For any Argentine football fan, the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar will always remain special. As Germán Portanova, the head coach of the Argentina women's national football team, said in an interview with CGTN, "To be world champions is an amazing feeling. I lived it in '86; I don't remember much about '78. Now I have lived it with my son, and it was very different, very exciting."

"I will always be grateful to these players because they gave us unforgettable moments. It's an amazing thing for those of us who love football. That is happiness that remains in the heart," he said.

Portanova, 49, however, noted that the realities are not the same for his side ahead of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, being held from July 20 to August 20 in Australia and New Zealand.

As he pointed out, Argentina's first and foremost objective would be to win a game, which they haven't yet managed to do in the Women's World Cup. Nor, indeed, have they managed to make it out of the group stages in the three editions of the tournament they have qualified for prior to the current one.

"For the men's team, to be knocked out in the round of 16 would be a big disappointment. For us, we have to win a game, and hopefully God wants us to get through to the next round (the last 16)," he said. "Our goal is to compete well with our way of playing. Let's see a team that wants the ball, that wants to be in control of the matches." 

Winning a game or making it to the knockout stages is not the only objective for Argentina, according to Portanova; it is also to show that the team has an identity of its own. 

"I firmly believe in the preparation we have done. We have been working hard to be able to form a game identity so that the players can identify with it. I think that winning 1-0 by just hanging in there without being able to capture the idea on which we have been working is of no use to us. We want to go down in history and win the first game of a World Cup, and we dream of being able to advance to the next stage. But the real victory would be to be able to do it with our essence and our game," he said.

Argentina are in Group G, alongside Sweden, Italy and African champions South Africa. Describing his opponents, Portanova said, "We face three different rivals. Sweden surpass us in physicality, technicality, intensity and speed, but we will try to compete with them in the best way with our resources. Italy are a team in formation. They have a mix of experienced players who did very well at the last World Cup and youngsters who are joining. Their style is a bit like the old European style and leans on the physical. South Africa are the champions of Africa. On a good day, they can beat any team."

Having won multiple women's league titles in Argentina as the coach of Urquiza, a club based on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Portanova has been involved in the women's game for almost a decade.

Yet, it was not long ago that, after a career traversing professional and semi-professional leagues in different parts of the world – in his own country, Chile, Paraguay, Spain and, finally, Italy – Portanova returned home to join a friend in the business of manufacturing shoes.

The year was 2011. The work was great, and there were many customers, Portanova recalled. However, he longed to go back to the sport he loved.

So when Urquiza came calling, offering Portanova a coaching role in the club's youth system, he didn't think twice. "I went on to earn a lot less, but I didn't care at all," he said.

Three years later, he received an opportunity to train the club's women's team. "I felt that the players were very keen on improving themselves; they paid more attention than the male players usually would," he said.

It was the start of an association with the women's game that has now led him to the 2023 Women's World Cup.

For Argentina, women's football is on an upward trajectory. While the South American nation is not yet one of the major powerhouses in the women's game, in contrast to its world-beating men's side, there is hope that it won't take long to reach there.

"I think it is essential for players to have the opportunity to learn from an early age. For players to reach the national team or the premier division, training and competition, along with the stimuli to keep playing, are essential from a very young age," Portanova said.

"I think we are going to be a power in South America if we continue like this with our style. That is what we are also looking for: a distinct playing style of our own, just like Argentina's men's side has one."

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