Euro 2008 Team Profile: Spain

Group: D; Greece, Russia, Sweden.

Nickname: La Furia Roja (The Red Fury)

Jersey: Red with blue shorts.

FIFA World Ranking (as of May 2008): 4, second best team in Europe behind Italy.

Fixtures/Schedule:

10/06/2008 v Russia 18:00
14/06/2008 v Sweden 18:00
18/06/2008 v Greece 20:45

Captain: Iker Casillas, GK, Real Madrid (76 caps)

Coach: Luis Aragones

His tenure will come to an end when Spain finishes their road through the tournament, giving way to Vincent Del Bosque next month. Unfortunately, it’s a tenure which has been marked by more controversy than success. From dropping Raul altogether to his blatant racism directed at Thierry Henry, it’s never a dull day with Aragones. At the end of the day, unless he wins all the bananas, his time for Spain will not be looked upon highly – perhaps because he should’ve been fired long ago.

Expectations: For Spain, this is always a tricky proposition. They easily have one of the most gifted squads at this tournament – perhaps the most gifted – but their unforgettable track record of epic underachievement slams the brakes on any sort of logical expectations. They’ve won one Euros title, in 1964, finished second in 1984, and finished fourth in the 1950 World Cup, but those are the only three occasions where Spain has advanced to the semi-finals of a major tournament. How does one explain that?

Within their group, they should advance. Absolutely no question about that, they’re the clear favorites in Group D. After that, however, it’s anyone’s guess. Their second round matchup would be against a squad of one of the four squads in the Group O’Death, and they could even finish first only to meet up with one of the countries from the World Cup Final in Berlin. And really, there’s no shame in losing to either of those teams, even though it would, once again, be of little consolation to fans of the Spanish NT.

Passage to the group stages is a must, but after that, even though this team may be stacked, a very good performance should be enough. After all, good, even great, performances may not translate to wins on that side of the bracket.

Key Player: Before the club season this was probably up for debate, though many would point to captain and keeper extraordinaire as the main difference maker. However, we all saw what Fernando Torres accomplished this season and he has become, without a doubt, one of the Top 5 most intriguing players at this tournament. 33 goals in 46 games in his first season in a new league is nothing short of astonishing. His hype was monumental as a teenager in Madrid, and now he’s fulfilled it. Spain will want him to do more of the same.

Other Key Players: Iker Casillas and Carles Puyol are absolute stalwarts in the back, two of the best in the world at what they do; and though Sergio Ramos is still very young at 22, it seems as though he’s been a world class defender for years now. The core of the back is in good hands. Unfortunately for opponents, this is where the embarrassment of riches begins. In midfield you have Xavi, dishing the ball off, Andres Iniesta, tearing apart defenses, Xabi Alonso, another superstar playmaker, David Silva, phenomenon in the making, and, oh yeah, Cesc. Hear he’s pretty good. Up top, along with Torres, will be another guy who just cannot stop scoring goals in David Villa, and one of the most sought-after goal scorers from this past season, Dani Guiza.

On paper, you could really make the argument Spain should win this tournament. Then again, it is Spain…

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Pepe Reina (Liverpool), Andres Palop (Sevilla)

Defenders: Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Joan Capdevila (Villarreal), Raul Albiol (Valencia), Carles Puyol (Barcelona), Carlos Marchena (Valencia), Fernando Navarro (Real Mallorca), Alvaro Arbeloa (Liverpool), Juanito (Real Betis)

Midfielders: Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Xavi (Barcelona), David Silva (Valencia), Santi Cazorla (Villarreal), Xabi Alonso (Liverpool), Ruben de la Red (Getafe), Marcos Senna (Villarreal)

Forwards: David Villa (Valencia), Daniel Guiza (Real Mallorca), Sergio Garcia (Real Zaragoza), Fernando Torres (Liverpool)

Complete Euro 2008 squads, with numbers, here.

Team Blog: The Spanish blog is being rotated with talent. Fitting.

Random International Moments:

Fernando Torres & friends score the fourth versus Ukraine in 2006.

Denmark makes an epic blunder and Emilio Butragueno takes advantage, scoring one of his four goals in a 5-1 thumping during World Cup ‘86.

Alfonso Perez scores a 95th minute goal to cap a classic comeback versus Yugoslavia, which saw Spain equal it at 3 apiece with a 90th minute penalty.

Click here for more Euro 2008 Team Profiles