My Spain Away 2011 name and number came today I will put this on my Spain 2011 away shirt sometime this week.

The back number and name, as well as the number for the front. It will look good on my away shirt I have been meaning to buy this for a while, I finally have, and cant wait to see it on my shirt. I will of course post it when it’s done

I have other names and numbers on other shirts; Torres, David Villa, Cesc, Iniesta, Casillas, so I wanted Xavi. I also want Puyol at some point, and Pique, but they are harder to find.

Just a quick note, Spain won last night 6-0 It was a good game, it did not get started for about 30 minutes, but when one goal went in the rest followed

Also, I got my team prediction almost right.

My prediction:

Casillas; Ramos, Albiol, Arbeloa, Busquets; Xabi Alonso, Xavi, Cesc, Iniesta; David Villa, Torres

Actual Team

Casillas; Ramos, Albiol, Arbeloa, Busquets; Xabi Alonso, Xavi, Mata, Iniesta; David Villa, Negredo

Only 2 wrong guesses

It is Spain vs Liechtenstein tonight, with Spain looking to secure a spot in Euro 2012. I believe a win will mean that they have qualified for the Euros next year, with 2 games to spare. It will mean 6 out of 6 wins too, which is cool but not unexpected

Del Bosque may make changes to the game against Chile last Friday…The first half was terrible, Javi Martinez was rubbish in defence, but its not his position, and Negredo was also not impressive to say the least. I think Spain will go for Busquets at the back, with Iniesta or Fabregas, or both coming in. I also think they should start with Torres and David Villa, they have not started too many games together of late, and getting a few goals each again the minnows  may be just what they need.

My team for tonight:

Casillas; Ramos, Albiol, Arbeloa, Busquets; Xabi Alonso, Xavi, Cesc, Iniesta; David Villa, Torres.

The game kicks off at 9PM

Its that time again, International Football! It is a game which I have now seen a good few times over the years, Spain vs Italy. I think the last 2 friendlies resulted in Spain wins, and there of course was the memorable Spain win in penalties at Euro 2008.

Thiago has been called into the full Spain Squad for the very first time, after his great performances for the Under 21 side. Capdevila, Puyol, Marchena, Xavi, Navas and Cesc Fabregas are all missing; Irola and Monreal are both in the squad, one will need to be the full time replacement for Capedvila since he is getting old now.

It all kicks off at 19:45 UK time

You can’t watch the England – Netherlands game, since it has been cancelled. You can watch Brazil – Germany if you have ESPN, that too kicks off at 19:45

I wrote a few days ago that Spain had been invited to the Copa América as a guest team, as Japan have pulled out. Today they confirmed that they have declined the invitation, and put it down to scheduling problems, however they say they would consider invitations in the future.

Its sort of sad, I would of liked to have seen Spain in another tournament this year, it would have made it 4 years of summer football in a row; Euro 2008, Confederations Cup 2009, World Cup 2010, Copa América 2011. It would also mean Spain playing summer football for further years in a row too, with Euro 2012, Confederations cup 2013 and World Cup 2014, we could of seen Spain playing almost every summer for a while in competitive football.

You can read the official statement from RFEF here.

With that being said, would Spain have picked a full strength squad for the Copa América? Argentina and Brazil have both opted out of that in recent tournaments.

In other related news, Spain remain top of the World Rankings, Netherlands 2nd and Brazil moving upto 3rd. Italy regained their top 10 status after 7 months of being outside the top 10 and climb to 9th. France are clinging onto 19th place, and England remain 6th.

Yes, that is right! Spain have officially been invited to take part in Copa America this year, and if they accepted, would make them the first European team to participate in Copa America.

Vicente Del Bosque has said he is open to the idea, in which Spain would take Japan’s place as an invitee should they withdraw because of the earthquake/tsunami which hit Japan last month.

I am undecided if I would be happy with Spain going. It would be good, because its a football tournament I would be interested in watching in the Summer, since we have none this year. It would bring the appeal back to the tournament for all of Europe, in recent times I havent bothered to watch, because all the squads are rubbish, hardly any European based players are picked for Brazil or Argentina. That could also mean that the stars of Spain dont get picked either.

So, I dont know if this will be a good idea for Spain to go.

The decision will be made on 14th April.

Like I mentioned yesterday, Spain have launched yet another shirt, this one will be the 2011 shirt, available to buy now. I am assuming this is only going to be used upto Euro 2012, and then release yet another shirt for that competition.

That’s loads of shirts Spain have released, 2008, 2009, 2010, and now this, making it 4 shirts in only 2 years! I supposed they have an excuse, there is a new badge on this one, for winning the world cup, aswell as the first design to officially have the star on it.

What do you think? I really like it. I know there are some people who dont, and saying it has too much blue in it, but I prefer them to have different designs, I hate it when a team like England bring out a new shirt and you can barely tell the difference between them.

Back to white for an away shirt. I prefer the gold or blue, but nevermind. Maybe they change the away colours every few years…last was blue, before was yellow, before that I think it was white; I remember in 2002 they had 3, using white as the away and blue as a 3rd. I have them all

So later tonight it is Spain vs Scotland, in Scotland! It is live on Sky Sports if you want to watch it @ 20.00 the same time as England vs Montenegro.

Spain have lots of injuries, but the game against Lithuania at the weekend was good but frustrating. If Spain play the same, dominate the game and have the same number of chances, it will be a good win.

Maybe I will have a drink of 2 since i am watching the football

Yes its international football week, and thanks to UEFA that is Friday and Tuesday nights these days.

Spain have loads of injuries for both games, and have called up some unfamiliar faces. Spain will be without Xavi, Pedro, Jesús Navas, Fernando Torres, Cesc Fabregas, Raúl Albiol and Juan Mata.

Into the Squad there are places for Bruno Soriano, Pablo Hernandez, Borja Valero and Aritz Aduriz.

The under 21s have a big game against Croatia in a playoff for the European Championships, so players like Mata, Bojan, and Canales are playing in that game instead of being considered for the full team.

Vamos España!!!

Yes it is a big game, all be it a friendly. Its Spain vs Argentina, tonight, and its live on your TV! Live on ITV4, i cant wait for it!

I am not too bothered about the result actually, i hope for a win obviously, but its a friendly, so it means nothing I hope that it lives up to its billing, lots of the time these games dont, espeically when there is nothing at stake.