Madrid, May 21 (IANS) Spain coach Luis de la Fuente said that he has already decided on the 26 players who will form his squad for this summer’s World Cup.

De la Fuente will name his squad on Monday after the last round of matches in La Liga, and in an interview with former Spain player Mario Suarez, he admitted the “squad is already decided and the approach and strategy are too.”

He admitted it was “possible” he could include players who haven’t played for Spain before and “three” goalkeepers, which means either Barcelona’s Joan Garcia or Real Sociedad’s Alex Remiro is likely to miss out.

He also hinted that players who are currently injured, such as Nico Williams, Lamine Yamal and Mikel Merino have a good chance of being called up.

“It’s possible that some players might not play in the first few matches,” he said, explaining that Dani Olmo had started the 2024 European Championships with an injury, “and he was the top scorer of the European Championship.”

“He gave the key pass to (Mikel) Merino against Germany, he cleared that shot off the line against England. He had to be there, and it was worth the wait and the risk,” commented De la Fuente.

The coach said he and his coaching staff watch “60 matches a week, in addition to monitoring the players-our own and our opponents,” and were “traveling for about 180 days a year.”

Finally, he highlighted the strength of the Spanish team was “unity, our team spirit.”

“At the European Championship, we coined the term ‘family’ because we spent so much time together, and that term stuck,” the coach commented.

The reports are claiming that Spain are willing to be without Yamal for the opening two group-stage matches as the winger is recovering from a muscle injury.

“Communication between Barca and the Royal Spanish Football Federation is constant, with full consensus on not exposing Lamine in the first two matches,” Spanish outlet Mundo Deportivo reported on Wednesday.

–IANS

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