As the runner-up of this Champions League, Atletico Madrid has selected 4 people in the national team roster this time, even surpassing Real Madrid.
For the sake of stability, this time Bosque recruited almost all players who have performed very well in their respective clubs this season, secured their starting positions, and have strong immediate combat ability.
People like Isco, Cazorla, Morata, Javi Garcia, Negredo and others were all abandoned by him.
After the announcement of this list, it was not without controversy. The biggest controversy actually came from the strikers.
"Isn't it too much to have five strikers up front?"
A few years ago, the biggest headache for Spanish fans was that the team was weak and lacked powerful forwards.
In just a few years, they no longer had such worries. Instead, they disliked that the team's forward line was too bloated!
"To be honest, you don't have to carry so many people up front. Iniesta and David Silva can play as wingers, Lin Quan and Villa can play as midfielders, Lin Quan can even play as an attacking midfielder, Torres and Kos Just one of the two centers will be enough!"
"Yes, Torres' performance in the past few seasons has been too poor. He played 32 games with Chelsea last year and only scored 9 goals. This is too shabby!"
Torres has really struggled in the past few seasons. His goal statistics are far behind not only compared with Lin Quan and Diego Costa, but also compared with the 33-year-old veteran Villa.
Many Spanish fans are reminded of the last World Cup.
During the World Cup in South Africa, Torres played 7 games on behalf of Spain, but failed to score a single goal, which was shocking.
Fans, like military fans, are all big pigs.
After getting a new favorite, the old one is thrown away in the blink of an eye.
Since you can't score goals, naturally no one wants to play with you.
"Didn't Diego Costa retire injured in the Champions League final? Has his injury healed?"
"It's not so fast, right? It's less than a week until the finals, so it can't be so fast!"
"Since his injury has not healed, why recruit him?"
Fans also have doubts about Diego Costa, who was selected for the national team for the first time.
He was only injured in the Champions League final, and the outside world doubted whether he could make it to the World Cup.
The Champions League final and the start of the World Cup are less than a month away. In such a short period of time, even if he can recover from his injuries, he will not have time to train and get along with his teammates.
In the absence of tacit understanding and cooperation, it is doubtful how much effect he can play if he is allowed to play directly.
If Spain is still the team that lacks forwards before, then the fans of the Matador Legion may be hungry.
But now, they already have Lin Quan.
As a result, many people were puzzled by Del Bosque's decision, and doubts arose one after another.
In any case, after the final 23-man roster was announced at the end of May, Spain's lineup framework was basically finalized.
Del Bosque conducted a week of closed training after the team was all assembled.
Spain's traditional tactic is a pass-and-control tactic, which has helped them win countless honors in various competitions.
Logically speaking, they should not change their playing style easily.
However, Barcelona's successive defeats in the league and Champions League this season have given Del Bosque a serious sense of crisis.
When pass-and-control football has reached this stage, it no longer has the mystery of the past. Everyone has a comprehensive understanding of it, knows its advantages and disadvantages, and knows how to limit it.
In La Liga, Atletico Madrid's high press and defensive counterattacks made Barcelona very uncomfortable, proving that this method can effectively limit the passing and control of football.
In Group B where Spain is located, the Dutch team, which is good at total offense and total defense, is a team that likes to press high.
As the uncrowned king, the Dutch team has a very luxurious lineup.
A team that can play total offense and total defense will naturally not be weak.
Therefore, there is no doubt that they will be Spain's biggest competitor in the group stage. The Dutch, who are eager for revenge, will definitely show their best form when they encounter the Bull Legion to avenge the World Cup finals in South Africa.
In this case, the situation is a bit unfavorable for Spain.
The match between the two teams is the first of the group stage, and the outcome of this match is crucial to both teams' qualifying situation.
The winning side will undoubtedly have an advantage in qualifying, while the losing side will be in danger of being eliminated.
Moreover, the second place in the group will have to face the first place in other groups. If you really qualify as the second place in the group, it will be difficult to play in the subsequent games.
As the defending champion, Spain will undoubtedly receive a lot of attention from all parties.
In this case, their every move is observed under a magnifying glass by the outside world.
If they lose the first game, external criticism will completely engulf them, and the players and coaching staff will be under unprecedented pressure.
If this state of affairs continues into the next game, they might lose two games in a row, and losing two games in a row means they will be eliminated!
The majestic World Cup champion lost two consecutive games in the beginning and did not qualify for the group stage. He went home at the speed of light. This will probably set a new world record!
This kind of record is not a good record, but the kind of record that will be remembered and laughed at for a lifetime.
During the World Cup in South Africa, the defending champion Italy managed to make it to the third round of the group stage. Spain could not break their record no matter what.
Therefore, to be on the safe side, Bosque plans to make some adjustments to the team's tactics.
Of course, due to limited time, he could not create a new set of tactics.
These adjustments are mainly prepared for the first game of the group stage, which is the game against the Netherlands.
Facing the Netherlands who are fully offensive and defensive, how to launch a threatening counterattack is the key to limiting or even defeating them.
And this is the main reason why Del Bosque recruited Diego Costa into the team!
To this end, he specially designed a set of playing methods and practiced them within the team.
The results of the drill were pretty good. During the period, he also played two friendly matches with two lower-level Spanish league teams to test the players' condition.
Generally speaking, apart from some older players, Spain is in good shape as a whole.
However, the problem of the aging team lineup is very obvious.
Playing an entire season without getting any rest has led to a decline in the competitive status of Xavi, Villa, Alonso and others.
And their physical fitness may not support them to play the whole game.
Therefore, in the next game, if you want to arrange for these people to play, you must minimize their appearance on the field at the same time, so as to avoid insufficient substitution places in your hands when unexpected situations arise.
Fortunately, there are a lot of backup players on the bench, so Bosque doesn't have to worry about personnel issues for the time being.
On June 6, eight days before the start of the group stage, the entire Spanish team took a flight from Madrid to Brazil, the venue for this World Cup!
Spain is not the first team to set off. Before them, the Three Lions and the German tank have already set off one step ahead.
However, as the number one favorite in this World Cup, Spain has received much more attention than the other two teams.
The entire Spanish team first arrived by plane in Washington, the capital of the United States, and after a short stay here, they transferred to Curitiba, Brazil.
During their stay at the Washington Airport, they caused a huge sensation at the airport. After many fans discovered the Spanish national team, they gathered around them and asked for autographs and photos. The scene was once out of control.
The airport had to deploy hundreds of security personnel to maintain order and isolate the area where they were located, which allowed the situation to stabilize.
When they entered the Brazilian base camp, they were wildly sought after by local fans. A total of more than 5,000 local Brazilian fans and Spanish fans who arrived early came to the airport to pick them up.
As for the reporters from various countries who came to the scene, they were countless.
Seeing the hundreds of reporters outside the airport and the crowds of thousands of fans, the Spanish players felt the atmosphere of the World Cup.
As players who have experienced countless major competitions, it can be said that they have seen many such scenes.
However, the World Cup is very different from other competitions.
Even players who have experienced it personally will be infected by the atmosphere and can't help but feel excited and nervous when they reach such an occasion.
Not to mention newcomers like Lin Quan who have never participated in a World Cup before.
"Relax, it's still early in the game!"
Puyol sensed the nervousness of the players and clapped his hands in the bus to reassure them.
"Besides, we are the defending champions, why are we nervous? Others should be nervous!"
This sentence caused everyone to burst into laughter, and the tense atmosphere in the bus immediately dissipated a lot.
Lin Quan secretly gave Puyol a thumbs up.
Sure enough, inviting Puyol to go with the team is an extremely correct decision!
In order to welcome the arrival of the Spanish team, Coritiba Airport and Cahu Sports City Base dispatched 500 security personnel to escort the Spanish team's bus to the training base.
But even so, when leaving the airport, players including top star Lin Quan, Spanish coach Del Bosque, captain Casillas and Iniesta were still hugged by fans and asked for autographs.
There was no way, there were too many fans at the scene.
Moreover, the security personnel arranged by Brazil were not professional enough. While they were stopping the fans, they took advantage of their position to ask for autographs and photos from the Spanish players before the fans.
This made the Spanish players dumbfounded: Brother, you are working, can you be more serious?
However, not everyone was welcomed. Spain's new forward Diego Costa was booed by Brazilian fans when he appeared at the airport.
Some fans even made an 'international friendly' gesture at him. Diego Costa looked ugly and did not dare to get angry. He could only pretend not to see it and hurriedly left the airport under the escort of security personnel and boarded the Got the team bus.
As for his teammates, they are still surrounded by fans and cannot escape for the time being.
In view of the commotion caused by Spain at the airport, the event organizers attached great importance to the security protection of the defending champion.
In order to ensure the safety of the Spanish team, starting from the day they arrive, at least 200 security guards will be dispersed in every corner of Kahu Sports City every day to ensure that the training and daily life of the defending champions are not disturbed by the outside world to the maximum extent.
After a 16-hour long flight, everyone in Spain was exhausted.
After arriving at the World Cup training base in Coritiba, Del Bosque did not arrange training, but let the players go directly to rest.
There is a 5-hour time difference between Brazil and Spain. The players need to adapt to the time difference as soon as possible and adjust their physical condition as soon as possible.
Otherwise, lack of rest will seriously affect their competitive state and make them miss the starting lineup for the opening game!
The players naturally knew this very well, so they all returned to their rooms to rest honestly.
During the World Cup, in order to prevent players from going out and causing scandals.
Del Bosque allowed the players' families, known as their wives, to travel with the team.
Regarding abstinence, Del Bosque does not explicitly prohibit it like German coach Loew.
As long as the players don't mess around, he won't object to the players' wives and girlfriends trying to appease the players.
Of course, the premise is that it cannot affect the game.
With such an enlightened head coach, the Spanish internationals are naturally grateful.
A few days after Spain arrived in Brazil, basically all the teams coming to participate in this World Cup arrived one after another.
The atmosphere of the World Cup has become more and more intense, and slogans and pictures promoting the World Cup can be seen hanging in the streets and alleys.
This can be gradually felt by Spanish players even while staying in the training base.
Because, the number of Brazilian fans outside the training ground gradually increased.
Moreover, unlike the previous Brazilian fans who liked and supported Spain, almost all of these fans who rushed outside their training base were die-hard fans of the Brazilian team.
They waved the Brazilian flag, plastered Brazilian flag patterns on their faces, made a lot of noise outside the training ground, and from time to time they could be heard shouting insults at Spanish players.
It is not easy to host a World Cup in the country. Everyone in Brazil hopes to win the Hercules Cup in the country!
However, judging from the results of last year's Confederations Cup final, to realize this dream, they need to cross the huge mountain of Spain.
However, facing this nearly invincible team, the Brazilians are not very confident.
Therefore, many Brazilians have pinned their hopes on the Netherlands and Chile, hoping that they can join forces to knock Spain out of the competition.
For this reason, they went to great lengths to go outside the training base in Spain to interfere with their training, affect their state, and make their games more difficult.
The opponent's behavior was so bad that the Spanish team leader immediately called for security personnel, hoping they would send people to disperse the fans.
But after the security personnel dispersed the fans in a perfunctory and routine manner, they left it alone.
When the fans saw the attitude of the security personnel, they suddenly became bolder. Not only were the number of fans increasing, but the distance was also getting closer.
This made Del Bosque so angry that he asked people to urgently re-contact the hotel and change the resting place. At the same time, he contacted the Spanish Football Association and asked them to protest to FIFA.
Before the game even started, the Brazilian team made such an off-the-table move. It was so embarrassing!