Well That’s That, No Raul In Swissaustria

It certainly looks like Luis Aragones has decided to put the kibosh on this hot topic early enough: no Raul at the European Championships. Luis, never one to dabble in controversy, has named his preliminary 31 man squad for the tourny and he’s omitted the leading scorer from the leading club in the number one league in the world, according to UEFA.

Despite having 102 caps at just the age of 30, Raul still hasn’t seen a national call up since September of 2006, and his hopes of a call for the summer were more based on his own form and numbers than anything pertaining to Aragones and his methodologies. So while it’s not really a shocker, it’s still newsworthy, because the guy is still very, very good. Unfortunate for Raul.

As for others: David Albelda, undesirable in Valencia, has been called up despite club form being comprised of nothing more than the positioning on his couch at home, having not played since December. Also making the early draft is Bojan (is he officially one name now?), enjoying a nice debut and early plaudits at Barca.

So Luis has called up a kid who can’t even vote until after the Euros are over in favor of the third leading scorer in La Liga, captain for club (and at one point country) and a guy still just 30 – often still considered the “prime” for football players. Makes sense.

The rest of the 31 man squad:

Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Andrés Iniesta, Xavi, Carles Puyol, Bojan Krkic (Barcelona), Daniel Güiza, Fernando Navarro (Real Mallorca), Cesc Fàbregas (Arsenal), Jose Reina, Álvaro Arbeloa, Xabi Alonso, Fernando Torres (Liverpool), Rubén De la Red, Pablo Hernández (Getafe), Andrés Palop (Sevilla), Juanito (Real Betis), Carlos Marchena, Joaquín, David Villa, David Silva, David Albelda (Valencia), Pablo Ibañez, Mariano Pernía, Antonio López (Atletico Madrid), Marcos Senna, Ángel, Joan Capdevilla (Villarreal), Raúl Tamudo, Luis García, Albert Riera (Espanyol).