Spain World Cup thread.

Yeah. But I doubt it will happen. Casillas is a Madridista after all. And probably a better keeper. Pepe is class though! Spain have some wonderful keepers. We should lend one to the poor English!

suported spain since started liking football

Righto! Welcome aboard then!

got to say villa and ramos are my fav players, how bout you guys?

Not Ramos- that's for sure  Torres is number one. Xavi and Iniesta are boss too though! Do you watch La Liga much?

less now taht i in japan, but still watch some, i like valencia tbh, my mate is a madrid suporter.

Everyone in Spain is asking for Guti to be selected...

Yay! A good 0-2 win against the French. Pleased with that. Villa and that other c**t via a rather large deflection. Played well in the first half, but slacked off a bit in the second. Still, a decent result. Pretty sure Del Bosque basically has the team he wants to take to the World Cup.

i actually like guti, i think he should be there.

Guti is a moron. Rockstar. Inconsistant. Show off. Madridista. Don't think he should be there at all.

i also like ramos but he seems to be pretty average at times....

Exactly, that's how I mean. Haha. As in, he looks (and acts) like a rockstar.

Del Bosque talking down the 'favourites' tag...

I expect DeGea, Lopez, Negredo, Guiza and three of Santi, Martinez, Busquets, Azpilicueta, Albiol to be omitted. linds2010-05-11 12:35:27

I doubt Albiol will be- he's a Madridista, so he should be alright. Don't be surprised if Guiza stays too, although I'm not sure how he has been playing in Turkey. I hope they take De Gea instead of Valdes just for the young lads experience, but I'm sure they won't. Spain are truly blessed for goal keepers. El-Ni�o2010-05-12 09:18:22

wow that is an abundance of quality keepers

And Asenjo is injured too.

Fcuk me, that's an awesome squad.

Spanish 23 announced:

Keepers: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Jose Reina (7th place Liverpool), Victor Valdes (Barcelona).

Defence: Raul Albiol (Real Madrid), Alvaro Arbeloa (Real Madrid), Joan Capdevila (Villarreal), Carlos Marchena (Valencia), Gerard Pique (Barcelona), Carles Puyol (Barcelona), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid).

Midfield: Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), Sergi Busquets (Barcelona), Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Javi Martinez (Athletic Bilbao), David Silva (Valencia), Xavi (Barcelona), Jesus Navas (Sevilla), Juan Manuel Mata (Valencia).

Forwards: Pedro Rodriguez (Barcelona), Fernando Llorente (Athletic Bilbao), Fernando Torres (7th place Liverpool), David Villa (Valencia).

Stoked Valdes made it, would be a starter in any other country except Italy and possibly Brazil.
No Marcos Senna though!? I guess Xabi Alonso has done enough to start. Guiza was superb at Euro, thought he may have made it, I guess Pedro's form at Barca got him in.

--------------Casillas--------------------
-------------------------------------------
--Ramos--Puyol--Pique--Capdevila--
-------------------------------------------
------------Alonso----------------------
---------------------Xavi----------------
Iniesta--------------------------Silva
-----------------------------------------
----------David Villa--Torres----------

Champions.

From another thread on Senna omission:

Senna left out of the Spanish final squad, somewhat surprising considering how well he played for them in EURO 2008.

Had injury problems for most of the past season, and although apparently fit now, has not been selected to go to South Africa.

Senna is a surprising omission, not sure who the ball winner in the midfield is, in this team. There is Martinez and Busquets (aswell as part time def mids, Albiol and Marchena) but none of them seem like a starting defensive midfielder.

Guess they're thinking they won't need any defensive mids, they'll have all the ball anyway.

dam, this squad is amazing, so strong
even the players who won't play would walk into most other countries starting XI,   
i really think Spain will do it
they got over the hurdle of big tournaments with euro, and on form i can't really see any teams being a huge challenge... but in the world cup anything can happen

As a Barca fan, I would have loved to see Bojan go to the World Cup.  Two Sheds2010-05-24 13:13:07

So being European champions, and losing once in about their last 30-odd games means they haven't come together as a team?

Fark me, they'll be untouchable when they actually get it together...

Struggled past Saudi Arabia today, need to get rid of the rust quickly.

Marchena, 49 consecutive games without defeat playing for Spain.

True, only 3-2, but still, win is a win. As long as they score more goals than opponents that's fine for me, love offensive football. coachingsoccer2010-05-30 09:01:12

Not ideal. But its only warm ups. Good to get a win. Last minute wins are always good for confidence! All gooood. Onwards and upwards.

Not bad, that.

Possession 72% to 28%. Brilliant.

Looked a bit too easy game before WC if you ask me, Poles were like children in a fog. Second goal - brilliant pass from Iniesta, heard he is in doubt for first game though?

The loss this morning may mean Spain finish 2nd in Group H.
If other favoured teams continue to get results, Spain's path to the final will be
Last 16   Brazil
Quarter   Netherlands
Semi       England

If they win the final against Germany/Italy or Argentina, they will be true World Champions
uiron2010-06-17 09:41:59

hm... how unexpected was that....

they have got to be a bit worried? chile wont be an easy assignment