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Spain National Football Team

Head coach: Luis Aragonés
Captain: Iker Casillas
Top scorer: Raúl
FIFA ranking: 7

The Spain national football team, commonly referred to as La Selección, is the national football team of Spain and is controlled by the Real Federación Española de Fútbol.

Spain has a reputation for underachievement in the FIFA World Cup, with their best finish being fourth place in 1950 despite often being among the pre-tournament favorites. They often start well, but struggle considerably in the later stages. Their only senior level tournament victory is the 1964 European Championship. They also won the gold medal when they hosted the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, and in the 1999 World Youth Championship in Nigeria. Their current FIFA ranking is 7th.

Euro 2000 and World Cup 2002

After a 3-2 opening defeat to Cyprus in Euro 2000 qualifying Clemente was sacked and José Antonio Camacho was promptly appointed as coach. Camacho immediately turned Spain's campaign around and Spain won the rest of their games to qualify for Euro 2000. Once again Spain's hopes rested on a new coach a young players such as Raúl González, Fernando Morientes, Míchel Salgado, and Juan Carlos Valerón. In the final tournament Spain were in group C with Norway, Slovenia, and Yugoslavia. As always, Spain started their campaign with disappointment, losing 1-0 to Norway. But Spain got back into the tournament with a 2-1 victory over Slovenia. Their last game proved to be another nerve wreck as they looked to be going out of the tournament. Their last game was against balkan powerhouse Yugoslavia. Spain started the match nervously by going down 1-0 with a Yugoslavian goal from Milosevic. Alfonso Pérez was able to put a goal back for Spain in the 38th minute ending the first half with a 1-1 score. However shortly after halftime Spain went down again 2-1 but made it 2-2 on 51 minutes with a goal by Pedro Munitis. Spain went down yet again 3-2 for the third time at 75 minutes. With only fifteen minutes left Spain desperately searched for an equalizer. After throwing every player forward Spain was still down 3-2, but at the 90th minute another Spanish goal from a late penalty by Gaizka Mendieta and a dramatic second goal by Alfonso Pérez in the dying seconds of stoppage time turned the game around making the final score 4-3 for Spain. Spain finished at the top of group C to book a quarterfinal clash with 1998 World Cup Champions, France. After a dramtic clash with Yugoslavia, Spain were confident in shocking the world champions. The game began with a dramatic first half with bombardment of both goals. The half ended 2-1 for France despite a late penalty for Spain which was missed by Raul. Despite a strong Spanish attack France held on to win and knock Spain out prematurely. Disappointment and saddness swept Spain as they could not impress their fans and suffered yet another quarterfinal exit.

Spain know hoped once again for a good World Cup impression in 2002 in the Far East. Qualifying went as expected for Spain as they topped an easy group consisting of Austria, Irael, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Liechtenstein. Under Camacho Spain hoped that lessons learned from Euro 2000 would bring them better luck. In the final tournament Spain were drawn into group B with Slovenia, Paraguay, and South Africa. This time Spain began the World Cup very strongly with 3-1 victories over Slovenia and Paraguay and a 3-2 victory over South Africa. Spain topped the group with nine points to face off a second round contest with the Republic of Ireland. Goals by Fernando Morientes for Spain and Robbie Keane for the Republic of Ireland led both teams to a penalty shootout. After several misses and scores from both sides, Spain came out on top with a 3-2 victory. Spain booked a quarterfinal berth with hosts Korea Republic who upset Italy in round two. Spanish fans were confident this was the year Spain was to progress beyond the quarterfinals in any major tournament since Euro 64. After a hard fought 120 minutes and disallowed goals, Spain faced another penalty shootout. Spain scored three penalties as did Korea. However Spain's worst nightmare became reality after Joaquín had his penalty saved. Korea scored their last two penalties through Ahn Jung-Hwan and Hong Myung-Bo to knock Spain out of the 2002 World Cup. Spanish fans were shocked by another successive quarterfinal exit.

Euro 2004

At Euro 2004 in Portugal, Spain were drawn into group A with Portugal, Russia and Greece. After coming into second after Greece in qualifying, Spain looked very strong. The Spanish team were touted as heavy favorites for the 2004 crown by the European media. They possessed new and fresh players such as Fernando Torres and Xabi Alonso under new coach Iñaki Sáez. Spain were also hoping that the tournaments proximity would contribute to their success. On June 12th, Spain expectedly defeated Russia, 1-0. Four days later Spain faced Greece. Determined to win, Spain led the match until Greece scored an equalizer and the match ended 1-1. In their last game against Portugal, Spain needed to draw to qualify for the quarterfinals. However a goal from Nuno Gomes faded Spain's hopes of advancing. The same day Greece were defeated 2-1 by Russia but moved ahead to claim second place on goal difference. As a result Spain were eliminated from Euro 2004 in the first round that consisted of the tournament's eventual finalists in Portugal and Greece. This exit was considered the most disappointing since the 1998 World Cup. Iñaki Sáez was sacked only weeks later and replaced by Luis Aragonés.

2006 World Cup

Under Luis Aragonés, Spain struggled throughout the 2006 World Cup qualifing stage. Spain were in group 7 with Serbia & Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Belgium, Lithuania, and San Marino. Despite mixed results including five wins and draws, Spain qualified for a playoff spot with Slovakia. Spain qualified for the final tournament after defeating Slovakia 6-2 on aggregate. Many didn't know what to expect of Spain heading into Germany, despite almost failing to qualify, the Spanish side had many talented players. Spain were drawn into a group H with Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia. Spain won their opening game over Ukraine in a comfortable 4-0 result, with two goals from David Villa and one each for Fernando Torres and Xabi Alonso. The first penalty of the tournament was awarded after Vladislav Vaschuk was sent off for pulling on Torres. Spain won their second game against Tunisia 3-1. A goal in the 8th minute through Jawhar Mnari put Tunisia ahead, but Spain scored through Raúl in the 71st min and Fernando Torres in the 76th min. Fernando Torres scored from the penalty spot in injury time to get his second goal in the game. Spain beat Saudi Arabia by 1-0 in Kaiserslautern on the 23 June. However Spain fell 3-1 in the second round by the more experienced France team. Spanish fans once again faced a premature exit and a performance below expectations. Spain and Brazil shared the 2006 FIFA Fair Play Award.

Spain Team
No.	NAME	POS	Height	Weight	Age
1	Iker Casillas	G	6-1	174	26
23	Jose Reina	G	6-2	190	24
2	Francisco Javi Navarro	D	5-11	165	33
3	Guerrero Antonio Lopez	D	5-8	143	25
4	Carlos Marchena	D	6-0	172	27
5	Carles Puyol	D	5-10	172	29
15	Garcia Sergio Ramos	D	6-0	161	21
19	Lopez Angel	D	5-11	157	26
20	Joan Capdevila	D	5-11	172	29
6	David Albelda	M	5-11	170	29
9	Sanz Luis Garcia	M	5-9	141	28
14	Xabi Alonso	M	6-0	165	25
16	Andres Iniesta	M	5-7	143	23
17	Sanchez Joaquin	M	5-10	165	25
18	Francesc Fabregas	M	5-9	152	20
21	David Silva	M	5-7	148	21
-	Fernando Torres	S	6-0	154	23
7	David Villa	S	5-9	152	25
10	Roberto Soldado	S	5-9	161	22
11	Miguel Angulo	S	5-11	163	29

Group F
	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA	GD	P
Sweden	7	6	0	1	17	4	13	18
Spain	7	5	0	2	13	6	7	15
Northern Ireland	6	4	1	1	10	7	3	13
Denmark	6	3	1	2	9	5	4	10
Liechtenstein	7	1	1	5	4	18	-14	4
Iceland	7	1	1	5	5	15	-10	4
Latvia	6	1	0	5	4	7	-3	3