Football World Cup 2014 / Spain

This article covers the Spanish national football team at the 2014 World Cup . Spain took part in the finals for the fourteenth time and for the fourth time in a finals in South America . As the reigning world and European champions, Spain was one of the tournament favorites, but failed in the preliminary round after two defeats in the first two games, making them the first defending champions to lose the first two games.

qualification

World and European champions Spain played in the only five-man group of the European qualification and met ex-world champions France , Finland , Georgia and Belarus and qualified as group winners. Of all European qualified teams, Spain had to play the fewest qualifiers. Group runner-up France also qualified through the playoff games against Ukraine and thus came up with two more games.

Table:

Pl.	team	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Spain	8th	6th	2	0	014: 300	+11	20th
2.	France	8th	5	2	1	015: 600	+9	17th
3.	Finland	8th	2	3	3	005: 900	−4	09
4th	Georgia	8th	1	2	5	003:100	−7	05
5.	Belarus	8th	1	1	6th	007:160	−9	04th

Game results

date	place	Home team	-	guest	Result	Goal scorers for Spain
09/11/2012	Tbilisi ( GEO )	Georgia	-	Spain	0: 1 (0: 0)	Soldado (86.)
October 12, 2012	Minsk ( BLR )	Belarus	-	Spain	0: 4 (0: 2)	Alba (12th), Pedro (21st, 69th, 79th)
10/16/2012	Madrid	Spain	-	France	1: 1 (1: 0)	Ramos (25.)
03/22/2013	Gijón	Spain	-	Finland	1: 1 (0: 0)	Ramos (49.)
03/26/2013	Saint-Denis ( FRA )	France	-	Spain	0: 1 (0: 0)	Pedro (58.)
06.09.2013	Helsinki ( FIN )	Finland	-	Spain	0: 2 (0: 1)	Alba (19th), Negredo (86th)
10/11/2013	Palma	Spain	-	Belarus	2: 1 (0: 0)	Xavi (61.), Negredo (78.)
October 15, 2013	Albacete	Spain	-	Georgia	2: 0 (1: 0)	Negredo (26.), Mata (61.)

In total, coach Vicente Del Bosque used 29 players, of which Andrés Iniesta , Sergio Ramos and Pedro played all eight games. With Alberto Moreno and Michu , two newcomers also made their first appearances. Seven players were able to sign up for the goalscorer list, Pedro was the most successful scorer with four goals . On March 22, 2013 Sergio Ramos played as the youngest European player in the qualifier against Finland his 100th international match . Record international Iker Casillas made his 150th international match in the second leg on September 6, 2013.

preparation

Test matches:

• 0March 5, 2014 in Madrid against Italy : 1-0 (goalscorer: Pedro / 63rd)
• May 30 in Seville against Bolivia : 2-0 (goalscorers: Torres /51./FE, Iniesta / 84.)
• 0June 7 in Washington, DC for the first time against El Salvador : 2-0 (goalscorer: Villa / 60th and 88th)

Finals

Squad

The preliminary roster for the World Cup was named on May 13th. Eighteen players were already in the squad that won the title in 2010 , six of which were in 2006 and two in 2002 . With record national player Iker Casillas and record scorer David Villa both record holders were in the squad. With 154 games, Casillas was the World Cup participant with the most international matches before the World Cup. Of the players used in the 2010 final , only Carles Puyol and Joan Capdevila were not in the squad. With his two appearances, Iker Casillas replaced Andoni Zubizarreta (16 games) as the Spanish World Cup record player with 17 games . David Villa remained the top Spanish World Cup scorer with nine goals.

No.	Surname	society	International matches	Länderspiel- gates	Date of birth	Games	Gates				World Cup participation	World Cup games (before 2014)	World Cup goals (before 2014)
goal
01	Iker Casillas	Real Madrid C, P	154	0	May 20, 1981	2	0	1	0	0	2002, 2006, 2010	15th	0
12	David de Gea	Manchester United	1	0	November 7, 1990	0	0	0	0	0
23	Pepe Reina	SSC Naples P	32	0	August 31, 1982	1	0	0	0	0	2010	0	0
Defense
02	Raúl Albiol	SSC Naples P	46	0	4th September 1985	1	0	0	0	0	2010	0	0
22nd	César Azpilicueta	Chelsea FC	6th	0	August 28, 1989	2	0	0	0	0
15th	Sergio Ramos (in 3rd game)	Real Madrid C, P	117	9	March 30, 1986	3	0	1	0	0	2006, 2010	10	0
05	Juanfran	Atlético Madrid M	8th	1	January 9, 1985	1	0	0	0	0
18th	Jordi Alba	FC Barcelona	26th	5	March 21, 1989	3	0	0	0	0
03	Gerard Piqué	FC Barcelona	60	4th	2nd February 1987	1	0	0	0	0	2010	7th	0
midfield
04th	Javi Martínez	Bayern Munich M, P	17th	0	2nd September 1988	1	0	0	0	0	2010	1	0
17th	Koke Resurreccion	Atlético Madrid M	8th	0	January 8, 1992	2	0	0	0	0
06th	Andrés Iniesta	FC Barcelona	97	12	May 11, 1984	3	0	0	0	0	2006, 2010	7th	2
08th	Xavi	FC Barcelona	132	12	January 25, 1980	1	0	0	0	0	2002, 2006, 2010	14th	0
10	Cesc Fàbregas	FC Barcelona	89	13	May 4th 1987	2	0	0	0	0	2006, 2010	8th	0
14th	Xabi Alonso	Real Madrid C, P	111	15th	November 25, 1981	3	1	1	0	0	2006, 2010	10	1
16	Sergio Busquets	FC Barcelona	66	0	July 16, 1988	2	0	0	0	0	2010	7th	0
20th	Santi Cazorla	Arsenal FC P	64	11	December 13, 1984	2	0	0	0	0
21st	David Silva	Manchester City M	80	20th	January 8, 1986	3	0	0	0	0	2010	2	0
13	Juan Mata	Manchester United	33	9	April 28, 1988	1	1	0	0	0	2010	1	0
attack
11	Pedro	FC Barcelona	40	14th	July 28, 1987	2	0	0	0	0	2010	5	0
19th	Diego Costa	Atlético Madrid M	2	0	October 7, 1988	2	0	0	0	0
07th	David Villa	Atlético Madrid M	96	58	3rd December 1981	1	1	0	0	0	2006, 2010	11	8th
09	Fernando Torres	Chelsea FC	107	37	March 20, 1984	3	1	0	0	0	2006, 2010	11	3

1. ↑ C = The club won the UEFA Champions League in the 2013/14 season , E = The club won the 2013/14 Europa League , M = The club won its country's championship in the 2013/14 season, P = The club won the cup in the 2013/14 season.
2. ↑ ^{a b} After the games against Bolivia on May 30th and El Salvador on June 7th, 2014.

Group stage

Rio de Janeiro Salvador Curitiba (also district)

Venues

When the final round was drawn on 6 December 2013, Spain was placed in Pot 1 due to its position in the FIFA world rankings in October 2013 and was drawn as the head of Group B. The draw were runner-up world champions Netherlands, Australia and Chile. Spain had never played against Australia before the World Cup. Against the Netherlands, the 2010 World Cup final was repeated. Overall, the pre-World Cup record against the Netherlands was positive (5 wins, 1 draw and 4 defeats). Spain also played against Chile in the group stage of the last World Cup and at the first World Cup in Brazil. Up to the World Cup, eight wins and two draws against Chile were achieved in ten games.

Two of the preliminary round venues were on the Atlantic coast, Curitiba around 90 km from the coast. Spain have already played several times in Rio de Janeiro , most recently on June 30, 2013 in the final of the FIFA Confederations Cup 2013 , which was lost 3-0 to hosts Brazil. In the previous only game in Salvador da Bahia , Brazil were the opponents in a 0-1 on July 8, 1981. Spain won the only game in Curitiba on June 25, 1950 in the preliminary round of the World Cup against the USA 3-1.

Spain was unable to reach the round of 16 after the second game, making it the fifth reigning world champion and the fourth nation (Italy has already been eliminated twice as reigning world champion in the group stage) that did not survive the group stage as reigning world champion.

The team's quarters were the Clube Atlético Paranaense in Curitiba , the third preliminary round venue.

rank	country	Gates	Points
1	Netherlands	10: 3	9
2	Chile	5: 3	6th
3	Spain	4: 7	3
4th	Australia	3: 9	0

• Fri., June 13, 2014, 4:00 p.m. (9:00 p.m. CEST) in Salvador da Bahia Spain - Netherlands 1: 5 (1: 1)
  
• Wed., June 18, 2014, 4:00 p.m. (9:00 p.m. CEST) in Rio de Janeiro Spain - Chile 0: 2 (0: 2)
  
• Mon., June 23, 2014, 1:00 p.m. (6:00 p.m. CEST) in Curitiba Australia - Spain 0: 3 (0: 1)
  

Sports impact

As a result of the preliminary round, the Spanish team, which had topped the FIFA world rankings without interruption since September 2011 , fell 7 places to 8th place and, with 256 points, lost the most points of all World Cup participants.

Resignations

On August 5, Xavi announced his resignation from the national team and on August 27, Xabi Alonso .

Web links

• All qualifying matches of Spain
• All matches of the preliminary round at a glance
• The end of the Spanish reign

Individual evidence

1. ↑ uefa.com: Ramos plays 100th international
2. ↑ sefutbol.com: "OFICIAL: Esta es la lista de convocados provisionales de Vicente del Bosque para Brasil 2014"
3. ↑ fifa.com: team quarters
4. ↑ fifa.com: "World Champion Germany takes over the top position"
5. ↑ fifa.com: "Xavi resigns from national team"
6. ↑ fifa.com: "Xabi Alonso resigns from national team"