Spain Call-Up

Luis Aragonés divulged his list today and for the most part there were no surprises. The biggest news to come out of this list is the incorporation of Villarreal’s Santi Cazorla as Bojan Krkic decided to pass on Euro 2008 and rest. ( I thought he was 18, not 38) Aragonés also counted on five players that up to Saturday never earned a cap for <span style="font-style:italic;">La Furia</span> but can offer a great deal to the national team in multiple roles. Cazorla in addition to <span style="font-weight:bold;">Fernando Navarro</span>, <span style="font-weight:bold;">Ruben de la Red, Andrés Palop,</span> and <span style="font-weight:bold;">Sergio García</span> will be playing for the national team for the first time ever in the coming days. All of them were rewarded in one way or another for their solid performances of the past year. In some cases the recognition was given a few months too late. For example, Palop, who had a vital role in Sevilla’s recent success was not his 2007 self this time around. He might play a few friendlies or the third game of the group stages if they get out of the groups stage by then. Palop will mostly be fighting for the back-up goalkeeper spot as Iker Casillas will be there (it seems) for about the next decade. The biggest criticism, outside of Raúl’s omission, was the callup of three Valencia players. <span style="font-weight:bold;"> David Villa</span> is a legitimate option, but the incorporation of <span style="font-weight:bold;">Raúl Albiol </span>and <span style="font-weight:bold;">David Silva</span>. As a whole the team was a revolving door and there were no players that had consistent play but were able to win the Copa del Rey. <span style="font-weight:bold;">Goalkeepers:</span> Total Caps- 84 Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Andrés Palop (Sevilla), Pepe Reina (Liverpool-ENG) <span style="font-weight:bold;">Defenders:</span> Caps- 175 Raúl Albiol (Valencia), Álvaro Arbeloa (Liverpool-ENG), Joan Capdevila (Villarreal), Juanito (Real Betis), Carlos Marchena (Valencia), Fernando Navarro (Mallorca), Carles Puyol (Barcelona), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid) <span style="font-weight:bold;">Midfielders</span>Caps- 154 Xabi Alonso (Liverpool- ENG), Francesc Fabregas (Arsenal-ENG), Santi Cazorla (Villarreal), Ruben de la Red (Getafe), Andrés Iniesta (Barcelona), Marcos Senna (Villarreal), David Silva (Valencia), Xavi (Barcelona), <span style="font-weight:bold;">Forwards</span>Caps-79 Dani Güiza (Mallorca), Sergio García (Zaragoza), Fernando Torres (Liverpool-ENG), David Villa (Valencia) <span style="font-style:italic;">Players left out<span style="font-weight:bold;"></span></span> Obviously one has to start out with the absence of Raúl. One of the top scorers in La Liga this past year was never really given a chance by Aragonés. So much was his resignation to the fact that he said he was going to rest during the summer to focus on winning titles with Madrid. This move could be the one that breaks whatever is left of the Wiseman’s legacy. So if scoring was his measuring stick… then why Sergio García? This could be reason enough (and as ludicrous as it sounds) for Spain to want to see Aragones go down in flames and see Vicente del Bosque take over ASAP. As far as the four forwards, he has more caps (104) and goals (44) than all of then combined, Victor Valdés was left out as well. The possible Zamora trophy winner was this shaky at times this season, but came up big when called upon. Based on Aragones’ call-up, he fell to fourth in the national team food chain because of his team’s bad performance. So if that was the measuring stick… then why Andrés Palop? Aragonés got his way and his players. Now he will go out on his terms. There is no doubt that if he crashes out, no one will cry a tear for him going into the sunset- empty-handed