Besides our bit of a slip up in the Confederation’s Cup against the U.S., we’ve been as good as it gets with our flawless qualifying record to show for it. Granted, we did have somewhat of a simple qualifying group with Turkey not following up on their solid European campaign and the rest of the group just being sub-par, really. What the defeat did help us do though is realize we can’t be content with our play but rather strive for more. It showed that despite having not lost in over 30 matches, we still have much to work on. It appears that we did considering we came back from South Africa and were even stronger in qualifying.

Argentina have been a bit erratic since Maradona’s takeover as manager of the South American powerhouse but did qualifying directly for the World Cup next year even though it appeared they wouldn’t.

Lucky for us in Spain that we know the threats that players like Lionel Messi and Gonzalo Higuaín can cause seeing as they ply their trade for the two biggest clubs in the country and I’m sure their fellow La Liga players like Piqué and Sergio Ramos will be keen to shut them down.

Earlier this week the announcement was made that Sevilla star Jesús Navas will be called up to the squad long ending speculation whether he would ever overcome his homesickness. He confessed to Del Bosque that he is ready to play and after long apparent discussions, he received the call up. His recent form is second to none with him scoring both in Europe and domestically for Sevilla in the last few matches. He will be keen to keep his spot in the squad but faces tough competition from what on paper, is the strongest midfield in the world.

Another somewhat surprise call up is Pablo Hérnandez but anyone that follows La Liga will recognize that his hard work has finally paid off. Valencia has been a very up and down team this season but without Pablo, they probably would have been more down than up. His fellow Valenciano Juan Mata has also been named to the squad although that’s nothing new seeing as he’s made it for the past few international matches.

The third unusual but deserving call up for Spain is Sevilla striker Álvaro Negredo who is set to win his second cap for La Furia Roja. He grabbed two goals last match when we ran rout in Zenica, smashing Bosnia-Herzegovina 5-2. He’s been continued his form for the rojiblancos helping them continue undefeated in the Champions League and as well as push towards Real Madrid and Barcelona for the top spot in La Liga.

The full squad looks like this:

Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Pepe Reina (Liverpool), Diego López (Villarreal).

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

Midfielders: Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), Sergi Busquets (Barcelona), Cesc Fàbregas (Arsenal), Xavi Hérnandez (Barcelona), Andrés Iniesta (Barcelona), Jesus Navas (Sevilla).

Strikers: Pablo Hérnandez (Valencia), Dani Güiza (Fenerbahce), Juan Mata (Valencia), David Silva (Valencia), David Villa (Valencia), Álvaro Negredo (Sevilla)

Personally I think we have a much deeper squad than Argentina but they seem to be lucky of late so one never knows what’s going to happen. The only thing I know is anyone who is lucky enough to witness this match should consider themselves privileged; it’s going to be nothing short of amazing.

If Casillas gets the start today like we expect him to, he will win his 100th cap for Spain and coincidentally enough its in our centenary match. We all know he’s probably claimed his spot as the best goalkeeper in the world especially after his Euro 2008 heroics and I believe this is a great achievement for a great player. Congratulations San Iker.

Three goals by David Villa, and one a piece for Albert Riera, Dani Güiza and Fernando Torres stamped our tremendous superiority on the Azerbaijani capital of Baku, so much so that even the home fans stood up and applauded.

An eight minute time frame decided this match as on the 34th minute Torres set up Villa for his first; his second followed four minutes later when he converted his chance which he created by his own sheer brilliance; finally his third came on the 42 minute as Fàbregas was fouled in the box which resulted in a penalty and of course it was easily taken care of by Villa, Villa, Maravilla.

It was a friendly match prior to playing in the Confederations Cup in South Africa, but there was a scare when Casillas just about dodged a kick mid-air when he made a brilliant save.

I guess we can’t boast about the victory too much considering it took over half and hour to get a goal which is pretty ridiculous considering it was the champions of Europe against a modest, Asian side. Then again, Ramos, Piqué, Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta and Silva who are the core of our squad, weren’t in the starting XI. Without our infamous playmaker Xavi, we relied more upon wing play through Riera and Cazorla which made the game a lot quicker than usual and overall was actually highly entertaining to watch (as usual, of course).

I’ll give Azerbaijan credit – they had heart, desire and faith but you can’t expect much against Champions.

We dominated from beginning to end but failed to create any dangerous chances until around the half hour mark where something just seemed to click. Their goalkeeper Valiyev made a few difficult saves before finally on the 34th minute Villa and Torres hooked up perfectly like they usually do and showed why they’re the best international striking partnership around. After that it was like the flood gates just burst open, because 4 minutes later El Guaje smashed a left footed strike which left Valiyev motionless as we celebrated our second goal. The completion of his hat-trick came on the 42nd minute when he converted a penalty with the greatest of ease. An eight minute hat-trick.. not too shabby.

The humiliation on the faces of the Azerbaijani players and coaching staff was evident and being a typical kind-hearted Spaniard, Vicente del Bosque acted accordingly. He took off David Villa for Sergio Ramos, Sergi Busquets for Cesc Fàbregas and Xavi for Joan Capdevila. He even introduced Pepe Reina to give San Iker a rest.

These substitutions only proved just how deep our squad is because on the 68th minute Riera scored, and three minutes later Güiza added another. Pretty boy Fernando Torres finished off the match as he added more salt in the wounds when he hit a picture-perfect chip over Valiyev which had even the Azerbaijani fans jumping on their feet to applaud such class.

La Furia Roja won, and pretty damn overwhelmingly too. Is there really any surprise? Probably not, but it’s still never a dull moment to watch such beautiful football being played. It’s also definitely a good foot to start out on before beginning our quest for the Confederations Cup later this week. This now means our glorious unbeaten run is stretched to 32 games – absolutely legendary.

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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The Sevilla Offside

¡¡Qué viva España!!

This victory really couldn’t have come at a better time as today the February FIFA rankings were released and once again, since July of last year we’re ranked number one. Sure these are just numbers given by football’s governing body using a questionable method but today when we stepped out on the pitch of El Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán we showed just why we topped the list again. This also marked the 29th straight match of our impressive undefeated streak which is quite an achievement all on it’s own.

Both teams started without a few of their key players as England was missing Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard, Manchester United and England captain Rio Ferdinand and his domestic teammate Wayne Rooney.

Meanwhile we were also missing our captain and star centre back Carles Puyol as he picked up a knock in his match for Barcelona against Sporting Gijón on the weekend which as a result made him withdraw from the squad that played today. We also missed Real Betis defender Juanito as he picked up an injury while training with the squad earlier this week.

At first I questioned Del Bosque’s lineup as it looked something like this:
Casillas
Sergio Ramos/Gerard Piqué/Carlos Marchena/Joan Capdevila
Marcos Senna
Xavi/Xabi Alonso/Iniesta
David Villa/Fernando Torres

No left footers causing Andrés to play on the left flank and Xavi who usually plays a central role started on the right flank. Despite all my doubt these two men impressed as always and showed just how valuable they are to La Selección.

Overall the game was a comfortable victory for us but the opening moments were pretty scary as Agbonlahor and Gareth Barry had chances to put England up but missed, luckily for us.

The Three Lions were probably left to rue these missed opportunities as on the 36th minute Xabi Alonso who was dominating the midfield put a perfect through ball to the feed of Euro 2008 star David Villa who then beat Everton defender Phil Jakielka and slotted it past David James. El Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán exploded as the fans realized how much this goal meant. Alonso and Senna both had decent chances before the half ended as well, but nothing doing.

Pepe Reina came in for Palop who was solid throughout the first half. Not sure why Beckham was in the England squad but none the less, he did come on at half time. Even with the LA Galaxy star midfielder, the visitors never created any decent chances right away and the game was swinging more in out favour than ever.

Not long after Villa was substituted for his Valencia teammate David Silva who didn’t start because he came back from his injury not too long ago. Fernando Torres was also substituted by Athletic Bilbao striker Fernando Llorente. Our two best top strikers off and we still manage to score again, that’s a sign of a top class team.

Xavi was the provider for the final nail in England’s coffin when he sent in a perfectly weighted free kick on which new boy Fernando Llorente put his head through and this goal coming in the 83rd minute sealed The Three Lions’ fate.

England and West Ham front man Carlton Cole had a perfect opportunity in the dying minutes of the match when he dribbled around Reina but Carlos Marchena was lucky there to clear the ball off the line. That was as close as England would get as the referee blew his whistle to call the game to a close and sealed our 29th straight game in which we have been undefeated.

The city of Sevilla is naturally one which is rich in culture, tradition, and is always bound to be buzzing at all times of the night. The city after this victory was much different however, it was more full of live (if that’s possible!) and people were singing and dancing through the streets. The people were absolutely ecstatic, it was simply amazing.

A point that has to be said about yesterday’s match is this – Xavi is the best play maker in the world. If you watched the game you can’t not agree, the boy is pure class. He was the MOTM by miles and even though the team was pretty flawless, Xavi was in a class all on his own, what a stunning performance. He does everything, he’s a workhorse in the midfield running all over the pitch, breaking up plays, recovering balls, going in hard to win every 50/50, truly is the lynchpin for our squad.

If anyone was questioning our ability I can assure you it is still there and it proves the depth in our squad when we have players like Silva, Güiza, Árbeloa, Fàbregas (when healthy) and Cazorla coming off the bench. The win at home to a team of England’s stature is definitely a sign that we still have what it takes and can defeat some of the best teams around. It also proves that size doesn’t matter seeing as England has (physically) one of the largest squads but we danced around them like it was La Fería.

The only bad news last night was that Llorente after scoring his first goal for Spain did limp off the pitch and will miss his match for Athletic Club this weekend against Recreativo de Huelva.

Usually I would sit here and write more about things from La Furia Roja’s perspective, but this time I’m going to critique the match. England were awful, they may have started good but really lack the pace and appear just to be no more than an average European team. I don’t think anyone can be serious when they say England will be serious World and Euro challengers in the next coming tournaments because they’re clearly weak. I don’t care that Rooney, Ferdinand, and Hargreaves were missing, sure they may have helped a bit but the outcome would have probably been the same. Also it doesn’t matter what fans consider the “stronger league” because even though 3 of the last 4 teams in the Champions League were English they still greatly struggled yesterday in Sevilla. Domestic and international football are two different things, look at the foreigners in La Liga compared to the foreigners in the Premier Leauge. Needless to say the influx is definitely in the Prem.

I think we can definitely look forward to the coming months ahead when we continue on the road to South Africa 2010. We have the best squad in history and the highest confidence to go with it too, who will stop La Furia Roja is what I want to know…

Both of our nations have produced countless stars who shine ever so brightly domestically but when we step out there in those major tournaments we just seem to crumble. This year around we put some of those critics back in line as we convincingly won the European Championships under the leadership of Luís Aragonés in Austria/Switzerland. England on the other hand, failed to even qualify for the tournament.

Aragonés stopped the hurting for all Spaniards when we claimed out first piece of silverware for over 40 years but can Fabio Capello do the same for England? They’ve definitely had a resurgence since he’s taken over but playing against the defending European champions is a whole other ball game.

There is not much to say about this match because I’ve pretty much said everything that needs to be said in the previous two posts here and here.

Just a few bits of team news though. Carles Puyol did pick up an injury over the weekend and has therefore pulled out of the squad that will play The Three Lions, his Barcelona teammate Gerard Piqué will most likely slot in at centre back due to his absence. Real Betis defender Juanito will also not play due to a knock he picked up in training earlier this week. As scheduled Fernando Torres will play even despite Rafa Benítez’ rant earlier this week.

The squad will therefore be like this:
Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas, José Manuel “Pepe” Reina
Defenders: Raúl Albiol, Álvaro Arbeloa, Joan Capdevila, Juanito, Carlos Marchena, Gerard Piqué, Sergio Ramos
Midfielders: Xabi Alonso, Sergi Busquets, Santiago Cazorla, Xavi Hernández, Andrés Iniesta, Albert Riera, David Silva, Marcos Senna
Forwards: Daniel Güiza, Fernando Llorente, Fernando Torres, David Villa

I think it will be a close match but playing at home The Lions have probably bit off more than they can chew.

"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.

I’m Anthony, a Spaniard by blood and birth, now living in Canada. When I saw the lack of activity here on the Spanish World Cup Blog I was quite disappointed to say the least. Just because there’s been no international matches for some time now, doesn’t mean nothing is going on in the wonderful world of La Furia Roja. I had to take this over, I need the world to (especially after becoming European Champions) know Spain, how amazing our team is, and why we deserve more than any other team to be seeded number one in the world.

I also write for the Sevilla Offside and started doing so because I wanted everyone to know about my beloved team, and over the past couple months things have started to pick up and more people are reading about Sevilla. It’s still a work in progress of course, we don’t have the stature of the Real’s and Barca’s of the world but we won 5 trophies in 15 months before, something Barça or Real can’t say they’ve ever accomplished. It seems that I’m doing a good job with my club so I thought I’d try doing it with my country.

So let’s start with the news that yesterday Cristiano Ronaldo beat out our two beloved European, Cup-Winning Spaniards Xavi and Fernando Torres which was no shock really. Not because I don’t think Xavi and Torres are worse than Mr. Ronaldo but favouritism is a huge part of our lives these days ladies and gentlemen, what can you do? It’s funny because Xavi was player of the tournament for the Euros and I think that should play a huge role in the decision making process considering Cristiano couldn’t do a thing for Portugal. And Torres, well what can I say about this guy, most ever goals by a foreigner in his first year in the Premier League, pretty amazing feat if I do say so myself. Not only did he defeat these two champions but this is what really surprised me. He edged out both Messi and Kaká for this award. I don’t like to get involved in these things (okay, well, maybe I do, just a bit) but Messi is clearly the best player in the world. In fact, I think all those four other men up on stage with cry baby Ronaldo are much better players than him and if I was assembling my dream team I would definitely pick one of the other four.

I guess FIFA felt bad for Cristiano’s little car crash earlier this week so they gave it to him, none the less, not deserved in my opinion.

Onto better news here as the RFEF (Real Federacion Española de Futbol, or the Spanish FA) announced that the upcoming friendly against England will be played in none other than El Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán in my hometown of Sevilla. Of course when I heard this I was beyond ecstatic and it’s a shame I live about a 9 hour flight away or I could have walked around the corner from my house to go watch the match. The match was actually originally supposed to be played in Madrid either in the Santiago Bernabéu or Vicente Calderón but due to previous reports of racist chants being chanted by Spanish fans at several black English players the RFEF was forced to change the venue in fear that if they didn’t the match would not take place. In my opinion this is good, don’t really have a reason for it other than it’s in Sevilla and we haven’t hosted an important international match since that of the 1982 World Cup Semifinal game between Germany and France although we did host the 1886 European Cup Final (Now known as the Champions Leauge) in which Steaua Bucharest handed Barça a 2-0 defeat.

It truly is good to get international football back in Sevilla and it’s also a perfect time for something else. Yup, that’s right, Mr. Del Bosque himself has called up Jesús Navas into the Spanish men’s team for the upcoming game against England. Jesús has represented Spain in u-17, u-19, and u-21 competitions but has had difficulty playing matches outside of Spain due to his serious homesickness’. Del Bosque also said that Diego Capel will most likely be called up into the squad to face the Three Lions and when I hear more about that I’ll be sure to let everyone know. The match will take place on February 11th and my mouth is watering at possibly having the two future wingers of the Spanish national team on my beloved Sevilla, it’s a win/win here for me really.

Some more good news here as French Newspaper L’Equipe named Casillas, Xavi, and Fernando Torres to their “Best starting XI of 2008″, once again showing that we definitely have some of the best players in the world. Somehow David Villa got beat out of his place alongside Fernando Torres in the French Newspaper to Zlatan Ibrahimovic… Don’t ask me how… The IFFHS (International Federation of Football History & Statistics) Named Iker Casillas the best Goalkeeper of the year and Xavi the best playmaker of the year, adding to our honours in Spain.

Earlier in the month the RFEF made a formal presentation to confirm their candidacy to host the 2018 World Cup Finals jointly with Portugal. I think it’s about time a major tournament was played in Spain and as winners of the European Championships this summer I think we more than deserve it. It’s a more than safe country, with the perfect lifestyle, amazing hotels, attractions, the most beautiful cities in the world, and even if we’re sharing it with the dirty corner to the West, I’m 100% sure the final will be played in Spain. There were many other countries that submitted a bid such as Belgium/Holland, Australia, and England, all of which are no where near as attractive as my beloved España.

To end this all off on a good note I’ll put it out there that Pelé (yes, the best player EVER) has tipped us to win the World Cup 2010 in South Africa saying that “They are the best team in the world, no one can deny that”.

Until next time..
¡¡Qué Viva España!!

Headlines for this game:

AS The conquest of Europe begins with America
MARCA Definitive test before Euro 2008

The rest don’t seem to have a definitive game preview laid out.

Starting Lineup

Here is the Spain lineup for the game. (4-1-4-1)

Casillas;
Sergio Ramos, Albiol, Marchena, Capdevila;
Senna;
Cazorla, Xavi, Cesc, Silva;
Güiza.

According to Marca, Spain will play a 4-1-4-1 instead of their normal 4-1-2-3. I’m not sure if they are just making this up, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you see a 4-4-2 and they can move Silva up front, or play a 4-5-1 as well if they decide to place Silva in the midfield.

Albiol gets the start in place of Puyol, as Aragonés makes the statement ‘You won’t lose your place in the squad for one mistake’ referring to the gift from Marchena against Peru. So the Catalan finds a place on the bench for the last tune-up.

The new entries into the squad are the Yellow Submarine duo of Senna and Cazorla. Cazorla was the surprise entry into the squad after Bojan opted out of the Euro Cup. He only has one cap for Spain (I’m guessing against Peru, but my computer is too slow to look right now). Senna has been capped 8 times and will be starting in the center.

Torres and Villa are both out against the United States with injuries. Villa injured himself in practice on Monday and won’t play as a precatution. Torres trained by himself on his injured right ankle and looks to be on track for the opening game of the Euros.

Goal.com had an interview today with Real Madrid sporting Director Jorge Valdano in which he expressed his..um..disappointment with the lack of Madridistas on the Spain team.

“I think there are too few Real Madrid men on the Spanish squad. The world champions called up Antonio Cassano, who was playing at a level three steps below that of Guti’s at Real Madrid, but the latter won’t play for Spain, a team who always have a hard time trying to make it past the quarterfinals in any competition.

“There is no logic to it. Guti had a great season and deserves to play for Spain. He is one of those players who can offer a valuable ingredient even if he isn’t a starter. Players like him have the temperament to unlock games like these,” he stated.

OOOO. There’s a cheapshot against Cassano. I remember playing soccer in Spain and a friend of mine, being a big bigger and out of shape and all the local kids calling him ‘Cassano’. Makes me laugh.

This really is just an open discussion about the game. I’m on Vacation now, so I don’t have more time to write. I’ll hopefully be watching the game about 34,000 feet off the air as long as my flight has all of the fancy TV’s on the back of everyone’s seat like it did on the way here.

So yeah. Discuss.

Cool Video Grabbed from the Liverpool Offside. Apparently the English are cheering on the Spaniards.

(Sorry, I felt the need to put this up since I used to sing this song drunk while watching any football game)

Daryl already got some of you up to speed on the fact that Raúl will yet again not be called by Aragonés for La Furia. Is this really a shock to anyone? Really? I didn’t think so.

To start off, here is the team picked by the Old Man himself.

Arsenal: Cesc

FC Barcelona: Puyol, Iniesta y Xavi

Betis: Juanito

Espanyol: Luis García y Riera

Getafe: De la Red

Liverpool: Arbeloa, Reina, Torres y Xabi Alonso

Real Madrid: Casillas y Sergio Ramos

Mallorca: Fernando Navarro y Güiza

Valencia: Albiol, Marchena, Silva y Villa

Villarreal: Capdevila y Senna.

De La Red Gets the Call

There has been all sorts of talk surrounding this game the last few days. The biggest buzz is the call up of Rubén de La Red, who is on loan to Getafe this season from Real Madrid. Last year, de La Red couldn’t get a shot in Madrid, but a small move to the suburbs of the capital city sees him take on a pivotal role for el geta this season.

He’s on 2 goals and 3 assists for the season, but he has played in 29 games so far. Laudrup looks to the young Madridista as a solid player in the middle of the field and he can prove his worth. I’ve only seen him in a few games this season, but from what I remember the boy can play.

In an article today in AS, the youngster said ‘If it was up to me, I would go back to Madrid’, though he said he does thank Getafe for giving him an opportunity this season (but I can’t find the article it was on).

Luis had this to say about the youngster.

“Es un jugador que está creciendo, puede jugar por delante de la línea de centro del campo. A cualquier jugador que veamos en buena forma le vamos a dar la oportunidad de poder venir’

‘He’s a young player who’s growing, he can play in front of the midfielders. Any player that we see looking good, we will give him the opportunity to be able to come.’

Battered and Bruised: Puyol, Torres, Marchena

Fernando Torres and Carles Puyol are questionable for the game on Wednesday. Puyol was able to come into training and run for about 10 minutes, while Torres wasn’t able to make it onto the training ground from being banged up in the game against Manchester United this past weekend.

We will know more about ‘El Niño’ tomorrow I’m sure.

Marchena was at training after being pelted with the ball during the Real Madrid tie on Sunday. He was taken to the hospital, checked out and sent on his way and was on the pitch for Monday’s training session.

Under Whistles from the Fans

The team arrived in Elche under a barrage of whistles from the fans for not signing autographs for a hoard of little children waiting outside of the hotel. The only Spaniard to sign was Cesc Fabergas, why am I not surprised? I would have even thought de La Red would want to sign as many notebooks as he could get his hands on.

Cesc Thinks He Can ‘Give Much More to the Team

Cesc has been critisized as of late for not playing his best matches under the National Colors. In an interview this week he said ‘I can give much more with Spain, answering to some of these rumors of a Cesc that exists for Arsenal, and the ‘bizarro’ Catalan Ces that doesn’t play well when he returns to his native soil.

The last game I saw I wasn’t overly impressed with Cesc, but I wasn’t disappointed either. It is one thing to be a leader for a team you play with day in and day out, but it is more difficult to step in and step up with a group of guys you see once in a blue moon practically.

At any rate, Cesc will need to be a factor in the game against the Italians.

We Must Protect This House

La Furia have the upper hand in Elche, having gone 4 for 4 in games played in the Martínez Valero. Spain have only given up 1 goal in those for games and have scored 10 goals for.

Belgium (3-0, en 1986),
Macedonia (3-0 en 1995),
Ukraine (2-1 en 2003)
Egypt (2-0 en 2006).

The Italians

Roberto Donadoni (who by the way was my favorite player ever growing up as a kid brings 21 players with him to Elche.

Buffon, Oddo, Materazzi, Barzagli, Pirlo, Aquilani, Zambrotta, Camoranesi, Borriello e Di Natale. La otra formación estaba compuesta por Amelia, Panucci, Cannavaro, Grosso, Ambrosini, Gattuso, De Rossi, Perrotta, Quagliarella, Iaquinta, Toni

Aside from that, when I tend to get outside of Spain ‘I don’t know my ass from a hole in the ground’ to quote my father. So I won’t event try to speculate what the Italians will do for the game.

But if anyone else has a preview for the Italians, post it in the comments below and I can add it here.

The game will be televised in Spain on TVE1 at 10:00 Spain Time (5:00 EST in the States since they haven’t changed their clocks yet).

I’ll post links to the game when I get them as well.