The United States traveled to Puerto Rico without much tension. In his suitcase he already had the ticket for the World Cup in Berlin and, on the horizon, with France, a rival of his stature in the last Games, far from the island, his interest was to test his new generation of stars – Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers – and wait to see if a sparring capable of putting up with him for a few minutes. Before Spain arrived on their path, with more than enough victories in each match, the players entertained themselves as best they could, first in the NCAA, and later in the WNBA, they longed to turn around one day and see the Puerto Rican Bad Bunny in the stands of the Coliseum. The Indiana Fever player said that the first thing she did was look for if there was any possibility of seeing a concert by Benito Martínez Ocasio, the undisputed star of the last Superbowl, but there was none. Their greatest entertainment was going to be facing a team with another irreverent point guard, Iyana Martín, and a center who aspires to be number one or two in the next draft of the WNBA, Awa Fam. The two were very present in this duel with nothing at stake, but the United States, undefeated since 2006, won with authority in one of those duels that the Spanish players will not forget.
Spain, as it has been seen in this tournament that has given it a pass for the World Cup in Berlin, from September 4 to 13, has much more than two very talented young people, Megan Gustafson’s ally from the initial jump (30 points between the two insiders), who showed that they know how to grow against a team with 11 World Cups and nine Olympic Games in their record, a team that has been invincible for two decades. Although Spain resisted it was fundamentally because of its defense, which prevented the North American team from running and scoring easy baskets. A team that averaged around 100 points (98.8) and this time ended up with 84, the greatest success for the Spanish team.
The most vibrant moments came with Iyana Martín. The two young women have been playing in the Spanish team since they were little girls and both know that they are going to be important in the next draft. The Asturian, quick in penetrations, attracted the attention of the North American defense and repeatedly bent the ball to her bestiewhich demonstrated the reason for his fame.
But the United States is a very physical team that never slows down and the rivals, the very few in the world who are capable of being on a first-name basis, like Spain in Puerto Rico, need to maintain that speed and intensity to avoid falling behind on the scoreboard. This is what happened when Spain’s defense faltered and the American centers dominated the boards and gave away second chances, achieving numerous rebounds in attack. After these imbalances, the Olympic and world champions opened the first considerable gap (30-42).
Spanish basketball, with its homework done, paired with Caitlin Clark, an icon of women’s sports. He should have taken more photos, as Bad Bunny sings, at that moment, because the powerful United States bloc was imposing its law little by little, minute by minute, point by point. Although the Spanish players showed that they wanted to compete despite having the Queen’s Cup next week, they were unable to maintain the martial rhythm of a team that lacks prodigies such as A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart or Sabrina Ionescu, and that is already training the women who have arrived to fill the gap left by world leaders such as Diana Taurasi or Sue Bird.
With the match broken, with Kahleah Copper – champion of the Spanish league in 2022 with Perfumerías Avenida – disheveled, Miguel Méndez took the opportunity to do some tests, such as a zonal defense that did not last too long against an opponent who, without the tension of the scoreboard, was already unstoppable. It didn’t matter that he only used nine players (he introduced the rest in the last two minutes). They had more than enough to subdue a Spain that had already qualified for the World Cup and had already begun its decompression.
