Spain

Messi983

Senior Member
Players called up by Robert Moreno for games against Norway and Sweden. Busi is the only Barça player on the list. Reguilon, Pau Torres and Gerard Moreno will have a chance to make their NT debuts.

Porteros: De Gea, Kepa, Pau.

Defensas: Carvajal, Jesús Navas, Sergio Ramos, Diego Llorente, Reguilón, Albiol, Pau Torres, Bernat, Iñigo Martinez

Centrocampistas: Rodri, Ceballos, Cazorla, Sarabia, Busquets, Luis Alberto, Thiago, Saúl, Fabián.

Delanteros: Gerard Moreno, Oyarzabal y Rodrigo.
 

Andresito

Senior Member
Staff member
Despite all the successes of the youth teams in the last 8 or so years, that squad is pretty mediocre.
 

Barcaman

Administrator
Staff member
Players called up by Robert Moreno for games against Norway and Sweden. Busi is the only Barça player on the list. Reguilon, Pau Torres and Gerard Moreno will have a chance to make their NT debuts.

Pretty shocking but understandable. Alba injured, Pique past it. Also could very well be without Busquets.
 

Messi983

Senior Member
Pretty shocking but understandable. Alba injured, Pique past it. Also could very well be without Busquets.

Pique has retired from NT. I think Busi and Alba should do the same after Euro (they won't retire now).

Only one Barca player and barely any trust in their successful youth. Not surea about that list to be honest.

Spain is as good as qualified with 4 games left so Moreno is just trying out different players the same way Lucho did before him. I can't really say any of the players on the list is there undersevedly, maybe Busi is questionable based on his current form but he has a lot of credit from the past. I haven't watched Luis Alberto this season but he has a goal and 4 assists in 6 league games for Lazio which is good.

It's also not an old team overall. Most of the players are in what is supposed to be their best age (around 24-28) with Busi, Ramos, Albiol, Navas and Cazorla the only ones being over 30. The later two are having great seasons so can't really complain about them being called up over some younger players.

It's true there are only 3 starters from a team that has won U21 Euro this summer (Fabian, Ceballos, Oyarzabal) so maybe guys like Marc Roca and Olmo could also get a chance but it's possible they'll get it next month. I like Fornals but he still hasn't established himself in West Ham, Vallejo at Wolves or Firpo with us are not playing much while Aguirregabiria is not on the same level he was last season with Alaves.

So I don't think any of those guys deserves to be called up at this moment over the players who are on the list. On the other hand Unai Nunez made his NT debut in September but he's lost his starting position at Bilbao since then and Pau Torres is playing well for Villarreal. CB is probably the biggest question mark of all positions as I don't think any player besides Ramos has a fully guaranteed spot in the team for Euro right now.

From other players Joan Jordan has started a season really well for Sevilla so he could be a future candidate for a call up. Mikel Merino is also doing well for Sociedad but Spain just has a lot of good midfielders so it's hard to get into the team.

Loren Moron is in a good goal-scoring form early in the season but Gerard Moreno is just a better player overall so he got advantage this time but if Loren will continue to score he could get an opportunity too. If Borja Iglesias will find his last year form at Betis he's another candidate. And obviously Paco, Aspas or Diego Costa could be re-called the next time.

There is still some time for Moreno but I think he'll eventually need to make that expanded team of around 30 players in his mind before the end of this year as there will be only 3-4 more friendly games next year before he'll have to announce the squad for Euro.
 

Leo_Messi

New member
Looking forward to watching Mikel Oyarzabal in action. A crack and a very exciting player. Thoroughly deserved call-up.

Pique has retired from NT. I think Busi and Alba should do the same after Euro (they won't retire now).



Spain is as good as qualified with 4 games left so Moreno is just trying out different players the same way Lucho did before him. I can't really say any of the players on the list is there undersevedly, maybe Busi is questionable based on his current form but he has a lot of credit from the past. I haven't watched Luis Alberto this season but he has a goal and 4 assists in 6 league games for Lazio which is good.

It's also not an old team overall. Most of the players are in what is supposed to be their best age (around 24-28) with Busi, Ramos, Albiol, Navas and Cazorla the only ones being over 30. The later two are having great seasons so can't really complain about them being called up over some younger players.

It's true there are only 3 starters from a team that has won U21 Euro this summer (Fabian, Ceballos, Oyarzabal) so maybe guys like Marc Roca and Olmo could also get a chance but it's possible they'll get it next month. I like Fornals but he still hasn't established himself in West Ham, Vallejo at Wolves or Firpo with us are not playing much while Aguirregabiria is not on the same level he was last season with Alaves.

So I don't think any of those guys deserves to be called up at this moment over the players who are on the list. On the other hand Unai Nunez made his NT debut in September but he's lost his starting position at Bilbao since then and Pau Torres is playing well for Villarreal. CB is probably the biggest question mark of all positions as I don't think any player besides Ramos has a fully guaranteed spot in the team for Euro right now.

From other players Joan Jordan has started a season really well for Sevilla so he could be a future candidate for a call up. Mikel Merino is also doing well for Sociedad but Spain just has a lot of good midfielders so it's hard to get into the team.

Loren Moron is in a good goal-scoring form early in the season but Gerard Moreno is just a better player overall so he got advantage this time but if Loren will continue to score he could get an opportunity too. If Borja Iglesias will find his last year form at Betis he's another candidate. And obviously Paco, Aspas or Diego Costa could be re-called the next time.

There is still some time for Moreno but I think he'll eventually need to make that expanded team of around 30 players in his mind before the end of this year as there will be only 3-4 more friendly games next year before he'll have to announce the squad for Euro.

Moreno is basically experimenting and giving opportunities to players that will likely not make it next summer but who might prove to have a long-term future for the team.

With the team having qualified already (de facto), doing anything else would make little sense. He has some 8-10 matches (qualifiers and friendlies) left before the Eurocopa next summer to figure out which squad and which formation (s) he wants to use.

What happened to koke

Cholo's brutal training regime, Koke almost never missing a single Atlético de Madrid game and 400 games in 8 seasons have taken a toll on him. He is burned out IMO. Had his best years between 2013-2016 where he likely peaked. Another early bloomer much like Cesc who was past his best as well when he had Koke's age (28). Never really excelled for Spain either.
 
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BerkeleyBernie

Senior Member
What a horribly boring Spain. Never thought I'd say that. Clumsy, ball-hogging, running not passing. Blech.

Kudos to Norway. More technical that Spain, if you can believe it.
 

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