For Alexia Putellas, the waiting is the hardest part

For Alexia Putellas, the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup has been defined by waiting.

Waiting to see if the Spanish superstar could recover from the torn ACL she suffered last year in time to make coach Jorge Vilda's 23-player squad for the tournament. Waiting to find out if she would join her teammates who refused to play for Vilda in Australia and New Zealand even if medically cleared. Waiting for Putellas, the 29-year-old who has won the last two Ballon d'Or trophies awarded to the sport's best player, to finally start a match for the first time in more than 400 days after entering as a substitute in Spain's World Cup-opening 3-0 win over Costa Rica last month.

Spain now sits just two wins away from winning its first World Cup on the women's side; La Roja meets Sweden in the semis on Tuesday (coverage begins at 3 a.m. ET, with kickoff at 4 a.m. on FOX and the FOX Sports app). And still planet football waits on Putellas.

[Someone is destined for a World Cup hero moment]

Seeing Putellas named to Vilda's roster was a relief for fans and organizers of a competition that couldn't afford, the thinking went beforehand, to be without yet another boldface name because of injury. So when Putellas started her country's second group game, delivering an assist in a 5-0 smack down of Zambia, it seemed like a preview of Putellas' many contributions to come.

That's not how things have played out. While the Barcelona forward has appeared in all five of her country's contests, she has been included in Spain's lineup for just one other match – an embarrassing, first-round ending 4-0 loss to Japan. She hasn't featured more than an hour in any and has logged just 155 minutes in all, with no goals and only that lone helper to show for it.

Her team hasn't really missed her, somehow. At least on the surface. At least not yet. That defeat against the since-eliminated Japanese aside, Spain has been far better at this summer than anyone could have expected. Talented as it is, the public beef with Vilda would have torpedoed most squads; of the 15 players who boycotted the manager over concerns about his methods, just three – Ona Batlle, Aitana Bonmati and Mariona Caldentey – returned for the World Cup, with several key starters omitted. Word is Putellas played a major role in keeping the remainder of the squad united behind the scenes.

[Spain talking a big game, backing it up with run to World Cup semifinals]

Spain has overcome other distractions, too. The players selected reportedly were so unhappy with the squad's base camp that they abandoned it and moved to a hotel in central Wellington, New Zealand's capital, before the group stage was even finished. But just when they looked the most vulnerable, Spain reeled off consecutive knockout stage victories over Switzerland and the Netherlands to reach the final four for the first time. They've been talking the talk and backing it up.

With three goals and two assists, Bonmati has been a revelation. Two other Spaniards, Alba Redondo and Jennifer Hermoso, have also scored three times. (No other country boasts as many players that productive.) Then there's 19-year-old Salma Paralluelo, Putellas' Barca teammate, who announced her arrival on the biggest stage by scoring a spectacular game-winner in extra time against the Dutch.

It's understandable if Putellas isn't fit enough to go the distance in every match after more than a year on the shelf. She has clearly found other ways to help, her mere presence in the locker room an obvious boon for youngsters such as Paralluelo. After the final whistle blew to end the quarters, television cameras caught Putellas – who entered off the bench for the last 21 minutes – in the thick of the celebrations, tears of joy rolling down her cheeks. She's all in emotionally even though she can't be physically.

Still, it's fair to wonder if La Roja can really, truly go all the way without getting at least one moment of destiny-affirming magic trick from the most gifted and accomplished member of their squad. Putellas is as big a big-game player as there is; she proved it with the 11 goals she bagged for her club in 10 UEFA Champions League appearances in 2021-22 before suffering that horrific knee injury 13 months ago.

[Amanda Ilestedt found scoring knack at perfect time for Sweden]

There is still time for a storybook ending for a player who was supposed to make this World Cup her own. This tournament can still go the way so many expected it could for Putellas Down Under, despite the delay.

The greats have a way of getting the last word, of stepping up and delivering at the moment when it matters the most. Putellas is one, and she can still make that happen.

It will have been more than worth the wait If she does.

Doug McIntyre is a soccer writer for FOX Sports. Before joining FOX Sports in 2021, he was a staff writer with ESPN and Yahoo Sports and he has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams at multiple FIFA World Cups. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.