[Sport] Pérez de Vargas and Corrales, two 'MVP' in the goal of Spain

[#Steeven.™]

Not because it is repeated it has less validity: the handball goalkeeper is almost half the team. An outstanding performance by this specific player gives the team a greater chance of success, and vice versa. And if instead of being one, that virtue covers a pair of goalkeepers, the benefit is enormous. This is being demonstrated by those of the Spanish team in the World Cup. Gonzalo Pérez de Vargas, Rodrigo Corrales and Sergey Hernández form the most effective goal of the championship, and individually the first two present the second and fourth best statistics, respectively.

At 30 years old - they have both met them this month - Pérez de Vargas and Corrales enjoy a solid reputation both in their clubs, Barcelona and the Hungarian Veszprém, and in the national team, in which they have held the position jointly since the Pre-Olympic of 2016 and already preferentially since Jordi Ribera entered as coach months later. Only in specific moments, to replace one of the two in a championship due to injury, was turned to Arpad Sterbik, now retired.

Gonzalo and Rodrigo's sports and personal friendship relationship dates back to their promises stage. They met for the first time in the national team. Then Corrales arrived at Barcelona from Cangas in 2006 and a year later Pérez de Vargas came from Toledo. Both progressed in parallel in the Barça lower categories, and separated when the club gave first to the Galician and then to the La Mancha to other teams so that they could gain experience. They were close to being a couple again at Barça in 2017, when Barça wanted to renew Corrales' contract, then at Polish Wisla Plock, and reinstate him to their squad. But the player opted for Paris Saint-Germain and last year he signed for Veszprém. Meanwhile, Pérez de Vargas climbed to number one at the Palau.

 

"Gonzalo is very intelligent, he perfectly reads the opponent's intention and action. Rodrigo is bigger, he covers the space very well and is more classic, typical of the Nordic school"
Jose Javier Hombrados

 

"Gonzalo, who does not have the anthropometric conditions of other great goalkeepers, is very intelligent, he perfectly reads the intention and the opponent's action. He knows how to position himself, he is fast and with his experience he knows the rivals by heart", describes one of his predecessors in the selection, José Javier Hombrados. "Rodrigo is bigger, covers the space very well and is more classic in his split technique for low angles, typical of the Nordic school," adds the oldest active goalkeeper in the Sacyr Asobal League.

While their teammates receive information about the next opponent in the video sessions given by the coaches, the goalkeepers take advantage of those "more private moments", as Pérez de Vargas describes them, to do their own tasks. "We are a small team within the team," Corrales defined the union to which they belong in statements to Teledeporte after the quarterfinal match. In that section they study the pitches of the opposing players, "naturally, without going crazy. You cannot do a very complex study because it is counterproductive", warns the Barcelona player.

From three years to this part, Jordi Ribera adopted the rule of alternating them in the national team, one game each. In this World Cup the formula is yielding an extraordinary result. "The two important ones feel with that responsibility, they stay motivated, and it has been shown that it is a successful measure," explains César Montes, assistant coach. The numbers support it: a 39% average efficiency of Pérez de Vargas, with outstanding performances against Germany (45%) and Hungary (43%), and a 36% of his teammate, who in the quarterfinals against Norway reached 44 %. In the seven games played they have always left the Spanish goal above the adversary, except against Poland (27-26). They were chosen as the best players in several games, and have only had to break their alternation once. It was against Germany; After a great first part by Corrales, a thick start of the selection in the second advised him to change, and Gonzalo helped to straighten the situation.

"We are both very involved in competition. The fact of having played two days before lets you know that you are fit and ready to play, and the day we had to leave normally has had its effect"
Gonzalo Pérez de Varga

"We are both very involved in competition. The fact of having played two days before makes you know that you are fit and ready to play, and the day we have to leave, both this year and last, or in 2018, normally it has had its effect, it has helped the team and has revolutionized the game, "explains Pérez de Vargas.

It was up to him to start in this World Cup. Spain debuted against Brazil and the fact that most of its players are or have been in the Asobal League, together with the fact that Corrales has been out of it for six years, advised that the Barcelona goalkeeper should be between the three suits. From then on and regardless of the rival that played, the alternation has been maintained regularly, with the exception of the match against Uruguay, which was played entirely by the third goalkeeper, Sergey Hernández.

"We value every moment of the competition and within the same game, and we decide. If we consider that it is convenient to do a relay there is no problem in it"
Cesar Montes

"We have shown in this World Cup and in the European past that we are complete goalkeepers, capable of stopping from 6 and 9 meters both, regardless of our physical conditions," says Pérez de Vargas, who, in theory, would play the semifinal against Denmark.

"The alternation does not condition the technicians," warns the second coach of the selection. "We value each moment of the competition and within the same game, and we decide. If we consider that it is convenient to do a relay there is no problem in it."