Mata And Llorente In Spain Squad
Vicente del Bosque has called up Juan Mata and Fernando Llorente for the friendly international with Chile next week as he looks to continue testing players early in his reign.
14 Nov 2008 12:38:05
Related Links
Teams
Players
Spain coach Vicente del Bosque was unable to call up Andrés Iniesta for the Chile match because of injury, and opted to let Fernando Torres continue to recover with Liverpool, while Andoni Iraola, Fernando Navarro and Diego Capel have all been left out.
Despite the changes, Del Bosque has explained that nobody has been dropped or left out permanently and that he is using each friendly to try different things.
"We want to take this chance to have a closer look at (Juan Mata). He is a player who is in good form, an Under-21 player, and we think that this is a good time to move him up," the coach was quoted as saying by Marca.
More surprising was the inclusion of Llorente as the Athletic Bilbao player's style is not what Spain have been accustomed too, but Del Bosque wants to have other tactics available.
"There were several options and I have chosen him because he is also playing well," he continued.
"We have plenty of cover, but both (Fernando) Torres and (Dani) Güiza have had knocks recently so we thought Llorente would give us something extra.
"Besides, he deserves it for having such a good season and he will give us an alternative to try."
Del Bosque was keen to explain that he did not want to push Torres back into action after only just recovering from a knock that he suffered on international duty last month.
"We have to take care of Torres. We are not going to force anyone to come and make them play when they are not fit," he added.
"He played for Liverpool this week and therefore could have joined us, but we want to ensure that nothing happens."
Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas, José Manuel Reina
Defenders: Raúl Albiol, Álvaro Arbeloa, Joan Capdevila, Juanito, Carlos Marchena, Carles Puyol, Sergio Ramos
Midfielders: Xabi Alonso, Santi Cazorla, Cesc Fábregas, Xavi Hernández, Juan Manuel Mata, Albert Riera, Marcos Senna
Forwards: Dani Güiza, Fernando Llorente, Fernando Torres, David Villa
Lucas Brown, Goal.com
- Egypt Taking A Cautious Approach To Rwanda Qualifier
- Rwanda’s Amavubi Stars Off To Egypt For World Cup Qualifier
- Forum Threads Of The Week: Real Madrid Snag Benzema, Manchester United Bag Owen, FIFA President...
- Juventus Defender Legrottaglie Angry At FIFA For Opposing Religious Celebrations
- Del Piero Wants To Win It All Before Retiring With Juventus - Report
- Cameroon To Play A Friendly Against Austria In August
- Report: Morocco’s Soufiane Alloudi Almost Recovered From Knee Injury
- Referees Can Now Abandon Matches Due To Racist Behaviour - UEFA
- EXCLUSIVE: Sir Bobby Charlton Thanks Goal.com For Being Named England's Greatest Ever Player
- World Cup Qualifying Preview: Egypt – Rwanda
- Juventus Defender Legrottaglie Angry At FIFA For Opposing Religious Celebrations
111 - Del Piero Wants To Win It All Before Retiring With Juventus - Report
33 - Referees Can Now Abandon Matches Due To Racist Behaviour - UEFA
26 - EXCLUSIVE: Sir Bobby Charlton Thanks Goal.com For Being Named England's Greatest Ever Player
19 - Zinedine Zidane Proud Of Algeria's World Cup Qualifying Performances
17




