World Cup 2010: Spain Squad

It's been coming for a while now. Perennial underachievers, chokers, all those tags were shed on one summer evening in 2008 when Spain went on to win 1-0 against Germany and with that next 2 year undefeated streak between 2007 and 2009, the Spanish football team has apparently finally come of age. A bulk of the players being graduates of the La Masia, Barcelona's famed academy, they even possess good cohesiveness and understanding of each other's game. Now the only thing left for these exponents of widely considered beautiful tippy-tappy football is to take the famous trophy home for the first time in their history.

And when all three goalkeepers you take to the World Cup are top class fellows that say a team like England or Argentina would kill to have, the job becomes a lot simpler. Real Madrid's Iker Casillas has held his position as Spain's number for a good 10 years now and several goalkeepers including Liverpool's Jose Reina and Barcelona's Victor Valdez have tried for years and have miserably failed at snatching the pedestal of Spain's 'number 1' away from Casillas while other more disillusioned goalkeepers like Arsenal's Manuel Almunia took English citizenship in a bid to become the number one goalkeeper in SOME country...

And Casillas is ably assisted in the center of the defense by two rock shaped figures called Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol of Barcelona. Dislodging these two from the center will be quite a task even for the back up center backs who include Valencia's Carlos Marchena and Real Madrid's Raul Albiol. Another Madridista, Sergio Ramos' only chance of getting in the team is to play at right back while the left back spot will most probably be claimed by Joan Capdevila of Villarreal.

The midfield is a work of art though. The Barcelona axis of Xavi and Iniesta is just the tip of the iceberg in this star studded midfield which includes Real's Xabi Alonso, Javi Martinez of Athletic Bilbao and grudgingly-still-an-Arsenal maestro Cesc Fabregas. And flying all over the left wing and cutting inside and providing the deadly ball to the feet of the strikers is Valencia's David Silva.

And then to cap it all, there are arguably the two best strikers at the World Cup 2010 in Fernando Torres of Liverpool and Barcelona new boy David Villa. Two very difficult strikers who complement each other perfectly means that the opposition defense will have probably the worst 90 minutes of their lives. And should these two get a little tired or sore or just bored of scoring goals every 25 minutes, you can always count on Barcelona's Pedro Valencia's Juan Mata and Sevilla's Jesus Navas.

Final Squad of 23 for the World Cup 2010

Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), José Manuel Reina (Liverpool), Víctor Valdés (Barcelona)

Defenders: Raul Albiol (Real Madrid), Alvaro Arbeloa (Real Madrid), Joan Capdevila (Villarreal), Carlos Marchena (Valencia), Gerard Piqué (Barcelona), Carles Puyol (Barcelona), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid)

Midfielders: Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), Sergio Busquets (Barcelona), Cesc Fábregas (Arsenal), Andrés Iniesta (Barcelona), Javi Martínez (Athletic Club), Xavi Hernández (Barcelona)

Strikers: David Jiménez Silva (Valencia), Jesus Navas González (Sevilla), Juan Manuel Mata (Valencia), Pedro Rodríguez (Barcelona), Fernando Llorente (Athletic Club), Fernando Torres (Liverpool), David Villa (Barcelona)

More team news and squads here.

• World Cup 2010: Brazil Squad
• World Cup 2010: Italy Squad
• World Cup 2010: Argentina Squad
• World Cup 2010: England Squad

Well the chances of having a team like this ever again, especially the bit where the midfield contains three Javi's - all spelled differently - are very rare. Can Vicente Del Bosque perform the laughably simple job of relaxing on the sideline while his team conquer the world? Stay tuned for all the updates on the World Cup 2010 here.