Nahikari: Nothing beats playing in a final

HAVING represented Spain in five finals, and ended up on the losing team on each occasion, Nahikari Garcia could be forgiven for thinking that lady luck is not on her side.
She has already won silver and bronze medals at the UEFA Under-17 European Championship, three silver medals at the UEFA U20 European Championship and a silver medal at the Federation of the International Football Associations (Fifa) U17 Women’s World Championship Costa Rica 2014.
Yet, despite having been unable to claim that elusive winner’s medal, she is determined to look on the bright side.
“Nothing beats playing in a final,” Nahikari said.
“If you stop and think about it, it’s amazing what we’ve achieved.
“We may have lost, but it’s so tough just to reach a final, and we deserve credit for that too.
“It’s not something that just happens.
“It takes a lot of hard work and a lot of sacrifices.”
They could be the words of a seasoned veteran or coach. Yet Nahikari is still only 19 years-old, and is currently preparing to represent her country once more at the Fifa U20 Women’s World Cup Papua New Guinea 2016.
And clearly the Real Sociedad striker has no thoughts of giving up on her dreams of glory yet.
“Every time we play in one of these big tournaments, I draw strength from the idea that this is what I want to be doing.
“You see the other side of women’s football.
“You’re treated like a professional at the highest level,” she told fifa.com.
It is all a far cry from the status of her sport back at home, although the women’s game is slowly but surely moving in the right direction in Spain.
“This sport has a future. The players have already done so much. We’ve got great footballers playing at the biggest clubs in Europe, and at last we can watch the senior team play on the mainstream television channels.
Here’s hoping that this is just the start,” said the youngster, who is currently juggling her football commitments with the second year of a medicine degree.
Nahikari has the air of an eternal optimist, forever seeing the glass half full.
“When I was little, there were no women footballers to look up to. My favourite player was Raul Gonzalez of Real Madrid. He was a real fighter, maybe not the most technically gifted but always supporting and battling for his team,” she explained.
“Now I love watching the girls who play for the senior national team: players like Vicky or Irene Paredes, genuine role models.”
Indeed, these days Nahikari can point to no shortage of icons in the women’s game, both in Spain and further afield.
And in her own country she is already very much among them, although it still surprises her when she gets recognised in the street.  – fifa.com