Spain Rebuild Slowly but Surely After World Cup Blowout

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: March 24, 2015

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When Spain’s players step off the team bus at the Amsterdam Arena early on Tuesday evening next week, it is doubtful that they will be burdened with the ennui that most assume to be part of being involved in international friendlies.

More than nine months on from the most chastening of World Cup openers for La Furia Roja in Salvador, it is safe to say that the memory of it still regularly haunts Spanish minds­—and never more so than when facing the Netherlands, the nation that meted out the punishment in Brazil’s balmy north-east. 

Perhaps a rebuild had been overdue, with Spain’s stunning performance in the Euro 2012 final against Italy turning out to be a swansong for a peerless generation, though we couldn’t be sure that was the case at the time. The job that Vicente del Bosque is occupying himself with now is radically different to the one he inherited from the late Luis Aragones in 2008.

While the initial brief was maintenance (generally one of football’s most thankless tasks), the emphasis is now slanted toward virtual revolution.

In the 24-man squad picked for the Euro qualifier against Ukraine in Sevilla and the subsequent friendly in Amsterdam, there are nine names who didn’t make the trip to Brazil last summer—Sergio Asenjo, Dani Carvajal, Marc Bartra, Juan Bernat, Mario Suarez, Mikel San Jose, Alvaro Morata, Vitolo and Isco. A 10th, Malaga’s Juanmi, was added on Monday as cover for Diego Costa.



Accordingly, eight dropped out—it was of course a 23-strong group at the World Cup—with Pepe Reina, Javi Martinez, Cesar Azpilicueta, Xavi, Xabi Alonso, Juan Mata, David Villa and Fernando Torres not retained. It should be pointed out that Martinez is injured, while Alonso, Villa and Xavi all retired from the international game after the World Cup.

Some of the form displayed by Mata and Torres since the dawn ...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football

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