Argentina women's blind soccer team

The **Argentine women's blind soccer team**, better known as Las Murciélagas (The Bats), is Argentina's representative women's 5-a-side soccer team, in its modality adapted for blind or visually impaired people, known as blind soccer. It represents Argentina in the IBSA World Games organized by the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA).

## History

The women's blind soccer team Las Murciélagas was created in 2019 by the Federación Argentina de Deportes para Ciegos (FADeC) and the support of the Centro Nacional de Alto Rendimiento Deportivo (CeNARD), with the aim of participating in the World Cup scheduled to be held in Nigeria in 2020, which would eventually be suspended due to the Covid pandemic. The team was formed on the basis of the blind women's soccer club league, initiated in 2016 from the three founding teams of blind women's soccer in Argentina: Las Romanas from Buenos Aires, Las Estrellas from Salta and Las Guerreras from Córdoba.

In November 2021 Las Murciélagas played their first two official matches against the Colombian national team, which they defeated on both occasions, winning the Copa Latinoamericana. Almost without international competition, in August 2023, Las Murciélagas participated in the first world-level tournament of women's blind soccer at the IBSA World Games, becoming champions after beating Japan 2-1 in the final. The Murciélagas won four games, tied one and did not lose any, scoring 12 goals and conceding only one goal, precisely the one suffered in the final.

The team was made up of Melody Azul Álvarez, Florencia Belén Massenzana, Barreneche Gracia Sosa, Micaela Segovia, Yohana Gabriela Aguilar, Melisa Alejandra Flores, Elena Iris Quinteros, María Constanza Carrizo, Agustina Medina Páez and Guillermina Corrales. Gonzalo Abbas was in charge of the technical direction.

### IBSA World Games

#### Gold medal in 2023 (Birmingham)

The Argentine national team won the gold medal in the 5-a-side soccer competition at the IBSA World Games for the Blind held in Birmingham in 2023.

The team was composed of Melody Azul Álvarez, Florencia Belén Massenzana, Barreneche Gracia Sosa (captain), Micaela Segovia, Yohana Gabriela Aguilar, Melisa Alejandra Flores (goalkeeper), Elena Iris Quinteros, María Constanza Carrizo, Agustina Medina Páez and Guillermina Corrales. Gonzalo Abbas was in charge of the technical direction, assisted by Sosa Sofía Noemí and Santiago Andrés.

The Murciélagas won their group with 7 points, after beating Germany (3-0), India (4-0) and drawing with Austria (0-0). In the semifinal Argentina beat Sweden 3-0.

The final was played on August 21 against Japan, who came in as favorites after winning all their matches. Argentina found itself at a disadvantage when the Japanese scored a goal before the end of the first half. In the second half, with just over 11 minutes to play, Las Murciélagas managed to equalize through a great play by Yohana Aguilar, who beat several defenders and scored with her left foot to beat the goalkeeper. With only a minute to play, Aguilar was brought down inside the box and the referee awarded a penalty kick. Aguilar herself took the shot from a corner; the ball bounced off the goalkeeper's left post, which she could not reach, and then hit on the back of her hand and went into the goal.

Gracia Sosa, the captain, was chosen as the most valuable player of the final. Yohana Aguilar was the tournament's top scorer with 7 goals. Goalkeeper Melisa Flores had the least defeated goal with only one goal against.

## Coaching staff

### Manager history

* Darío Lencina (2016-2021)
* Gonzalo Abbas (2021-present)