Spain v United States

Tomorrow is the game we’ve all been waiting for. All adopted Spaniards (like myself) now have to choose what side to pick as La Furia take on the Stars and Stripes at La Sardinera in San Sebastian.

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.