<a href="http://epltalk.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/6/files/2010/05/Spanish-National-Team-Euro-2008.jpg"><div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3350" src="http://epltalk.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/6/files/2010/05/Spanish-National-Team-Euro-2008.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="333"></figure></div></a>
On Monday evening, Spanish national team manager Vicente del Bosque detailed the initial squad he will invite to Spain’s World Cup training camp.&nbsp; The thirty-man team will be whittled down to twenty-three by May 19, and for the most part, the squad has picked itself.&nbsp; The competition for those final few spots will concentrate on three areas: third-choice goalkeeper, fourth-choice forward, and the last two midfield spots.
The only question for the defense is if Osasuna left back César Azpilicueta can steal a spot from one of the midfielders.&nbsp; Equally capable on the left wing as well as left back, Azpilicueta has never played for the Spanish national team at the senior level.&nbsp; At twenty years of age, he will be the future left back for Spain, but with the expectations so high on this particular Spanish squad, Azpilicueta will be on the outside-looking-in because Álvaro Arbeloa can slot in at either full back position if either Sergio Ramos or Joan Capdevila gets injured or needs rest.

As for the goalkeeping situation, Iker Casillas and Pepe Reina are locked in as the number one and two goalkeepers respectively, so the last goalkeeping berth will be among three players with vastly different histories.
David de Gea of Atlético Madrid was the third-choice keeper on his own team to begin the season behind Roberto Jiménez and Sergio Asenjo.&nbsp; At nineteen years old, he was a mere afterthought, as Atlético signed Real Valladolid keeper Sergio Asenjo over the summer for €5 million to be the goalkeeping future.&nbsp; Early struggles for Asenjo and injuries for Roberto thrust de Gea into the unexpected spotlight, and he responded with a veteran’s savvy, keeping Asenjo on the bench and eventually sending Roberto on loan to Real Zaragoza in the January transfer window.
Víctor Valdés has been the starting goalkeeper for FC Barcelona since 2004, and although he has finished in the top three in the race for the Ricardo Zamora trophy (the award given to the goalkeeper with the lowest goals to games ratio) since he earned the goalkeeping helm, winning it twice, former national team manager Luis Aragonés and current manager Vicente del Bosque never seriously considered him as a potential call-up to the national team.&nbsp; A combination of inopportune, high-profile errors and occasional run-ins with managers have been presented as reasons why he was kept off the national team, but with his high-level play in the past two seasons, Vicente del Bosque may find it hard to continue to justify Valdés’ exclusion.
Unfortunately for Diego López, he came up through the Real Madrid cantera while Iker Casillas manned Real’s posts as one of the best goalkeepers in the world.&nbsp; He left Madrid in 2007 to join Villarreal, knowing that there was little chance he would overthrow Casillas in the Real goal.&nbsp; López’s good form with Villarreal led del Bosque to hand him the third-choice keeper berth over Andrés Palop in early 2009, and he has been ensconced in that spot since then.&nbsp; While he continued his consistent play this season for Villarreal, he might be penalized for both Villarreal’s underwhelming campaign and the grassroots swell of support for Víctor Valdés.
Tomorrow, this column will focus on the last midfield spots.
Vicente del Bosque’s Provisional 30-Man Squad
Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas, Pepe Reina, Víctor Valdés, Diego López, and David de Gea
Defenders: Sergio Ramos, Álvaro Arbeloa, Raúl Albiol, Gerard Piqué, Carles Puyol, Carlos Marchena, Joan Capdevila, and César Azpilicueta
Midfielders: Xavi Hernández, Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, Xabi Alonso, Juan Mata, David Silva, Marcos Senna, Santi Cazorla, Jesús Navas, Javi Martínez, and Cesc Fàbregas
Forwards: David Villa, Fernando Torres, Fernando Llorente, Pedro Rodríguez, Dani Güiza, Álvaro Negredo

Vicente del Bosque Announces Spain's Provisional 30-Man Squad For FIFA World Cup 2010 Part One

Vicente del Bosque Announces Spain's Provisional 30-Man Squad For FIFA World Cup 2010 Part One - World Soccer Talk

<div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-1985 aligncenter" src="http://epltalk.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/6/files/2009/09/kaka-ronaldo-villarreal.jpg" alt="kaka ronaldo-villarreal" width="512" height="384"></figure></div>
Villarreal 0-2 Real Madrid 
0-1 Ronaldo, 2’ 
0-2 Kaka (pen), 73’
With four wins in four league games and three clean sheets in the bunch, it’s statistically difficult to find fault with Real Madrid’s early season performances. They have ostensibly done everything right in their opening games: they have incorporated all the new faces into the mix, gotten big contributions from old favorites like Raul and Guti, and seen their world record signing get off to a record-breaking start.
Yet there were troubling signs amidst all the success. They didn’t look like much of a team even in their comfortable wins, only playing in sync with each other for brief stretches. The central midfield looked woefully bereft of ideas after injury knocked out Xabi Alonso for a few games. And that defense – god help them, they were trying, but they seemed to have no idea who was supposed to be where, looking particularly susceptible to counterattacks and set pieces.
In short, they looked exactly like they should: like a team full of new personnel searching for its identity. Everyone was adamant in the preseason that it would take time for the superstars to gel into a cohesive unit, but with two of the last three FIFA World Players of the Year, it’s hard not to get carried away in your expectations, hoping to see them set the world on fire from their first moments together. Instead, they showed flashes of brilliance interspersed with long stretches of almost catatonic malaise, uncertain in possession and positioning.
Wednesday’s game against Villarreal showed the beginnings of progress and a hint of what Manuel Pellegrini is trying to establish with this team. It was perhaps their least spectacular performance, a relatively pedestrian 2-0 win away to Villarreal, but the steadiness of their play was more impressive than any of the fireworks of previous games.
That’s not to say that this one didn’t have fireworks of its own, though. It took less than two minutes for Cristiano Ronaldo to get off the mark, sprinting upfield before darting inside and raking one past Diego Lopez to open the scoring. It was the second time in as many games that CR9 scored inside the first two minutes, both times on strikes as fabulous as his own sense of style. As in the game against Xerez, they took their foot off the gas a bit after the early goal, but this time they looked more confident in possession and sure of their ability to dominate the game with or without more goals. They were helped in this regard by the sending off of Gonzalo in the 35th minute after he picked up his second yellow on a high kick to Kaka’s midsection.
Villarreal got themselves into the game a little more early in the second half, but to their credit, Real’s defense handled the attacks of the Yellow Submarine with considerable fluency. This was no mean feat, considering the back line had to be reshuffled at the last second when Garay suffered an injury in the pre-game warm-up, forcing Sergio Ramos to central defense and Lass Diarra to unfamiliar territory at right back. I’m sure Pellegrini will be thrilled to have both Sergio and Pepe back in the line-up come Saturday when they take on Tenerife, as the Portuguese international has finally finished serving his 10-game suspension for his notorious Getafe meltdown. They’re still not 100%, as Arbeloa is carrying a knee injury, but with Ramos, Pepe, and Albiol, they have the makings of a staunch defense.
Madrid put the game away on a disputable penalty call by Manuel Mejuto Gonzalez in the 73rd minute. Marcelo made a good run to the end line, and when he attempted to send it back across goal, the ball struck Angel’s raised arm as he slid in to make the challenge. Having already gotten his goal for the game, Ronaldo stepped aside to let Kaka take the PK, which he converted, sending the keeper the wrong way and rolling it into the net. It was the Brazilian’s first goal for the club.
It was really a rather tepid effort by Villarreal in their first match against their former manager, but that shouldn’t take away from the improvements Real appeared to have made in this match. Guti, who started the match with the captain’s armband, helped control play for Madrid and greatly contributed to the effort to stabilize some of the team’s shaky tendencies. Cristiano’s crossing left a lot to be desired, and Higuain is a long way off linking up with his new midfield providers, but all in all it was a promising display. Perhaps I had the storyline wrong. It isn’t so much that this team of superstars is underperforming despite racking up the wins. Rather, they are continuing to secure victories even as they come into their own, surviving the growing pains without sacrificing any points along the way. Now if they could only find a legitimate left back, I could quit complaining entirely.

Modest Improvement For Madrid

Modest Improvement For Madrid - World Soccer Talk

Latest news from diego lopez. Find out about all the news related to diego lopez on worldsoccertalk.com

ALL POSTS TAGGED "diego lopez"

News

Vicente del Bosque Announces Spain's Provisional 30-Man Squad For FIFA World Cup 2010 Part One

News

Modest Improvement For Madrid