Mariona Ortiz: “12 of us are going to the World Cup, but without the rest it would not have been possible”

The base of the Spanish team Mariona Ortiz assured that they have “the greatest enthusiasm” for the World Cup in Germany that starts next Friday, a great event that they face dreaming “big” and wanting to “be able to continue engaging everyone” like last summer, while not forgetting that although only 12 are going, “it would not have been possible without the rest” of players who have been working in a concentration marked by the absence of the five who play in the WNBA.

“We have the greatest enthusiasm that can be had to face something so special and with the group we are going with, which I think everything excites us and that excites each of us,” Ortiz expressed to the media after saying goodbye to the team in Madrid before heading to Germany.

For the base, it is “a blessed responsibility to be able to be a reference for boys and girls and to excite them, to see that basketball and women’s basketball sell and achieve very great things.” “I think it is the most beautiful thing and one of the most important things we can do. What a blessing it is to pressure, but above all to make a little more history,” he stressed regarding his ambitions for the championship.

The Catalan confessed her “luck” to feel “like a girl again” and to be excited again “like when she was little” after having entered the list of 12 chosen. “And above all, doing it with the group we have. I emphasize every time that it is a very, very easy human group, it is one of the secrets. But I feel very privileged, very lucky and grateful every time I wear this shirt, no matter what tournament it is,” she was sincere.

The Casamiento Zaragoza player acknowledged that the preparation for this World Cup where they have not been able to have “the entire team” has been “something beyond.” “I have to say that there are 12 of us, but that it is a team of all those who have been with us this month, because without them it would not have been possible. And they will not be with us perhaps in person, but they will be with us spiritually and we will continue talking, I am totally convinced,” she remarked.

“But it is true that it is something totally new. What we have in favor, I believe, is that we are a team, we are a team that gets along very well and that during the season we see each other, that we adore each other, and that will be a key point,” he added in this regard.

However, she does not hide that, when it comes to dreaming about World Cup goals, she “always goes big.” “Me with a medal, but above all being able to continue enjoying and engaging everyone like we did last summer.”