Soccer World Cup 2006 / Spain

This article covers the Spanish national soccer team at the 2006 soccer World Cup in Germany .

qualification

In the World Cup qualifying group Europe 7, Spain was the clear favorite. The Spaniards finished second, though, despite winning five of their ten qualifying games and drawing as many. However, Serbia-Montenegro won once more and so the Spaniards were unbeaten and runners-up in the group with only three goals.

Since only the group winners qualified directly for the World Cup, Spain had to go into relegation. In the first and second leg they secured a World Cup ticket against Slovakia with an overall result of 6-2.

rank	country	Gates	Points
1	Serbia and Montenegro	16: 1	22nd
2	Spain	19: 3	20th
3	Bosnia and Herzegovina	12: 9	16
4th	Belgium	16:11	12
5	Lithuania	8: 9	10
6th	San Marino	2:40	0

	September 8, 2004 : Bosnia-Herzegovina - Spain		1: 1 (0: 0)
	Vicente (65th) and Elvir Bolic (79th)
	October 9, 2004 : Spain v Belgium		2: 0 (0: 0)
	Albert Luque (60th), Raúl (65th)
	October 13, 2004 : Lithuania v Spain		0-0
	February 9, 2005 : Spain v San Marino		5: 0 (3: 0)
	Joaquín (15th), Fernando Torres (32nd), Raúl (42nd), Guti (61st), Asier del Horno (75th)
	March 30, 2005 : Serbia-Montenegro - Spain		0-0
	June 4, 2005 : Spain v Lithuania		1: 0 (0: 0)
	Albert Luque (68.)
	June 8, 2005 : Spain v Bosnia-Herzegovina		1: 1 (0: 1)
	Carlos Marchena (90th + 6 ') and Zvjezdan Misimovic (39th)
	September 7, 2005 : Spain v Serbia-Montenegro		1: 1 (1: 0)
	Raúl (19th) and Mateja Kezman (68th)
	October 8, 2005 : Belgium v ​​Spain		0: 2 (0: 0)
	Fernando Torres (56th, 66th)
	October 12, 2005 : San Marino - Spain		0: 6 (0: 3)
	Antonio Lopez (1st), Fernando Torres (11th, 78th, 89th-E)), Sergio Ramos (31st, 48th)

	November 12, 2005 : Spain v Slovakia		5: 1 (2: 0)
	Luis Garcia (10th, 18th, 75th), Fernando Torres (65th), Fernando Morientes (79th) and Szilard Nemeth (49th)
	November 16, 2005 : Slovakia v Spain		1: 1 (0: 0)
	David Villa (71.) and Filip Holosko (50.)

World Cup preparation and team selection

In 2006, Spain took part in a World Cup finals for the twelfth time and for the eighth time in a row.

With four players each, Valencia CF and Real Madrid made up the largest contingent. The failure to consider Fernando Morientes ( Valencia CF ), who was considered one of the few head-ball strikers in Spain, was a surprise . The left midfielder Vicente (Valencia CF) was also not taken into account, as he had only recovered from his ankle injury at the end of the championship and therefore lacked the necessary match practice. Born in Argentina, Mariano Andrés Pernía replaced left full-back Asier Del Horno ( Chelsea FC ), who sustained a tendon injury between his left lower leg and Achilles heel while preparing for the World Cup.

In preparation for the World Cup finals, the Spanish national team played three friendlies. The first friendly international match against Russia on May 27, 2006 in Albacete ended in a goalless draw. A week later, the Spaniards won 2-0 (1-0) in the second preparatory game against African champions Egypt in Elche . Raúl scored the first goal in the 14th minute and after the break, José Antonio Reyes scored the second to make it 2-0. Spain won the dress rehearsal for the finals on June 7, 2006 in Geneva against World Cup participants Croatia 2-1 (0-1). Although the Iberians fell behind with an own goal by Pablo Ibáñez in the 15th minute of the game, they managed to get the result thanks to goals from debutant Mariano Pernía (62nd, free-kick) and Fernando Torres (92nd), who recently scored a penalty had shot, still turn. From June 8, 2006, the Spanish national team moved into their quarters at the Kaiserau sports school in Kamen , where they were preparing for the first games.

Spanish contingent

No.	Surname	Club before the start of the World Cup	birthday	Games	Gates
goalkeeper
1	Iker Casillas	real Madrid	05/20/1981	3	0	0	0	0
19th	Santiago Cañizares	Valencia CF	December 18, 1969	1	0	0	0	0
23	Pepe Reina	Liverpool FC	08/31/1982	0	0	0	0	0
Defender
2	Míchel Salgado	real Madrid	10/22/1975	1	0	0	0	0
3	Mariano Pernía	Getafe CF.	05/04/1977	3	0	0	0	0
4th	Carlos Marchena	Valencia CF	07/31/1979	1	0	1	0	0
5	Carles Puyol	FC Barcelona	04/13/1978	3	0	2	0	0
12	Antonio Lopez	Atlético Madrid	09/13/1981	1	0	0	0	0
15th	Sergio Ramos	real Madrid	03/30/1986	3	0	0	0	0
20th	Juanito	Betis Seville	07/23/1976	1	1	0	0	0
22nd	Pablo Ibáñez	Atlético Madrid	08/03/1981	3	0	0	0	0
midfield player
6th	David Albelda	Valencia CF	09/01/1977	2	0	1	0	0
8th	Xavi	FC Barcelona	January 25, 1980	4th	0	0	0	0
10	José Antonio Reyes	Arsenal FC	09/01/1983	1	0	1	0	0
11	Luis García	Liverpool FC	06/24/1978	3	0	0	0	0
13	Andrés Iniesta	FC Barcelona	05/11/1984	1	0	0	0	0
14th	Xabi Alonso	Liverpool FC	11/25/1981	3	1	0	0	0
16	Marcos Senna	Villarreal CF	07/17/1976	2	0	0	0	0
17th	Joaquín	Betis Seville	07/21/1981	3	0	0	0	0
18th	Cesc Fàbregas	Arsenal FC	05/04/1987	4th	0	1	0	0
striker
7th	Raúl	real Madrid	06/27/1977	4th	1	0	0	0
9	Fernando Torres	Atlético Madrid	03/20/1984	4th	3	0	0	0
21st	David Villa	Valencia CF	December 3rd, 1981	4th	3	0	0	0
Trainer
	Luis Aragonés		07/28/1938

Crew quarters

Sports center Kamen - Kaiserau .

Games of Spain

Preliminary round

• Wednesday, June 14, 2006, 3 p.m. in Leipzig Spain - Ukraine 4: 0 (2: 0)
  
• Monday, June 19, 2006, 9 p.m. in Stuttgart Spain - Tunisia 3: 1 (0: 1)
  
• Friday, June 23, 2006, 4 p.m. in Kaiserslautern Saudi Arabia - Spain 0: 1 (0: 1)
  

For details see Football World Cup 2006 / Group H

Round of 16

• Tuesday, June 27th, 9 p.m. in Hanover Spain - France 1: 3 (1: 1)
  

For details see Football World Cup 2006 / Round of 16