Ferrara: “There is an agreement between Argentina and the Netherlands to play the suspended match”
Just days away from a new FIH Pro League 2025/26 window for Las Leonas, his coach Fernando Ferrara spoke hand in hand with AM850.com prior to the trip to Australia and, among other topics, He referred to the fourth and last game of the Santiago del Estero window against the Netherlandswhich never started due to weather conditions.
“We talk and There is an agreement between the technical bodies of Argentina and the Netherlands to play the suspended match in Santiago del Estero. “We, the coaches, and the girls want to play it, so we hope it can be played.”began the coach of the Argentine women’s national team.
And then he finished on the topic: “Surely they have also advanced to the level of the Argentine Confederation and the Dutch Federation to see what possibility there is of this, which is reflected in the Pro League table since the points have not yet been given to the Netherlands. I think that this match has to be played, because it is an Olympic qualification tournament where otherwise it would be giving a lot of advantage, in this case, not only to the Netherlands but also to another European team.“.
Las Leonas and the “requirement” to play in Argentina
In addition to the match against the Dutch team, The coach of Las Leonas referred to a topic that has been talked about a lot in recent weeks after the news of Lucina Von der Heyde to the German National Team: If it is a requirement/decision of the CT that the players spend six months before the World Cup playing in Argentinaas is the case of Valentina Raposo and many other players.
On this topic, Ferrara answered: “It is not an absolute decision of the CT, it is something agreed upon with the team. Obviously those timelines are given to us by the tournaments. If you have a Pan American in October, which is an Olympic qualification, you have to have the girls training here at least a month before. and no one is going to hire you in Europe if you are away for the Pan American in September and October. On the other hand, in 2025, as the Pan American Cup was in August and did not change, the girls were able to go to play there and from the second semester onwards if in Argentina, like the Netherlands or China, who are all in their countries. In fact, none of them went to play in the Hockey India League and we did allow the girls because we understood that it would add competition and experience.”
The Las Leonas squad for the 2026 World Cup
The year has already begun, the second Pro League window is just a few days away from starting and with the World Cup in the Netherlands and Belgium just around the corner, the coach spoke about the squad he has now and will have starting in March: “After the post-Pro League break, On January 15 we started training with a group of 32 players. It is also important to clarify that Today, in process, there are 10 more players (42 in total). We saw a group of players in the December Pro League, now we see another in the February Pro League and, from there, Once we return from the window we give a list of 36 players who will be the ones who will start the process towards the World Cup again on March 2“
Milagros Alastra, the Argentine sensation, and her call to Las Leonas
Finally, Ferrara had time to talk about Milagros Alastrathe 19-year-old player from Mendoza who broke it with Las Leoncitas in the Junior World Cup and was called up to Las Leonas for the first time: “Mili Alastra looks like she has incredible energy, who has a lot of desire and conditions from a technical point of view and we also see in her an important strength. His short corner is a very important tool. The day you have two on the court or there is Gorze, Rapi and Mili gives you a plus. I saw an inner fire in her, she is a girl who really wants to grow, to put herself in the game and surely her dedication is unconditional.. In training she stays alone or with Lara (Casas) to perfect her drag with her bocce bag. “Those are very important things that add up.”
