The Spanish women’s handball team debuted with a victory (26-17) against Paraguay this Wednesday at the 2025 World Cup, a good debut at the SWT Arena in Trier (Germany) where it has already shown its new faces and the desire to grow at an international level to regain its lost place. Ambros Martín’s team defended well, thanks to the excellent performance of Lucía Prades in goal, and found the rhythm to close the gap at the start (13-6). Despite the coach’s rotations and some traffic before half-time, Spain maintained their lead and secured two points to start Group D after a more balanced second half.
The ‘Guerreras’ began to look for Kaba Gassama at the pivot and it didn’t take long for the South American defense to suffer between goals and seven meters. The effectiveness of Ona Vegué (5 goals in the match) was perfect and, with Prades’ saves, the Spanish attack began to overflow in transition. Danila So Delgado (6) led Paraguay against the ropes before halftime (15-9).
Despite the impasse in attack, Martín’s team maintained a good lead with Prades, who exceeded 41% efficiency in his interventions. Paraguay, who suffered injuries to Delyne Leiva and Sabrina Fiore, withstood the tough test of the ‘Guerreras’ and after the restart there was an exchange of goals and more parity. Fátima Ocampos’ Guaraní goal stopped the effectiveness of the ‘Guerreras’ with clear shots. All in all the match was never in danger for Martín’s team and Fiore’s injury, who is crying on the bench for what suggests something serious to his knee, perhaps affected his team. At one point the score was broken (21-13) and, with less than 15 minutes left, the first was settled.
A good debut to relieve the nerves of the first eight-man World Cup. The ‘Warriors’, who have not shone in a major tournament for some time, will look to take advantage of favoritism and another high-level ‘training’ against the Faroe Islands on Friday to secure the main round, before closing out Group D against Montenegro.
