I missed the old thread as neither our season thread, nor the other teams thread, really captures the content of this thread. I had to scroll all the way to page 5 to find the old one and then saw it was at 497 posts so time to start this with a snappy infographic (below) and the news that Del Bosque is sparing Xavi the Finland game (good) but doing so with the stated intent of playing him in the more important game against France (not so good but if Xavi is ready to play so be it). With the Spanish U-21 team active now too (see below), there are only 3 first teamers who seem to be around: Pinto, Abidal, and Dos Santos. Mexico is playing at Honduras and hosting Estados Unidos over this break - has JDS fallen out with the national team due to no playing time at Barca - the most obvious reason - or for other reasons? E.g., he chose to skip the Olympics to focus on nailing down his Barca place [only to get injured and see Song signed] despite being the right age; he was dismissed from the Copa America [under 22 squad] squad along with 4 others for disciplinary reasons; or simply not good enough for the adult squad)?
The thread was on page 5? I went all the way to page 10, didn't find it, and gave up. lol Thanks for the updates though, much appreciated! I tried to pull through at the weekend but as stated I couldn't find the thread. Hopefully Xavi isn't risked in Paris unless he is ready.
Meant to add this to my first post, quoting Unclesox: "The intent of this thread is to discuss Barcelona players (and even former players) when they are on international duty playing for their countries."
Jeez, I just went and had a look at that old thread... and I have no recollection of ever having started that. I must be getting really old. But I love the idea of this thread and glad to see it (again? ). Alternate title: "Coloring the world Blaugrana."
Spain U-21 vs. Norway and guess who scored both goals (hint it's the one who is under contract already with Barca through 2016, not the one who is rumored to be extending soon: Who was #9 with the steal and assist on the 2nd goal? Nice that Muniesa is back with the national squad already. I cannot find a squad list to see if Cuenca is still with this squad (he's 21 for another month), but then he seems to have only played a couple times for Ajax.
MARCA says Thiago made the steal and assisted Tello for the goal. http://www.marca.com/eventos/directo/diario/ (20:45 on left side of page) Cuenca not listed in the team. http://www.rfef.es/index.jsp?nodo=130
According to this 6 Barca players ultimately got minutes with all but Gerard D starting (and all but Planas playing who picked up an injury in practice) but it was Rodrigo, not Thiago, who stole the ball with high pressure and laid it off for Tello's simple 2nd strike. http://www.totalbarca.com/2013/youth/six-fc-barcelona-players-feature-in-spain-u-21-win/#more-130330 each goal linked here but haven't found an all-in-one highlight video (and video quality on these is low): http://www.101greatgoals.com/goals/internationals/live-video-updates-spain-u21s-v-norway-u21s/ after Tello scored the first two Rodrigo got the 3rd, Thiago had one called back for offsides, Tello assisted Canales on the 4th, and the 5 of the 5-2 win was an own goal
Good to see this thread back in time for WCQ. Del Bosque confirms that Valdes will start against Finland.
Started with 7 Barca players (a record for a single club playing for Spain in WCQ or so I read), now subbed Pedro on for Carzola so we are at 8 Barca players playing now (with Xavi watching this one from stands, Puyol recuperating from surgery, and Thiago with the U-21 squad). Still despite 82% possession and 16 shots only 3 have been on target and were in a scoreless draw till Ramos gave Spain the lead at the 49 minute mark. http://88.80.5.80/w00t/20130321/vv514b279067723626794423-546765.html
Have a feeling this group will come down to goal difference. I assume the first tiebreaker is goal difference?!
Ugh. For long stretches, I saw everyone but Valdes within 30 yards of the Finnish goal. Defending champs in danger of not qualifying? Don't believe it. Even with a playoff it's hard to see them miss out.
ugh! Spain drop to 2nd place. Quickly took the lead when they brought on the 8th Barca player (Pedro), and then things went to shite after taking 2 Barca players off (Villa and Cesc).
Why must win in Paris? To win the group, sure. But you don't think Spain can qualify in a two-legged playoff over any of the other 2nd place nations? Right now they are: Croatia Bulgaria Sweden Hungary Israel Iceland Greece England And why is France suddenly this unstoppable force?
They aren't, but they seem to be playing better than Spain now. And the game is 4 days from now, so France have to be favored to get at least a draw. I know Spain doesn't need to beat them to qualify but you don't want to have it come down to a playoff. Could be risky especially if you remember the recent Spain - Croatia match or Spain - Portugal.
You are right, they can still win their group and, if they don't, should hopefully win their playoff. Failing that they'll miss out and cause FIFA to perhaps revisit their ridiculous new policy of not allowing the defending champs a bye - but we are a long way from that right now as Spain will very likely qualify for Brazil. Perhaps the bettors amongst us who fancy Spain's chances to repeat can get longer odds right now.
Indeed. You could even argue that the new rule that defending champs must qualify like everyone else will toughen Spain up for WC14. So many times defending champs get eliminated because they haven't played actual competition in over 2 years. Curse of the friendlies. It's what Brazilians are worried about with their NT right now playing all these friendlies.
The one common thing I noticed was that Alexis plays much deeper with Chile, in a creative role. I think Azul or Gil pointed this out that his typical position with Udinese was playing behind the striker/forwards. Anyway, he does have the talent, but his confidence is so shot when he plays for us. I guess no one wants to talk about Alba's injury and the fact that he is now a doubt for the Champions League match in about 10 days. I don't generally like International breaks, but I will be tuning in for the France-Spain match, should be a good one.
Glad this thread was started. Interesting about Song, he didn't play for Cameroon yet Eto'o did in their qualifier (a win, I believe). I guess their feud continues as it seems weird Song would ride the bench for his NT. Messi, Mascherano and the rest of the Argentinians are in Bolivia tomorrow - this seems like a perfect opportunity to rest Messi considering they will have a difficult game at elevation and then a rough travel day back from Bolivia to Barcelona. At least Argentina is sitting pretty for qualification. In the 2010 qualifying campaign they got trounced in Bolivia (I think it was one of Maradona's first games which is why I remember it). EDIT: my bad, Song didn't start but came on for Eto'o in the 85th minute. Still a little odd though.