SPAIN SQUAD ANNOUNCED

The Spanish squad has been announced for the upcoming friendly match against Ecuador which is going to take place at Estadio Olimpico Atahualpa on Wednesday.

As expected, the senior players have been rested and the youngsters have been brought in.

This will be Spain’s first match after their defeat against Brazil in the final of the Confederations Cup one and half months back.

The senior players who haven’t been picked are Sergio Busquets, Gerard Pique, Fernando Torres and Xavi.

Quite a few members of the U-21 squad including Thiago Alcantara and Isco have been called up.

Announcing the squad yesterday, the manager of the Spanish team Vicente Del Bosque said, “This is just the beginning of the season and we will have to consider many factors at this point of time.”

“This shouldn’t be seen as a friendly fixture only. This is a very important match. If we do well here, we will go into the match against Finland in a positive frame of mind.”

Spain has performed quite well in the World Cup qualifiers so far. They have won 3 out of their 5 games. The remaining couple of games have been draws.

La Roja is currently at the first position in the Group I points table with 11 points. France which is at no. 2 has one point less than them.

Spain still has to play 3 World Cup qualifiers. The first one of them will be against Finland on 6th of September at Helsinki Olympiastadion. After that, there will be a couple of home games against Belarus and Georgia respectively.

When asked about Spain being in a comfortable position in Group I, Bosque said, “Yes, we are at the top of the table with only 3 games left. So, we have a great chance, but, we can’t be careless.”