All In For Argentina (Vanesa Santana interview)

Argentina midfielder Vanesa Santana talks to She Kicks before her country’s third World Cup and first since China 2007. A holding player under Carlos Borrello, the 28-year-old describes herself as combative and focused on winning the ball back, and says the key to reaching France was the squad’s togetherness and belief, which held firm through the intercontinental play-off against Panama. She names captain Stefi Banini as the squad’s chief prankster, forever hiding kit or dropping boots out of windows. Thinking of France makes her picture full stadiums she still cannot quite imagine. She is pointed about the kit: Argentina now have a strip designed for them, where previously the women wore the men’s youth teams’ kits. She thanks her mother, her team-mates, and those working to grow the women’s game.