There is absolutely nothing like a mother’s love. Nothing. Whoever thinks not, wonder why someone would have traveled from Campllong (Girona) to New Zealand, returned home and, after two weeks, caught an AVE to Madrid to fly to Australia. almost 75,000 kilometers -72,460, to be exact- are what Núria Panedas will have done to see her daughter Laia Codina triumph in the World Cup this past month. It is worth adding internal displacements, which have not been few. “Every one of them is worth it, and I would do them again three or four times!”assures.
Tomorrow, the mother of the first finalist from Girona in the history of the World Cups will once again take a trip around the world to land in Sydney. The occasion deserves it: Being by her daughter’s side in the most important game any footballer can play. The suitcases, he already has them packed, “Because when Laia told me that the Federation offered us a flight, I ran out”, Explain. Communication is complicated by distance, but Núria Panedas did not waste the hours where the only thing she knew for certain was that she was returning to Oceania. She was missing the when, but that didn’t matter, surely it would be before Sunday at 12:00 p.m., when the final is played.
The best of trips
To make sure that he saw his daughter succeed, Panedas did not risk it and traveled to New Zealand to accompany her in the group stage. So did her other daughter, Mariona, who has been able to stay. Spain qualified, but, in those first games, Codina, although he started in the previous friendlies, had a secondary role. “But everything comes, and when you have the opportunity you have to show that you can take the place, and this is what has happened.”
Now, to return, and also with the motivation of seeing her play the World Cup final. The couple with Paredes – “they know each other a lot on and off the field, which makes things much easier” – works very well, and the Campllong central defender should remain in Vilda’s eleven on its own merits. WhilePanedas does not take off his shirt with his daughter’s 14. “I also have to work, but I couldn’t miss it, and now I’ve used up all the vacation days I have!”
everything that is not seen
Many times the lights of the great stars of world football hide stories of improvement, and those who have always been by their side will know it. “I imagine her raising the glass, which would be the best, and I remember all the effort, the sacrifices, the resignations… there are so many things behind these players”, Panedas is moved, who when he heard his daughter tell him about her dream as a child, could not help but think “of course, like everyone else… but now look what he has done!”.
The trips by car to Barcelona to go to train in the afternoons are far away. They came home late, “and how tired”, but in the morning it was time to get up early to go, the mother, to work and, the daughter, to study. Life doesn’t stop. “Luckily we combined it with other parents,” breathes Panedas, who will never forget this month. “I’ve already told Laia, my heart is not prepared for so many emotions. I will cry what is not written”.
Whatever happens, the mother is clear that “just reaching the final is already a brutal experience, I don’t know if we will ever live it again.” But win it? “We will do it. It is a team that has believed from the beginning and that is why they are where they are. Being with them you see it, Laia deserves it and every one of the players on this team deserves it”.