Spain NT News and Rumours

Preparation for the Tahiti encounter at the Confederations.

 

Germany too short. The run is over

 

A rematch of last summer's Euro 2012 meeting confirmed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22064945

This announcement completes Spain's preparations for the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, to be played from June 15th to the 30th. La Furia Roja will play 3 friendly matches before the tournament begins. This is the schedule:

June 6 - Red Bull Arena (Harrison)
Spain v Northern Ireland

June 8 - Lockhart Stadium (Miami)
Spain v Haiti

June 11 - Yankee Stadium (New York)
Spain v Republic of Ireland

Spain will begin their Confederations Cup campaign on the 16th of that month against South American champions Uruguay in Recife.

 

what are the chances Llorente makes the squad? Still can't believe he was brought to the Euros only not to play.

 

At this moment, none in my opinion

 

Does Del Bosque still start Casillas now?

Also, we seem to have a critical problem with strikers.

 

Great question. Maybe Reina will get a few starts. Good form for Liverpool lately. Maybe even a call up for DeGea. And for strikers, always Michu and Soldado.

 

De Gea has been called up. Valdes would get the start before Reina.

Michu hasn't been called yet, I don't think he ever will even though I think he would fit the system perfectly. Soldado seems to have shagged Del Bosques daughter or something, even when he scored a hat trick for Spain he didn't get a call up the next time around.

 

The issue with Soldado isn't a performance one, it's other factors that see him less preferred to the other strikers currently in the team. Michu I don't see getting called up for this tournament because he hasn't had as much of a hot streak in recent months as he did earlier in the season when he should have been given a shot, I'd be surprised if Vicente calls him up for this unless he's going with more of a B-team (with him I doubt that).

Casillas should remain the keeper in my opinion, the issues with his club manager are different and unrelated to his position in the national team. He's still been training so he's remained sharp enough, not like he's completely rusty right now.

 

But which strikers will he call up though??? Villa's no longer the same Villa we used to know, but i think Del bosque will call him up with Negredo. And we'll see the return of Torres too.
Spain seems to have abundance of telent in every position except in the striker position.

 

Del Bosques prelist for the confed cup

Porteros: Casillas (Real Madrid), Reina (Liverpool) y Valdés (Barcelona).
Defensas: Monreal (Arsenal), Jordi Alba (Barcelona), Albiol (Real Madrid), Piqué (Barcelona), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Azpilicueta (Chelsea) y Arbeloa (Real Madrid).
Centrocampistas: Iniesta (Barcelona), Cazorla (Arsenal), Busquets (Barcelona), Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), Xavi Hernández (Barcelona), Javi Martínez (Bayern de Múnich), Javi García (Manchester City) y Beñat (Betis).
Delanteros: Mata (Chelsea), Silva (Manchester City), Cesc Fábregas (Barcelona), Pedro (Barcelona), Jesús Navas (Sevilla), Villa (Barcelona) y Fernando Torres (Chelsea), Soldado (Valencia).

 

Good to see that certain players like Monreal, Azpilicueta and Beñat are still in Del Bosque's mind. I wonder if we're going to see some first team changes in this tournament already (thinking of Xabi and Arbeloa) or if he's going to stick with the usual first team players. Hopefully Villa gets some of his old form back, because we're going to need him come next summer.

 

Good squad, no real surprises. Soldado, Benat, and Martinez all deservedly getting called up for this tournament.

I don't get why Javi Garcia is in though, he hasn't had a good season with City, he hasn't established himself as a starter there nor does he offer anything the other midfielders don't. Would have been better off calling up a different option like Michu or even another striker in Negredo, but I guess the experience won't hurt him.

Puyol unable to make the cut again, not sure if he'll be in del Bosque's plans to go to the World Cup next summer even if he's fit considering his potential fitness issues these days and probably a lack of playing time next season with Barca if a world class centerback arrives.

 

Del Bosque doesn't seem to like making changes unless he's really forced to (meaning if Spain looses a game by about 3 goals difference), so i'll put my money on him not changing his starting line up even though i personally think 2 or 3 players in the usual starting line up for Spain should be relegated to the bench.

As for Villa, i don't see it getting back to his old form.

Finally, who're the 3 players that will get cut from the final squad??? I think it will be Soldado, Garcia (how did he even make it to the list?) and 1 of Albiol/Benat

 

I'm guessing Navas, Soldado, and Benat will be cut.

 

Garcia will be cut for sure.

I don't think Soldado will be cut unless they never plan on playing Villa and Torres at the same time.

 

I don't see how any reasonable coach will do this given the talent in the Spanish team.
Soldado will get cut because Del bosque doesn't seem to include him in his plans, and Navas won't get cut because Del bosque seems to like him and he also brings something different to the Spanish team.

 

Options at centerback appear to be slim so I'm guessing Albiol survives the cut and Puyol makes the trip next year barring injury.
Surely there must be others to consider at the position (?)

 

Well, Albiol has actually looked quite decent for Real in recent months as he's gotten more and more playing time as opposed to the previous two seasons so he could still be a decent option.

I guess Martinez is seen as a fourth choice CB option, since Busquets and Garcia were both called up.

Inigo Martinez, Alvaro Gonzalez, Chico Flores, Mikel Gonzalez, Alvaro Dominguez, and Inigo Lopez probably deserve a look at.

As for strikers, I'd say Michu, Iago Aspas, Leo Baptistao, and Ruben Castro could be looked at for next year's finals, but the current set of strikers seem just fine to me.

 

Well if Soldado doesn't make it than another striker has to go but there are none.

In the past, Torres has played up top with Villa on the left at times, which means you need to take a another striker.

 

That was in 2008. Today imo, that's not going to happen unless Spain is chasing the scoreline with about 10 minutes left.
I mean, who is the coach going to bench in other to accomodate 2 players in decline into the starting line up???
As for the 3rd Striker option, well Del bosque will probably use Fabregas as a false 9 again lol
Del bosque's motto is "if it isn't broken, then don't fix it", even if it's becoming more and more shaky and unstable...