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Mata and Torres dropped from Spain squad

By on February 28, 2014

Juan Mata and Fernando Torres’ World Cup hopes have been dealt a massive blow as Spain manager Vicente Del Bosque left both out of the Spain squad for the country’s final friendly before the World Cup this summer.  Despite both being veterans of Spain’s 2010 World Cup winning squad and their successful 2012 European Championship side, the two current and former Chelsea players have been omitted form the Spain squad that includes Atletico Madrid forward Diego Costa, who had previously appeared in friendlies for Brazil’s national team, and Bayern Munich starlet Thiago Alcantara, two players whom Del Bosque favored over Mata and Torres.

While Mata and Torres will not feature in Spain’s friendly verses Italy at the Vicente Calderon on Wednesday, Del Bosque said there is still time to win a play in the squad when he announced his decision, saying: “There are more than two important players who are left out. But this list is just for Italy. There is time in front of us, three months of competition, and many things could happen that ratify this list or make us bring others.”

However, there will be a Torres in the side after Del Bosque surprisingly gave Atletico Madrid full-back Juanfran Torres a surprise call-up for the friendly.  Napoli’s Raul Albiol is also among the list of unexpected inclusions in the squad, while Cesar Azpilicueta was another outside-back who got the call ahead of Real Madrid’s Alvaro Arbeloa. On Azpilicueta’s inclusion, Del Bosque said:  “Of course there are some who are not coming who have done a lot to deserve it. But we believe that Azpilicueta is playing well at Chelsea and we are going to watch him up close. His versatility is useful for us.”

Meanwhile, Bayern’s Javi Martinez and Atletico’s Javi Martinez are the surprise midfield call-ups, but Spain’s starting eleven is still expected to look somewhat the same as always with Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Sergio Busquets, Cesc Fabregas, David Silva, and Jesus Navas all getting their usual place in the squad.  Yet the team that plays against Italy cannot be the same that featured in Spain’s meetings with the Azzurri in the Confederations Cup semifinal last summer or the Euro 2012 final the year before without Mata and Torres, making an already tough test presumably even harder.  Del Bosque acknowledged the difficulty of the match, saying: “They (Italy) are one of the world’s big national teams. They have Juventus as a base, and are playing very strong games, like the first game of Euro 2012, the two from the Confederations Cup, one of them agonising with extra-time when they were just as strong as we were. And the final [of Euro 2012], which was for sure our best game of recent years.”

Spain Squad in full

Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas, Pepe Reina, Victor Valdes

Defenders: Juanfran Torres, Javi Martinez, Sergio Ramos, Jordi Alba, Cesar Azpilicueta, Raul Albiol

Midfielders: Xabi Alonso , Sergio Busquets, Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas, Koke, Thiago Alcantara, Jesus Navas, David Silva, Santi Cazorla

Forwards: Diego Costa, Alvaro Negredo, Pedro Rodriguez

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.