all good things have to come to an end…*

The latest trip is over, and it’s time to say hasta luego to our boys as a team for two months.  However, we do get to say hola to La Rojita!

The national team – with the exception of Iker, Fernando Llorente and David Silva, who stayed behind in Venezuela – returned to Madrid yesterday afternoon from Caracas, after an eight-hour flight (before that, they had a 30-minute Barcelona-Caracas flight).  We got to see most of the players in street clothes again (there were some exceptions, such as Sergio, Carlos, Joan, Bruno…), which is not necessarily a good thing…

Xabi was his usual boss self, while striding through the airport, Macbook in hand, and David and Pedro repeated parts of the outfits they showed up at Las Rozas wearing.  Meanwhile, Joan and Carlos settled some money issues, Gerard wore his Steve McQueen shirt (unfortunately, Álvaro didn’t wear his matching one) and Víctor looked like he’d rather be anywhere else than the airport – that’s quite a David Villa expression he has on!

making the most out of the trip

After the game on Saturday, several of the boys enjoyed themselves at the Roxy club in Providence.  Borja Valero, Álvaro Negredo, Andoni Iraola, Manu del Moral, David Villa, Fernando Llorente, Pepe Reina, Pedro Rodríguez, David Silva, Bruno Soriano, Dr. Celada, and fisios Fernando Galán and Raúl Martínez were all spotted at the club.  The pictures posted by Roxy on their Facebook are (perhaps inadvertently) funny to me, some for the outfits (it’s great to see the boys in normal clothes) and others for the posing, and you know I always have a lot to say about those things, so…

lots more reasons to love this team

A Marca headline in today’s edition said, “¿Estados Unidos o Estamos unidos?” (The United States, or we are united?).  Judging from the past few days, I’d have to say both!  And this picture below is proof – Iker posted this shot of him, David Villa, Fernando Llorente, Andoni Iraola and Pepe Reina on his FB, saying, “a game of pocha is never bad.”  As Fernando Llorente said, “somos una piña.”  I see Joan is continuing his strike, and why is Pepe wearing normal clothes?

Keep reading for all the news from yesterday…

antes era maravilloso y ahora es espectacular

The training session

The Spanish national team trained this morning at Las Rozas for the last time, as the next session will take place in the U.S.  Yesterday’s session started with a chat in the middle of the field, and we once again saw that today, although the chat was shorter.  The players then did some physical exercises and running, before kicking the ball around.  That ended in a mini-game without goalkeepers, but then Pepe, Víctor and Iker joined in.  The possible starters – the ones who wore bibs during the session – were Iker, Sergio, Piqué, Albiol, Capdevila, Bruno, Xabi, Cazorla, Silva, Villa and Negredo.  The final result was 3-3, with Villa, Xabi and Negredo scoring for one side, and Manu del Moral, Arbeloa and Llorente for the other.  The one-and-a-half-hour session ended with a stretching segment, and a picture with all the lucky kids who got to watch the training session.

reunited (and it feels so good?) Plus, the fashion review!

The 23 players called up to play for Spain in the upcoming friendlies against the U.S and Venezuela gathered at Las Rozas this afternoon, with 13h as the deadline.  The first to show up was newlywed Andoni Iraola, who arrived at noon, followed by Joan Capdevila and David Silva.  All of the Barcelona players arrived about an hour late, as their flight was delayed, with the exception of David Villa, as he was already in Madrid to film a commercial.  Vicente del Bosque greeted his boys with a vuvuzela…

Was he trying to remind them of the good times they had in South Africa?  In any case, it’s adorable!  The team will train at 19h today, before flying to Boston tomorrow afternoon.  Read on for declarations at the Ciudad de Fútbol, as well as fashion observations!!

the U-21 list, Manu del Moral, Javi (!!!) & more!

The list: Luis Milla has announced the list of 23 players called up for next month’s U-21 Euro, and they are…

Goalkeepers: David de Gea, Rubén Miño, Diego Mariño.

Defenders: Mikel San José, Álvaro Domínguez, Martín Montoya, Dídac Vilà, Alberto Botia, Víctor Ruiz, César Azpilicueta, José Ángel Valdés.

Midfielders: Thiago Alcántara, Rubén Pérez, Dani Parejo, Diego Capel, Ander Herrera, Emilio Nsue, Juan Mata, Javi Martínez (!!!).

Forwards: Iker Muniain, Bojan Krkic, Adrián López Álvarez, Jeffrén Suárez.