A few days ago Vicente del Bosque named the players which would be included in the squad for the next two qualifiers against Belgium in A Coruña and Estonia in Merida.

We’re currently ranked second in the world behind heavyweights Brasil due to their success in this past year’s Confederations Cup and our crash out of the same tournament. The ranking system doesn’t really make sense to me (as well as probably most of the other people who pay attention to it) as to how a team who won over 30 matches in a row and had a choke hold over world football could possibly not be ranked 1st in the world after one mere defeat. Regardless of what I think, that’s what it is and only a win in the World Cup next year would get us back where we belong so it all starts Sepember 5th when we take on Belgium.

Some good news for us as our holding midfielder and Villarreal superstar Marcos Senna is returning to the squad after missing our Confederations Cup campaign. He was a massive reason for our lack of stability in the centre of midfield in South Africa this past summer and to have him back is a massive boost for us. We all saw at the European Championships last year how much of a match changer he really is and I have no doubts that nothing has changed from then until now.

A surprising addition to the squad was Cesc Fàbregas who is usually included in the squad but last weekend picked up a knock against Portsmouth and was apparently ruled out a minimum of 3 weeks. I guess Del Bosque has deemed him fit enough to play but its surprising that Arsenal let him go considering his circumstances. I’m sure Del Bosque won’t risk him if Xavi and Marcos Senna are doing a sufficient job in the middle as they usually do.

There are only two usuals who are excluded from the squad this time around which are Sergio Ramos and Andrés Iniesta who are both still recovering from their injuries with the latter being a long-term one.

Ramos is replaced by Nacho Monreal who is an up and coming left footed defender and plays his club football with Osasuna. Iniesta is replaces by (and when I say replaced, I don’t really mean it because no one can ever replace little Iniesta) Juan Mata of Valencia once again who scored a goal on the weekend in Los Che’s 2-0 victory over La Liga rivals Sevilla.

The full squad called up looks like this:
Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas, Pepe Reina, Diego López

Defenders: Álvaro Arbeloa, Carles Puyol, Gerard Piqué, Carlos Marchena, Raúl Albiol, Nacho Monréal, Joan Capdevila

Midfielders: Cesc Fàbregas, Xavi, Sergio Busquets, Xabi Alonso, Marcos Senna, Albert Riera, Juan Mata, David Silva

Forwards: David Villa, Fernando Torres, Dani Güiza

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Having said all that, New Zealand won’t be any pushovers. Last week they pushed Italy to their limit when they took the lead in their friendly but ended up losing 4-3 by a late goal. We will definitely keep in mind that winning this match will stretch our unbeaten run to 33 games, having last lost a friendly to Romania way back in November of 2006. We will also have in the back of our head that we are only three undefeated games away from Brazil’s all time record of 35 matches and going undefeated in the qualifying round will see us equal that impressive tally.

We have actually never appeared in the Confederations Cup but at the same time we are also the only team ever to be at the top of the FIFA World Rankings without ever winning the World Cup, emphasizing our superiority on the footballing world over the past year.

Unlike us, this is New Zealand’s third appearance in the tournament having previously lost all their 6 matches. To be honest, I see that streak continuing today.

In our friendly against Azerbaijan last week, Vicente del Bosque started a considerably weaker lineup but knowing that a win versus the All Blacks is crucial to start off our campaign, Señor del Bosque will most likely start a full strength squad with the exceptions of Marcos Senna and Andrés Iniesta who are obviously out due to injury.

Cazorla is the favourite to start in place for Iniesta on the right flank while Xabi Alonso is set to take Marcos Senna’s place in the centre of the park. Gerard Piqué is nursing a slight injury and will probably start today’s match on the bench with Raúl Albiol starting in his place.

The lineup is set to look something like this:
Iker Casillas
Sergio Ramos, Raúl Albiol, Carles Puyol, Joan Capdevila
Santi Cazorla, Xavi, Xabi Alonso, David Silva
Fernando Torres, David Villa

We’re ranked first in the world while New Zealand sits at 82nd, is there really any hope for them? I would say this is going to be a cake walk for us but this is fútbol and stranger things have happened. Having said that though, Xavi alone is enough to dismantle a team. If our little playmaker can control the game like he does so often I don’t see any chance in hell of us even conceding a goal but rather winning by a really emphatic margin.

They might have gave Italy a run for their money but we’re on a whole other level. Bring it on.

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While Villarreal hard-man Marcos Senna is out indefinitely, his teammate Santi Cazorla gets the call up to the squad despite only having played his first game upon his return from injury this past weekend. Carles Puyol, Gerard Piqué, Andrés Iniesta and David Silva who all are currently suffering with minor injuries were also called up the squad in hopes that they will completely recover by the time our first match against New Zealand which takes place on June 14th.

There is 5 changes to the squad from the team that travelled to and conquered Austria/Switzerland last summer. Sevilla duo Andrés Palop and Fernando Navarro are out as well as Juanito, Sergio Garcia, Marcos Senna and Ruben de la Red. Stepping in are Diego Lopez, Sergi Busquets, Gerard Piqué, Juan Mata, Albert Riera and Athletic Bilbao hitman Fernando Llorente.

The full squad looks like this:
Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Pepe Reina (Liverpool), Diego Lopez (Villarreal).

Defenders: Raúl Albiol (Valencia), Álvaro Arbeloa (Liverpool), Joan Capdevila (Villarreal), Carlos Marchena (Valencia), Gerard Piqué (Barcelona), Carles Puyol (Barcelona), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid).

Midfielders: Xabi Alonso (Liverpool), Sergi Busquets (Barcelona), Santi Cazorla (Villarreal), Cesc Fàbregas (Arsenal), Xavi (Barcelona), Andrés Iniesta (Barcelona), David Silva (Valencia), Juan Mata (Valencia), Albert Riera (Liverpool).

Forwards: David Villa (Valencia), Daniel Güiza (Fenerbahce), Fernando Torres (Liverpool), Fernando Llorente (Athletic Bilbao).

Before we travel to South Africa we travel head over to Asia to take on Azerbaijan in a friendly on June 6th. This match will most likely be easy enough to consider it a warm-up for what is to come in the Confederations Cup.

Other News:
Today the FIFA World Rankings were released and obviously, we top them once again. We’ve had quite the glorious year ever since winning the European Championships back in the summer of 2008 and with our undefeated record in World Cup qualifying thus far, there’s no signs of us slowing down.

Our group in the Confederations Cup is rather weak consisting of New Zealand, Iraq and South Africa but the real test will occur as we progress to face either Brasil or Italy, the two most successful teams of all time. Regardless of who we encounter, if we continue playing like we have over the past several months, I have no doubt that we can clean up in this tournament. While Italy and Brasil have been very successful in past tournaments they have both had their little struggles in qualifying thus far.

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¡¡Qué viva España!!

As it is we are already without Andrés Iniesta and now losing Cazorla means we are extremely short on the right flank.

Luckily Iniesta will be back sooner rather than later meaning he should be fully fit by the time the FIFA Confederations Cup rolls around on June 14.

In our romping of Turkey last week in Istanbul it was obvious that our midfield was definitely one we should be worried about. Our wide play which helped us ever so much in the European Championships this past summer but lately we haven’t been able to produce our best form down the flanks.

With Santi out del Bosque will obviously have to call-up a different face into the squad to fill the void left on the right side. Now of course, Cazorla doesn’t start so the player called up would have to be satisfied with coming off the bench.

Our options are pretty simple. Last game Riera had a solid game on the left side but since he’s a natural left footer I doubt he would be used on the right flank. Juan Mata also had a good game against Turkey in Madrid when he came on as a substitute in the final 20 minutes and showed promise, especially as a up and coming talent. Diego Capel has been called up to the squad before and is always a threat with his quick feet and blistering pace. The problem with all these men is that they are left sided players and we are looking for one to cover the right. Of course left footers can play on the right flank but it’s much easier for a right footed player to maneuver down the side he is comfortable with.

The only player I can think of which could substantially fill that gap is Sevilla winger Jesús Navas. There was a lot of talk about calling him up to the squad earlier this year when La Furia Roja took on England in the Andalucían capital but neither him or his teammate Diego Capel were given the shout. The Sevilla native has suffered terrible homesickness which has limited the number of stamps on his passport when playing for Spain and despite a significant improvement in this crazy illness and outstanding form for the Rojiblanco, he has yet to be called up by Vicente del Bosque.

Only time will tell what Mr. del Bosque decides to do and there is by no means any rush to choose but at the same time, by the time the time the Confederations Cup rolls around this summer, we could see a whole different España.

Anyways, here it is my fellow Spaniards and Spanish football lovers.

Our World Cup 2010 qualification record thus far has been flawless, four wins from four matches giving us a total of 12 points, 4 more than the second place Turks. We’re riding high on a 29 game unbeaten run dating all the way back to November 2006 when we lost 1-0 to Romania in a friendly.

Today Turkey pay a visit to the Santiago Bernabeú in Madrid to take on the European Champions and the current World Cup qualification group leaders. Despite our stunning form however, Turkey will be no pushover as they had a very solid Euro 2008 run eventually losing in the semi-finals to Germany.

That being said, Turkey have drawn with Estonia 0-0 and Belgium 1-1, both less than impressive results to be fair. To add insult to injury, the Turks will be without Shalke superstar Halil Altintop, Stuttgart’s Yildaray Basturk, and their star centre-back Servet Ceitn. Also out for this match are Selcuk Sahin of Fenerbahçe and Gokhan Zan of Basiktas.

Speaking of injuries, things are all good for our beloved España as David Villa, David Silva, Xavi, Sergio Ramos and Gerard Piqué have all been cleared to play after being in doubt earlier this week meaning we’ll have a near-full squad. We will be without Carles Puyol, Cesc Fàbregas and Andrés Iniesta though as all three are still recovering from recent injuries. Raúl Albiol will start in place of the injured Puyol and Santi Cazorla is in for Iniesta.

I know I said Turkey will be no pushovers but realistically I can’t see them getting any result on our home ground either. Euro 2008 may be long over but the squad is stronger than ever even despite the injuries to Iniesta who was a key figure in Austria and Switzerland.

With our deadly combination of Villa and Torres it’s hard not to score goals as they’re both on top form for club and country. Senna will probably slot in at his favoured defensive midfield position and we all know how solid he is there meaning Turkey will find it very hard to generate anything dangerous.

The only result I see is a Spanish victory, probably not high scoring, but at least two or three nil.

¡¡Qué Viva España!!

I don’t know where half the first team was because they’re not in the photoshoot but besides that I don’t really know what to say about the jerseys.

The goalkeepers kit doesn’t look like it has changed at all and the only difference on the players kits are the big black/mustard line down the right side. To be honest I have mixed reactions but all in all I guess it’s not that bad, we could have done worse really.

Why the players have tribal designed paint on their faces is way beyond me but overall I don’t think the look is too bad.

The Real Madrid Man just set a club goal scoring record this past weekend when he scored his 309th goal for Los Merengues passing Alfredo di Stefano’s previous record of 308 goals. He is also the UEFA Champions League all time highest scorer as well as one of La Liga’s best of all time.

That all said, whilst he has scored umpteen goals for Spain, he has never lead us anywhere and choked come big tournaments. Raúl has commented on this matter since by saying that he still has ambitions of playing for the national team but not in a one-off match, he wants to fight for his place and stay there.

Whether you’re a Madridista or not you cannot deny that Torres and David Villa are, at this point in their career, both better strikers than Raúl. His goal record may be impressive but his best days are far behind him and personally I never liked him because he never did anything for Spain on the international stage when it mattered most.

In the squad right now we have a winning combination of players and the chemistry is as perfect as it can be, we’re currently undefeated in 29 straight matches dating back all the way to 2006. If Raúl never did anything for Spain before what makes anyone think he deserves a second chance? He’s been doing extremely well at the domestic level for Real but does that justify anything considering he always has done? Not in my opinion, no.

Who could we possibly sacrifice in the squad to make place for this man…? Fernando Torres who is one of the best strikers in the world right now and also scores frequently? David Villa who won the golden boot at Euro 2008 and almost has one goal a game average for Spain? Güiza despite having a poor season with Fenerbahçe was La Liga’s Pichichi winner last season and still a top striker? New phenomenon Fernando Llorente who scored in his debut last week versus England?

NO, NO, NO and NO!!!

My opinion on the matter is clear – NO TO RAÚL! But really, it’s nothing against the guy, just pure logic, he doesn’t fit into the team.

When asked about this dilemma Del Bosque simply replied that “We have an upcoming qualifier against Turkey and for every match I pick the best squad available, this time will be no different.” “Raúl is a fantastic player but like I said, I pick the best players, if he is one then he will be picked but Llorente is the player we’ve been looking at and the type of player we need, one who is developing well and will be ready to play when called upon.”

I know Del Bosque has always had a soft spot for Raúl but I’m praying that he uses some common sense on the matter. I can only imagine what it would do to the confidence of our strikers now if he was called up. Villa and Torres are possibly the best international striking partnership and like the old saying goes – “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

"Whether in the Stadium of Sevilla, Betis or La Cartuja the national team has always been welcomes here in the capital, and I want to thank the fans for that."

Said Del Bosque when asked about the venue for the match. Speaking about Navas who was supposed to be called up to the selection Vicente said:



"Navas is a fantastic player who has been unfortunate to have anxiety problems as bad as he does. Monchi and I know what is needed to take his career one step forward but it is up to me whether to exercise that option or not but for now Sevilla has blocked him."

Sounds to me like Del Nido and Monchi, the head honcho’s of Sevilla didn’t want Navas playing in this matchup, seems a bit strange but that’s what Del Bosque sounds like he’s saying.

Just a few teams notes as Barcelona skipper Carles Puyol will not play in the clash as he was substituted in his side’s victory over Sporting Gijón on the weekend. He underwent a scan of his leg and is ruled to be out for the next 10 days meaning he will miss the game. Not to fear though as his Barça teammate Gerard Piqué will get the nod to start at centre back alongside Marchena.

Despite the match being in Sevilla there are no Sevilla players in the squad. Del Bosque said that this is due to Sevilla’s influx of foreignersand that he brought a small squad so there was no room for Diego Capel or Fernando Navarro. He did also go on to emphasize the fact that there are 5 players in the squad that are from Andalucía so the fans can still be happy about that. Riiiight…

Liverpool boss Rafael Benítez after giving the green light to Fernando Torres earlier in the week has since publicly criticized Vicente Del Bosque of calling him up despite knowing he has just returned from a back injury and is not 100% match fit. Rafa, maybe you shouldn’t have sold Robbie Keane after all… Obviously there’s no way we’re listening to this nonsense and El Niño will definitely play on Wednesday.

Fenerbahçe striker Dani Güiza is the only player in the lineup who doesn’t play either in the Primera División or the Premier League.

Other News:
There have been 500 policemen assigned to monitor the situation in and around the stadium on game day to assure there is safety and security for all spectators. Also 20 British policemen have been assigned to assist in this massive security force.

The Brits are schedules to land tomorrow. I’ll have the real preview up tomorrow when I know everything.

Three days ago Vicente Del Bosque annouced that Valencia duo David Villa and David Silva, as well as Sevilla duo Diego Capel and Jesús Navas would be called up to the squad for match against the Three Lions. Just yesterday however López Caro, manager of the Spanish U-21 Team announced that Capel and Mata were included in their squad to face Norway in a friendly being held in Cartagena, Andalucía on Tuesday February 10th. The Spanish “sub-21″ team is preparing for the qualififying games as they look to qualify for the U-21 European Championships being held in Denmark in 2011. Also announced yesterday was Del Bosque is concerned with Navas’ homesickness and he feels that calling him up to the first team could be a mistake as he will not be able to travel when La Selección travel to other European nations for our upcoming World Cup 2010 qualifiers. Vicente said that he will only call Navas up to the match against England if he can prove that he will be able to travel with the selection in the future without risk of getting homesick and having to return home. This sparked anger amongst the Sevilla management as the Rojiblancos’ sporting director “Monchi” said “Jesús is much better now and the last time he felt the affects of his homesickness was when we played Fenerbahçe in Istanbul, and that was only because we were there for 10 days.” “The selection does not travel to other countries for this long so as far as I am concerned Jesús will be fine.”. Clearly it looks like Navas has come a long way and his problem has much improved. He has been one of Sevilla’s and La Liga’s outstanding performances thus far in the season and would have been called up to the national squad a long time ago if it wasn’t for his homesickness problem. Unfortunately though today as the lineups were announced Jesús Navas was not included which personally I’m aboslutely furious at. It would have been the perfect opportunity to slip him into the squad as it’ll be in his hometown of Sevilla and he would have been able to play in front of the fans that sing his name every week and truly performed well for Del Bosque. I also feel bad for Jesús as Mr. Vicente annouced some months ago that Navas will be in the squad as he wants him to break into the national team.

The squad to face England is as followed.
Goalkeepers
Iker Casillas (Real Madrid)
José Manuel Reina (Liverpool)
Defenders
Raúl Albiol (Valencia)
Álvaro Arbeloa (Liverpool)
Joan Capdevila (Villarreal)
Juanito (Real Betis)
Carlos Marchena (Valencia)
Gerard Piqué (Barcelona)
Carles Puyol (Barcelona)
Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid)
Midfielders
Xabi Alonso (Liverpool)
Sergi Busquets (Barcelona)
Santiago Cazorla (Villarreal)
Xavi Hernández (Barcelona)
Andrés Iniesta (Barcelona)
Albert Riera (Liverpool)
David Silva (Valencia)
Marcos Senna (Villarreal)
Forwards
Daniel Güiza (Fenerbahçe)
Fernando Llorente (Athletic Club)
Fernando Torres (Liverpool)
David Villa (Valencia)

No surprise in any of the lineup really but my personal opinion is that Diego Capel is better than Albert Riera and Jesús Navas is far superior to Santi Cazorla in both skill and speed, shame the Sevilla wingers couldn’t make the lineup.

There’s no room for Guti, Raúl nor Joaquín which puts a grand smile on my face because quite frankly they’ve never done the business for Spain before so why do they deserve another chance? “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” is the perfect aphorism to describe Del Bosque’s selection as most of the players in the squad were also in Luis Aragonés’ that won the European Championships this past summer. Also, dispite Capel and Navas not making the squad I am pleased that Athletic Bilbao striker Fernando Llorente who has been on fire as late (scoring against Sevilla in the Copa del Rey two days ago) is included in the squad. Also included in the squad for the first time are Barça duo Gerard Piqué and Sergi Busquets who have obviously played a large part in the Catalans’ phenomenal season thus far. It’s good to see that Del Bosque is at least starting to bring some youth through the system because by the time Euro 2012 comes around we will have some players who will be getting on in years and not able to perform like its 2008 all over again.

Rafael Benítez, manager of Liverpool is concerned with Del Bosque’s decision to call Fernando Torres and has voiced his concern today as he feels El Niño should be allowed to rest having just come back from a recent injury. Del Bosque defended himself saying that Torres is a tremendous athlete and will be fine (encouraging enough Liverpool fans?).

Staying in England now as today the Three Lions’ Italian manager Fabio Capello said that his men are stronger than Spain and will beat them. Hmm, well let’s adress a few things here Mr. Capello, 5 of our players play in the Premier League against English talent every week and have been extremely successful, how many English players play in Spain and can call themselves successful? England is a physically superior side, I’ll give them that, but which players know how to play against Spanish quick and skilled opposition? None. It’s good that Capello has faith in his inconsistent squad but sorry Fabio, you’re comments are way too optimistic.

With England’s recent success under Mr. Capello there is no doubt that is this clash will be pretty difficult but currently as the best team in Europe I don’t doubt for one second that we’ll come out on top. Realistically I’m predicting a 3-1 scorline in our favour with goals from Torres, Villa, and Xavi. I’ll have more updates on the match as it happens.

Let’s face it, no body likes a sore loser, or winner to be honest, and cockiness is one of the most arrogant and repulsive qualities a person can have. Although I probably did come off like this in my last post, I definitely am not, and that’s why I’m writing this one.

Here’s my thing. Becoming European Champions was a huge deal for me and since many of my close friends are Italian it was even sweeter to beat the Azzuri on the way to becoming champs. It was more of a personal article in the sense that I did it for jokes and never really meant to come across as an ignorant, offensive little kid who doesn’t know the first thing about football. It’s hard having such talented players year in and year out but always failing and coming up short and you have no idea the euphoria I felt when the final whistle was blown against Germany that night.

I picked random statistics from here, there and everywhere, that in someway supported or showed Spain as the best team in the world (I still think we are at the moment but that’s subject to opinion) and Italy as one in decline. Needless to say the article was an extremely biased one and quite a few Italians took offense, and you guys aren’t exactly the politest group when you are mad.

I just want to once again say not that I am sorry but explain why I wrote the article. It was out of personal spite, I don’t like Italy to be honest and I hate their style of football, plain and simple that’s why. Now of course you do have a rather lengthy history of being a very successful team and I respect that, the post was just for a bit of fun but I see how it got out of hand.

I’m sure if any other country was insulting Spain I would have assaulted their blog with foul comments the same way you did with mine – fair play there.

So to Tomek, kappa, lamagica and whoever else actually had constructive yet polite criticism to input, I thank you for the civil discussion, all the rest that chose to curse, swear and bombard me with insults, well, God bless you.

Before I go I do want to post a statement that is bound to cause less controversy because I believe, in all humility, that it is true. We are the Champions of Europe and are probably one of the best, if not the best team in the world right now. Of course we will have a lot to prove in South Africa 2010 but I am looking really forward to this challenge. I’m sure Italy will give us a run for our money.

Hope this clears the air, and I look forward to posting more articles about my own beloved country, not yours.

¡¡Qué Viva España!!