Coach quotes: Spain

María Antonia Is, Spain coach:

This tournament is so important for the girls. We have many girls who are here for the first year and not so many who were here last year, because we think it's important to bring in new girls to get experience in this tournament so they are more ready next year. This year may be a bit harder for us because we only have a few older girls in it, and then we lost Claudia Pina before the tournament due to injury, but I think it's very important for us to prepare the girls who could be involved next year. We have two or three girls injured right now who would have helped us – three or four, no more. I think that Claudia's injury is down to the fact that she played too many games – they just don't have enough time to recover. They are too young and play too many games for their age. There are two girls who play in the top league, but they are not regularly playing in the first team.

A meeting between coaches at this level would be good for us to look at all the problems that we have. When I was at the coaching meeting in the Netherlands [after WEURO], I learned a lot. Communication can only help you improve. It was important for me to see the opinion of all the head coaches of the top nations. [Being assistant coach at WEURO] was an experience which was invaluable for me, to learn more things and methods that I can apply at this level.

[How we defend set-pieces] is my decision. We do listen to what the goalkeeper coach says, but in the end it's my decision. It's an evolution of the game now. A few years ago, it would have been unimaginable to think of a goalkeeper doing what they do now – they are now like an outfield player and have improved a lot with their feet.