Spain Soccer Team - Soccer in Spain

Spain Soccer Team General Information
Country - Spain
Capital City - Madrid
Continent - Europe
Manager - Luis Aragones
Captain - Raul Gonzalez Blanco
Star Man - Raul

Spain Soccer Team History
Founded 1913
Affiliated 1904

WC participations 11 (1934, 1950, 1962, 1966, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002)
WC honours 4th place (1950)
Continental Titles European champions
First International: Spain 2 - 0 Belgium (Bilbao, Spain; 7 October 1921)
Largest win: Spain 13 - 0 Bulgaria (Madrid, Spain; 21 May 1933)
Worst defeat: Italy 7 - 1 Spain (Amsterdam, Netherlands; 4 June 1928) England 7 - 1 Spain (London, England; 9 December 1931)
European Championship
Appearances: 7 (First in 1964) Best result Winners, 1964

World Cup Record:
Year Host Performance
1930 Uruguay -
1934 Italy Quarter final Play Off
1938 France -
1950 Brazil Fourth place
1954 Switzerland -
1958 Sweden -
1962 Chile Fourth, Group Three
1966 England Third, Group Two
1970 Mexico -
1974 West Germany -
1978 Argentina Third, Group Three
1982 Spain Second Group phase
1986 Mexico Quarter finals
1990 Italy Second Round (last 16)
1994 U.S.A. Quarter finals
1998 France Third, Group D
2002 S.Korea/Japan Quarter finals
2006 Germany in Group H with Ukraine, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia

SPAIN Football Team for 2006 FIFA World Cup

Coach:
Luis Aragones

Goalkeepers:
Iker Casillas, Santiago Canizares, Jose Manuel Reina.

Defenders:
Michel Salgado, Asier Del Horno, Carlos Marchena, Carlos Puyol, Guerrero Antonio Lopez, Sergio Ramos, Gutierrez Juanito, Ibanez Pablo.

Midfielders:
David Albelda, Hernandez Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Xabi Alonso, Marcos Senna, Sanchez Joaquin, Cesc Fabregas.

Forwards:
Gonzalez Raul, Fernando Torres, Jose Antonio Reyes, Sanz Luis Garcia, David Villa.

Spain Statistics in Group H with Ukraine, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia
The team is known as 'La Furia'

Jersey No. Name of the Player
1 Iker Casillas
2 Michel Salgado
3 Asier Del Horno
4 Carlos Marchena
5 Carlos Puyol
6 David Albelda
7 Gonzalez Raul
8 Hernandez Xavi
9 Fernando Torres
10 Jose Antonio Reyes
11 Sanz Luis Garcia
12 Guerrero Antonio Lopez
13 Andres Iniesta
14 Xabi Alonso
15 Sergio Ramos
16 Marcos Senna
17 Sanchez Joaquin
18 Cesc Fabregas
19 Santiago Canizares
20 Gutierrez Juanito
21 David Villa
22 Ibanez Pablo
23 Jose Manuel Reina

Spain Soccer Team is playing in Group H along with Ukraine, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia. The Spain Soccer is nicknamed La Furia. It has participated in the World Cup eleven times. But this time in Spain qualifying campaign was not very spectacular. Spain Soccer was in Group 7 alongwith Serbia and Montenegro, San Marino, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Lithuania. With not so fierce competition everyone was sure that Spain would top the group.

But the Serbia-Montenegro emerged as the Group winners. Spain as one of the six European runner-ups was paired with Slovakia in a play-off for the World Cup finals spot. A hat-trick from Luis Garcia and one goal each from Fernando Morientes and Fernando Torres helped Spain in defeating Slovakia 5-1 in the first leg of the play-offs. Four days later Spain suffered a 1-1 draw, but they had qualified for the finals.

This time it is Spain's eighth consecutive appearance at the FIFA World Cup finals and all in all it can be said that this time in Spain was celebration time. In 1974 they could not qualify for the Finals. Coincidentally, in that year the world cup was held on German soil. Spain's best performance at the FIFA World Cup was at Brazil in 1950. They finished at the fourth place.

Spain Soccer Team has been unlucky twice at the last-16 stage when they fell at USA 94 and again at South Korea/Japan 2002.

Coach Luis Aragones has rejuvenated his team by bringing in young players. The midfield duties have been assigned to Hernandez Xavi and Xabi Alonso. The pair of strikers Raul Gonzalez and Fernando Torres scored ten out of Spain's 25 qualifying goals (including the play-offs). Garcia, Iker Casillas, Michel Salgado, Carles Puyol, Sergio Ramos and Asier del Horno are players to watch this FIFA season.

Spain's performance under coach Aragones has been noteworthy. Captain Gonzalez Raul is confident that with such a rich combination of players they will definitely leave a mark in Germany 2006.