Call-up for the Italy-Spain friendly: Thiago Alcántara Is In!

August 5th, 2011 | by: Ade C. | Comments Off

Our Wise Walrus has spoken again, and what he has said is, “I’m going to do the same thing I always do, but I’m going to sneak in a newbie so you lot have something to talk about”…

I'll give you a small clue...

For the friendly against Italy that will be played next Wednesday (August 10) at Bari, Del Bosque has called up:

Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Pepe Reina (Liverpool), Víctor Valdés (FC Barcelona)

Defenders: Álvaro Arbeloa (Real Madrid), Raúl Albiol (Real Madrid), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Gerard Piqué (FC Barcelona), Andoni Iraola (Athletic de Bilbao).

Midfielders: Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), Sergio Busquets (FC Barcelona), Santiago Cazorla (Málaga), Andrés Iniesta (FC Barcelona), Thiago Alcántara (FC Barcelona), Xavi Hernández (FC Barcelona), Javi Martínez (Athletic de Bilbao).

Forwards: David Villa (FC Barcelona), David Silva (Manchester City), Fernando Llorente (Athletic de Bilbao), Fernando Torres (Chelsea), Pedro Rodríguez (FC Barcelona), Álvaro Negredo (Sevilla), Juan Mata (Valencia).

So, Iraola gets the call-up instead of Capdevila -for whom, really, we need to find a permanent replacement- and Thiago Alcántara can make his debut for La Roja, whether on the force of his performance at the U21 Euros and at the pre-season with Barça, or on the force of the rumours that stage-dad Mazinho wouldn’t mind his sons playing for the Brazil NT. Thiago also fills the spot left by Cesc Fàbregas -all resemblance with the situation at a certain Catalan club is entirely coincidential-, of whom Del Bosque said that wasn’t called-up because he hadn’t been training with his team.

Considering this is going to be a pre-season, international friendly, I’m not expecting much of interest to happen during the match, but I will be watching avidly all the same, and so should you!