of Córdoba")
Estefanía Banini, the owner of the best dribbling of the women’s soccer team, is with mixed feelings for these hours in New Zealand and that is that on Wednesday against Sweden she could play her last game with the Argentine shirt.
“I think I made a great fight at the time for this to improve but here the selection ends. I have mixed feelings: on the one hand, the emotion and pride of being able to represent my country in a World Cup, and on the other obviously a sadness to know that it is the last one, because I made the personal decision not to continue in the national team ”, Banini tells in the interview with Télam at the Novotel in Auckland.
Estefanía Banini is playing her second and last World Cup with the Argentine soccer team in Australia and New Zealand. (AP)
The 33-year-old from Mendoza, the only Argentine soccer player in history chosen in Fifa’s ideal 11 at The Best awards in the 2020/21 season, is playing her second consecutive World Cup, in the year in which she won the 2023 Queen’s Cup with his club, Atlético de Madrid.
– What are the main differences in our women’s football between France 2019 and this World Cup?
The most important thing is to have an identity. We have the feeling that this team can win. Before we were looking for a draw and for the game to end. Now perhaps you lose against Italy because you leave spaces and make mistakes but trying, which is positive. We are also noticing a growth at the cultural level, mentality in our country. Now you see many more girls playing soccer and that is the biggest change we have generated, that girls have more opportunities. I know that if we continue on this path and continue to invest in women’s football, Argentina can be a power in several years.
–You grew up admiring the gambetas of ‘Burrito’ Ortega and Pablo Aimar, but now the girls see you…
–It is something very nice, we could not grow with those references, I would have loved it. It is also true that times mean that we now have more access to certain information because it is not that before there were no references but that we were unaware of it. Knowing that they now have scope for our careers, that they can follow them, that they have another look at women’s football makes me feel very proud and I think it was the change that I wanted the most, the one that excited me the most. Now is to let it follow that course and continue to grow. If they invest and give space to women, we are going to become a power, in several years, I repeat it, but I have no doubt that it can be done.
Estefanía Banini is playing her second and last World Cup with the Argentine soccer team in Australia and New Zealand. (AP)
–What future do you see for the team?
–I think it will depend a lot on the processes, who is in charge and how they manage it. If after the World Cup this process is continued to continue growing, if conditions improve, there is a future. There are many girls who are growing up with other bases that perhaps those of my generation did not have and I feel that they can do well. I don’t know if in the next World Cup or in the next Copa América, but in the long term we do have a great future. You have to bet and keep watering that little plant that started to grow because I’m sure there are great players. For me it is important that great professionals are put in the bases so that we can grow with certain knowledge.
– What is the worst and the best thing that happened to you with the Argentine shirt?
–The worst moment was being out of the national team for claiming things that needed to be improved, it hurt me a lot. Exposing yourself to that is sad, and sadder is that consequences are always taken, harming the players, that we are the ones who really dream of representing the country, we put on this shirt and try to leave it as high as possible. That was the hardest part. And the most beautiful thing was to see the growth of women’s soccer since we played the playoffs against Panama for the last World Cup. It was a unique moment, the group was spectacular, we once again led Argentina to a World Cup. Now also, seeing the support of the people… I remember at the Kempes in Córdoba, with the largest number of fans we have, feeling that support now at the World Cup as well. The people who sing and cheer on the entire game, that’s priceless and it’s the best thing I’ve ever had to experience.
Estefanía Banini is playing her second and last World Cup with the Argentine soccer team in Australia and New Zealand. (AP)
–What repercussions do you have from Argentina?
–I always have support from my family and friends, they send me messages, and when I can we take the opportunity to talk. The support of my family and friends is never lacking and that pushes me a lot. And then there are the rest of the people. There is everything, there are many more people who support us and many who also criticize from a place of not knowing, obviously from ignorance of women’s football, but one always tries to stay with the good. I choose to stick with certain reviews that are positive. There are people who just want to destroy and have no place in my life. They speak from ignorance, so I don’t pay them more attention than they deserve.
Do you still keep in touch with your first team from Mendoza?
–Yes, in the Cementistas club, a neighborhood club where I left and where I was the only one who played soccer. See categories of women now and that they follow me, that they write to me, it’s very nice. On vacation I went to play with the Cementistas first futsal team and some of the girls send me messages and put up with me. The teacher who saw me grow from the age of 5 also sends me messages. It is what reaches me the most and excites me. I got out of there, they are the colors that I always represented and I am happy to receive that support.
–As a footballer, do you have any dreams to fulfill?
–I was able to fulfill what I wanted: play in the United States, play in a great team and play a World Cup with the national team, that was my great dream. I’m living what I always dreamed of. I have objectives, obviously, although with the national team it ends here, I think I made a great fight, at the time for this to improve and well now I have to step aside. I hope they continue fighting for women’s football.