Spain squad named for Czech Republic and Scotland games in October

Jordi Alba’s first call-up to the Spanish senior squad was the big news as Vicente Del Bosque announced his squad for the final two European Championship qualifiers against the Czech Republic and Scotland next week.

The Valencia defender has made a fine start to the season and is the latest in a number of candidates to get an opportunity at left-back since the demise of Joan Capdevila.

Elsewhere, Carles Puyol and Gerard Piqué make their return from injury whilst Raul Albiol maintains his place in the squad despite falling further down the pecking order at Real Madrid since the arrival of Raphael Varane.

In midfield David Silva is selected despite critiscising Del Bosque earlier this month for favouring players who play for Real Madrid and Barcelona.  Meanwhile up front Fernando Torres is picked again despite his early season troubles, as is Fernando Llorente who has scored only once so far this campaign.  However surprisingly there is still no place for Roberto Soldado who has already found the net six times for Valencia since the start of the season.  The two Fernandos are though joined by Álvaro Negredo and the Barca duo of Pedro and David Villa.

The 23-man squad will travel to Prague and face the Czech Rep on October 7th at the Generali Arena. Then to round off the campaign they’ll catch a flight back to Spain and play Scotland on October 11th in Alicante at the Estadio José Rico Pérez – home of Hércules. Though qualification is already assured after the win against Liechtenstein earlier in September, there is still much interest in the selection to see whether players like Alba, Thiago, Javi Martínez and Negredo will continue to get their chance in the build-up to next year’s European Championships.

This squad list is as follows:

Goalkeepers:

Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Pepe Reina (Liverpool), Víctor Valdés (Barcelona)

Defenders:

Álvaro Arbeloa, Raul Albiol, Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Carles Puyol, Gerard Piqué (Barcelona), Jordi Alba (Valencia)

Midfielders:

Sergio Busquets, Cesc Fábregas, Xavi, Thiago (Barcelona), Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), Santi Cazorla (Malaga), Javi Martínez (Athletic Bilbao), Juan Mata (Chelsea), David Silva (Man City)

Attackers:

Fernando Llorente (Athletic Bilbao), Álvaro Negredo (Sevilla), Pedro Rodriguez, David Villa (Barcelona), Fernando Torres (Chelsea)

The dates are as follows:

vs Czech Rep, October 7th @ 19:45

vs. Scotland, October 11th @19:45

Tags: Czech Republic, Scotland, Spain