Terrifying news from the continent as Vicente del Bosque has named his Spanish squad to make mincemeat of all comers at Euro 2012 in a few weeks time, the Harlem Globetrotters theme song playing in the background as they go about their business.
Despite the absence of some key personnel in Barcelona pair Carles Puyol and David Villa (out with dodgy knee and fitness issues following a broken leg respectively), the Spanish squad reads like something of a boast to the rest of world of the pure amount of strength in depth currently available at del Bosque’s disposal.
The key news concerns the strikers as, with record scorer for Spain Villa absent, there is added question marks over who will lead the Spanish line come their opening game against Italy in Gdansk on June 10th. The forwards that have made the squad are Fernandos Torres and Llorente, Alvaro Negrado and Pedro with David Silva, Jesus Navas, Juan Mata and Andres Iniesta als all capable of playing in the Spanish front three.
Cue mass pant wetting amongst Spain’s group opponents before Xavi, Xabi Alonso, Cesc Fabregas et al are even mentioned.
But what is even more frightening, somehow, is the players that Spain have had to leave behind which would quite feasibly get into the majority of other squads participating in the tournament. Players such as David de Gea, Andoni Iraola, Carlos Marchena, Joan Capdevilla, Martin Montoya, Iker Muniain, Borja Valero, Thiago Alcantara, Roberto Soldado and Adrian could make a handy enough starting XI by themselves.
Of course, the beauty of tournament football is that no matter how good your team looks on paper, it’s a sport that is played on grass (unless Sam Allardyce is involved).
That Spanish squad in full is;
Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Pepe Reina, (Liverpool), Victor Valdes (Barcelona)
Defenders: Alvaro Arbeloa (Real Madrid), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Juanfran (Atletico Madrid), Jordi Alba (Valencia), Raul Albiol (Real Madrid), Gerard Pique (Barcelona), Javi Martinez (Athletic Bilbao)
Midfielders: Xavi (Barcelona), Sergio Busquets (Barcelona), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), David Silva (Manchester City), Santi Cazorla (Malaga), Cesc Fabregas (Barcelona), Juan Mata (Chelsea), Jesus Navas (Sevilla),
Forwards: Pedro (Barcelona), Fernando Llorente (Athletic Bilbao), Fernando Torres (Chelsea), Alvaro Negredo (Sevilla)
And here, take your mind back to June 2008 when Barack Obama secured the Democratic presidential nomination, Bill Gates stepped down as Microsoft Chairman and Spain swept all before them to win their first major international football trophy since the sepia days of 1964. Warning; video comes complete with mediocre backing track.
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