Vicente Del Bosque has put together a 30-man roster for the Spanish Nationals and it has two very important names on it:
Torres
Fabregas
That’s about all you need. Fernando Torres and Cesc Fabregas–especially Cesc–are not in the best shape, but they were MAJOR players in the whooping Spain put on the world at UEFA 2008. That team was all over the place. They played the game the right way. They put a hurting on teams that are sometimes unbelievable in retrospect.
Courtesy of ESPN–here is the Spanish Provisional Squad:
Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), David De Gea (Atletico Madrid), Diego Lopez (Villarreal), Jose Reina (Liverpool) Victor Valdes (Barcelona).
Defenders: Raul Albiol (Real Madrid), Alvaro Arbeloa (Real Madrid) Cesar Azpilicueta (Osasuna), Joan Capdevila (Villarreal), Carlos Marchena (Valencia), Gerard Pique (Barcelona), Carles Puyol (Barcelona), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid).
Midfielders: Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), Sergi Busquets (Barcelona), Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Javi Martinez (Athletic Bilbao) Marcos Senna (Villarreal), David Silva (Valencia), Xavi (Barcelona).
Forwards: Santi Cazorla (Villarreal), Jesus Navas (Sevilla), Juan Manuel Mata (Valencia) Pedro Rodriguez (Barcelona), Dani Guiza (Fenerbache) Fernando Llorente (Athletic Bilbao), Alvaro Negredo (Sevilla), Fernando Torres (Liverpool FC) and David Villa (Valencia).
Xavi, Iniesta, Pique–those are some more names that jump out at you. Now, who actually goes to South Africa could be a slightly different story, but if Cesc and Torres can get healthy then the Spanish will really be something to deal with.
I don’t know about you, but I’m still slightly marveling at the performance Spain put on at UEFA 2008. Could they possibly keep it up? I think so.
Because of the injury to Fabregas we all have to wonder if he is “on schedule” like he says he is. Coming back from a broken bone and coming back from a sprain are two different things.
That broken Fibula might be a tough task to handle.
