The season for club football is over but there is still a lot to look forward to this month. As our attention moves to Euro 2016, a number of footballers have barely had a chance to catch their breath before joining their respective national teams in the ultimate quest to be known as the continent’s best team.
But when the final squads were announced, a select few players who had a good chance of making the national team were cut from the list of probables. They will be dismayed but will have to live with the fact that they were either not fit enough or simply not good enough to replace the quality of players available.
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One such squad that saw some great players cut was Spain. As La Furia Roja coach Vicente Del Bosque said when announcing his squad, “Everyone wanted to be here, but we only had 23 spots.”
With that in mind, we picked a team of 11 players Spain cut and realised that almost every player could walk into any other team at Euro if they had the chance!
Formation: 4-4-2
Goalkeeper
While Del Bosque has his hands full on choosing between Iker Casillas and David De Gea, Sergio Rico may well and truly be warming the bench unless injury strikes. But one goalkeeper who has had a fine season and did not make the squad was West Ham goalkeeper Adrian.
The Hammers, always used to mid-table mediocrity in the past few years, saw a spirited rise up the table to finish seventh under new boss Slaven Bilic. The Croatian manager turned around the club’s fortunes and made them a force to reckon with before their move to the Olympic Stadium.
The 29-year-old goalkeeper played 32 games in the Premier League and faced as many as 138 shots on goal. In doing so, he made a total of 101 saves, keeping 9 clean sheets.
Unfortunately, a calf injury at the end of April saw his season end prematurely, missing the last three games. But they will look to his services when their Europa League qualifying campaign gets underway at the start of next season.
Defence
Spain’s first-choice back four may as well be Sergio Ramos and Gerard Pique in central defence with Jordi Alba and Juanfran in the role of full-backs. Hector Bellerin and Cesar Azpilicueta would be backups in the full-back position while Marc Bartra and Mikel San Jose would be backup central defenders.
If Del Bosque had to choose between other full-backs plying their trade in Europe, he need look no further than Arsenal’s Nacho Monreal and Villarreal’s Mario Gaspar. Monreal has been one of the Gunners’ most consistent players in the past two seasons. A gritty defender at the back, he times his runs into the final third well when on the attack, always putting in the right cross or cut-back for his teammates.
Gaspar, on the other hand, has added the threat of scoring goals for the Yellow Submarine. With two goals and two assists in the league this season, Gaspar helped Villarreal secure a top four finish and qualify for the Champions League.
In central defence, it is a pair with the same surname – Martinez. Real Sociedad’s 25-year-old defender Inigo Martinez has had a good season and many would say he was very close to getting a callup for Euro. The Basque club finished ninth this season and Inigo was a calm and solid presence at the back.
Javi Martinez has not played as much as he would have liked at Bayern Munich but has played in Del Bosque’s squads before. The 27-year-old can play either as a defender or as a defensive midfielder and a versatile player who can play in various positions is always a huge asset.
Midfield
Two of the biggest surprises when the Spain squad was announced was the omission of Saul Niguez and Isco. The Real Madrid midfielder, especially, has not had the best of seasons at the Bernabeu after Zinedine Zidane took over. He has failed to hit the heights of his days at Malaga and his first season in the Spanish capital but he remains a valuable member of the squad.
Atletico Madrid did well to reah the Champions League final and give Barcelona a run for their money in La Liga until the penultimate weekend of fixtures. And Saul has been an integral part of the Rojiblancos setup, playing either on the right or in central midfield. He scored 9 goals and had 4 assists in all competitions this season and the 21-year-old is now hot property with clubs across Europe chasing his signature.
Juan Mata’s stock has dipped ever since his move from Chelsea. A two-time Player of the Year at Stamford Bridge, he has now been reduced to making the occasional contribution on the pitch at Manchester United, never really settling into a single role under Louis van Gaal.
But the Spaniard’s talent has never been questioned. And having scored in the final of Euro 2012, albeit when the game was already won, Mata is one player who could easily start for many other teams if he wasn’t Spanish.
The same goes for his compatriot also plying his trade in the Premier League – Santi Cazorla. The diminutive midfielder was flying under the radar until his move to Arsenal in 2012 saw him become one of the finest midfielders on display in England.
With the ability to shoot with both feet, nobody really knows what his preferred foot is. He can either control the game in central midfield or provide the incisive passes to create goalscoring opportunities. A knee injury saw him miss most of the season after he had surgery and, had he been fit, he would have been a shoo-in as a backup midfielder in Del Bosque’s squad.
Forwards
“We can't always be looking to the past,” said Del Bosque when Fernando Torres was excluded from the Spain squad. The striker who scored in the 2008 final to give Spain the first of three major trophies has given way to Aritz Aduriz, Nolito and Alvaro Morata.
The 32-year-old frontman, who has more than 100 caps for Spain, had been selected for every major tournament since the 2006 World Cup. Until now. Sadly, having lost the pace of old that made him a world class striker, has deserted him at his age and he now plays as a decoy striker to Antoine Griezmann at Atletico, playing the final pass more than being the end product. La Roja have enough players in that position and Torres was notably excluded.
Along with Torres, another player from his former club Chelsea was also dropped. Diego Costa chose Spain over Brazil and played in the 2014 World Cup which proved to be a disaster. Unable to adapt to a tiki-taka style of play with a bit of directness involved up front, Costa was neither here nor there and performed poorly as the defending champions exited in the group stage.
His on-field antics did see Del Bosque warn him earlier this season but the manager has decided that his side are better off without the 27-year-old leading the line.
