Lady of La Mancha leads charge

Spanish literary hero Don Quixote is famed for rushing headlong, and fruitlessly, at windmills. Happily for Spain's women's Under-19 coach Ignacio Quereda, his winger from La Mancha, Laura Requena, charged to far greater effect at the Polish opposition on Friday.

Debutante
Requena made her UEFA European Championship debut in the 2-0 victory which has revived Spain's tilt at the title. The 17-year-old had watched the opening-day defeat by France from the bench but got her chance in Grindavik, impressing on either flank as she traded places regularly with fellow winger Raquel Peña.

'Role to play'
"I am really happy," she told uefa.com after the match. "It is nice to make your debut in a European Championship like this and I think it went well for me even if I was a bit nervous to begin with. I felt good out there. When you aren't picked for the first match, it can make you question things, so I was happy to be on the team sheet against Poland. But whether you are on the bench or on the pitch, you have a role to play."

Wait over
With the Fundación Albacete player raiding down one side of the pitch, Raquel down the other, and Silvia Meseguer and María Paz menacing through the middle, a Spanish goal seemed inevitable. Yet Poland keeper Anna Bocian and her defence managed to deny them until the 58th minute when Mari Paz opened the team's account for the tournament here in Iceland. "We did have to work hard to get our goal," Laura said. "There were lots of near misses, the disallowed goal [from Silvia], the penalty that was saved [from Raquel], but we were playing well and the goal was going to come sooner or later."

English examination
The teenager's focus now turns to England and a game on Monday that Spain have to win – Quereda's side sit third in Group B, below France on the head-to-head rule and one point behind the English. A tough contest awaits La Selección. "England are a difficult opponent and they did well to beat France," Laura said. "But if we play like we did against Poland, I think we can beat them." The target for Laura is arguably more realistic than that of her region's favourite son. "I really hope we can be here for the full two weeks so that we can play the final and become European champions. That's the goal."