Valencia’s Prodigal Sons Could Return for Spain

Pity the poor national team coaches who have to deal with the sometimes erratic decisions made by the guys running the clubs.

That’s the case with Luis Aragones of Spain, who is now trying to decide what to do with the three prodigal sons of Valencia, goalkeeper Santiago Canizares, midfielder David Albelda and forward Miguel Angulo.

Valencia has not had a good season this year, despite having just won the Copa del Rey. Their league form has been abysmal, and they’re currently sitting a mere two points out of the relegation zone. Difficult to comprehend in a team with this much money and talent.

They started the season with Quique Sanchez Flores at the helm, but he was fired in October and eventuallyl replaced by Ronald Koeman. Things went from bad to worse, so Koeman was recently fired and replaced by Voro. (Real name Salvador González Marco.)

One of Koeman’s first acts as Valencia manager was to dump the three above-mentioned players. They weren’t let go or traded, but they were told in December that they would not play for the remainder of the season.

One of Voro’s first acts was to bring these players back into the fold.

“The three players form part of the 25-man first team squad and are like any other of the players. If I think they are ready to play, they’ll play,” confirmed the club’s new coach.

And now Aragones has a decision to make: What to do with players who might have the potential to help out the National Team for Euros, but who haven’t actually played for most of the season? All three are internationals. Canizares has 46 caps, and Albelda has 52. Angulo is less experienced, with four caps, but he still figures into the equation.

[W]ith Koeman out, the trio are back in. However, having spent so much of the season out of football, many feel their chances of making the trip to Euro 2008 with La Furia Roja is unlikely.

However, the Spanish boss asserted the experienced trio may be in Austria-Switzerland this summer if they continue to do well from now until the end of the season - with just five games being left to play.

“It all depends on how they play from now on,” Aragones told Marca.

“The players will pick themselves, it’s down to them, they have to be in good shape, tactically, physically and mentally.

“I just hope Valencia begins to do well as they have three great players in their team.”

The players will pick themselves? Really? I wonder what they’re paying Aragones for then.

I don’t think Spain’s starting goalkeeper Iker Casillas needs to sweat too much about this news. And the odds are that there will be other Spanish players who are more in-form and match-ready than these three.

I guess it’s never a bad thing for a coach to have extra options. But it probably would have been nice for the options of Aragones and Spain if Valencia had skipped Koeman and gone straight to Voro.

I’m thinking Valencia’s prodigals would agree.

For more on the Valencia situation, be sure to check out Valencia Offside. And for all of your Spain NT news, make the Spain page at World Cup Blog your first choice.