World Cup 2022: Spain summon Fati and exclude Ramos
Spain coach Luis Enrique on Friday summoned Barcelona's young striker Ansu Fati, 20, and excluded Paris Saint-Germain, 36-year-old veteran French defender Sergio Ramos, from a final list of 26 players to participate in the World Cup in Qatar.
Although Enrique decided to rely on a young squad, it was devoid of surprises, with the presence of veteran midfielder Sergio Busquets, who is the only player in the squad among the 2010 World Cup winners, in addition to many new names such as Hugo Giamon (Valencia) and Jeremy Pino. (Villarreal), Nico Williams (Athletic Bilbao), Pedri and Gavi (Barcelona), but without some of the old cadres like Ramos and the recently retired Gerard Pique.
Gavi, the Barcelona jewel, who celebrated his 18th birthday on August 5, will become the youngest Spanish player to compete in a World Cup, breaking the previous record held by Cesc Fabregas in 2006 (19 years and 1 month).
With less than half of the list for players under 25 years old, Spain will play the world football wedding in Qatar with one of the youngest squads and a dream of second international dedication 12 years after winning in South Africa 2010.
The most prominent absentees from the final list are Inigo Martins (Athletic Bilbao) and Marcos Alonso (Barcelona) in defence, and Thiago Alcantara (Liverpool, England), who injured his hamstrings at the start of the season, in the midfield.
Real Betis striker Borja Iglesias, who was called up by Enrique for the first time during the international window at the end of September, is also absent.
On the other hand, Barcelona defender Eric Garcia recovered from an injury to his left thigh in time to join the plane to Doha, like Koke, but unlike Villarreal striker Gerard Moreno, Enrique preferred not to include his name on the list as he had just recovered from a hamstring injury in his leg. left.
"We thought about the list until the last minute," Enrique said at a Friday afternoon news conference. "Until last night we still had doubts about the attack, but we ended up removing it overnight."
The coach, nicknamed "Lucho", confirmed that he did not want to change "everything before the World Cup", and encouraged him to trust his young group.
The lineup:
Goalkeepers: Unai Simon (Athletic Bilbao), Robert Sanchez (Brighton, England), David Raya (Brentford, England),
Defense: Dani Carvajal (Real Madrid), Cesar Aspilicueta (Chelsea, England), Eric Garcia and Jordi Alba (Barcelona), Hugo Guillaume and Jose Gaya (Valencia), Pau Torres (Villarreal), Aymeric Laporte (Manchester City, England)
Midfielders: Sergio Busquets, Gavi and Pedri (Barcelona), Rodri (Manchester City, England), Carlos Soler (Paris Saint-Germain, France), Marcos Llorente and Koke ( Atletico Madrid
Forwards: Ferran Torres and Ansu Fati (Barcelona), Nico Williams (Athletic Bilbao), Jeremy Pino (Villarreal), Alvaro Morata (Atletico Madrid), Marco Asensio (Real Madrid), Pablo Sarabia (Paris Saint-Germain, France), Dani Olmo (Germany's Leipzig)
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