Spain Take A Gamble By Including Costa

Surprisingly, the current world champions, Spain include Diego Costa in their final 23-man squad of the World Cup which would be featuring at Brazil. This squad unfortunately ruled out Jesus Navas and Alvaro Negredo. 

The European giants look set to surprise the football fans by keeping the in-form but injured Atletico Madrid's striker, Diego Costa in the squad. Costa's name on the squad list had a question mark as there were lingering worries over a leg injury.

Costa, who is a Brazilian-born Spanish national, is expected to start ahead of the likes of David Villa and Fernando Torres who are also in the Spanish squad. As expected, winger Jesus Navas had no place in the squad while on the other hand, Juan Mata would be seen at the tournament despite a mixed season at Premier League with Chelsea and Manchester United.

Spain opens their 2014 World Cup campaign against Netherlands on June 13 in a repeat of the Final of the last edition of the tournament. They would face Chile and Australia in the Group B.

Del Bosque seemed to add the players like Juan Mata and Torres after considering their experience was more than Jesus Navas and Alvaro Negredo. Real Madrid's young play-maker Isco was also not included in the 23-man squad alongside Thiago Alcantara who was unavailable due to an injury.

Del Bosque stuck at Costa even after the options of Manchester City's Negredo and Juventus' Fernando Llorente. Negredo joined the starting-11 of his club at the end of the club season but Llorente has enjoined his debut season with the Italian-giants with a total of 16 goals. Llorente, who is packet of world-class of talent, featured in the 2010 World Cup in which Spain were crowned the champions and also in the 2012 European Championship. But he only played for a total of just 31 minutes, and this time, he is not even in the final team.

Vincente Del Bosque said on friday that Spain's 2-0 win over Bolivia helped him gain confidence over Torres who just had five Premier League goals this season. David Villa, the country's all-time top scorer was a little bit out of form for Atletico Madrid ( according to Bosque ), but Bosque stated that he would perfectly fit in the " Tiki-Taka " play of Spain.

Captain Iker Casillas would be in front of the goal with Pepe Reina and David De Gea as secondary options. Javi Martinez, on the other hand can step in for Sergio Ramos or Pique in the center-back position if needed.  Cesar Azplicueta's strong and impressive performance against Bolivia has proved that Spain has a sturdy and cemented backbone.


Midfield magic would be provided by the experienced legs of Xabi Alonso, Sergio Busquets, Andres Iniesta, Davil Silva, Xavi Hernandez and by the young-electrifying players like Santi Cazorla and Koke after a standout season with Atletico Madrid. Cese Fabregas is expected to show his unorthodox passing on the pitch.

Spain squad

Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Pepe Reina (Liverpool), David De Gea (Manchester United)

Defenders: Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Gerard Pique (Barcelona), Raul Albiol (Napoli), Javi Martinez (Bayern Munich), Juanfran (Atletico Madrid), Jordi Alba (Barcelona), Cesar Azpilicueta (Chelsea)

Midfielders: Xavi (Barcelona), Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Koke (Atletico Madrid), Sergio Busquets (Barcelona), Santi Cazorla (Arsenal), Cesc Fabregas (Barcelona), Juan Mata (Manchester United), David Silva (Manchester City)

Forwards: Pedro (Barcelona), Diego Costa (Atletico Madrid), David Villa (Atletico Madrid), Fernando Torres (Chelsea).

Even after a big gamble with Spain's attack, do you think Spain can successfully defend their title?