Spain 1-0 Italy

Wednesday 26 March 2008, Elche, Spain

David Villa’s 78th minute strike helped Spain to a friendly win over Italy.

Full match report and video highlights here.

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Preview

Spain take on Italy in a friendly game in Elche tonight, with both managers having more or less finalised the squads (the core at least) that they will be taking to Euro 2008.

No sign of Raul yet in the Spanish squad, and I think by this point only a severe injury crisis would make Aragones consider recalling the Real Madrid captain. You’d have a better chance of Del Piero returning to the Italy squad in time for Euro 2008, or of Cassano being sent off without throwing a strop.

It’ll be interesting to see if Aragones gives de la Red a chance, and whether Fabregas and Torres can reproduce their club form for the national team.

On the Italian front, Chiellini is perhaps unfortunate to miss out and Cassano, for all his troubles, is a bit of a surprise inclusion to the squad. Methinks that Del Piero and Chiellini may still end up going to Euro 2008, although when you look at this current Italian squad it seems a bit light upfront.

Marco over at mCalcio.com has the Italian preview, Ryan over at Spain World Cup Blog has the Spanish preview.

Spain

Goalkeepers: Casillas (Real Madrid), Reina (Liverpool)

Defenders: S.Ramos (Real Madrid), Capdevila (Villarreal), R.Albiol (Valencia), Puyol (Barcelona), Marchena (Valencia), F.Navarro (Mallorca), Arbeloa (Liverpool), Juanito (Betis)

Midfielders: Fabregas (Arsenal), Iniesta (Barcelona), Xavi (Barcelona), D.Silva (Valencia), Riera (Espanyol), X.Alonso (Liverpool), de la Red (Getafe), Senna (Villarreal)

Forwards: D.Villa (Valencia), Guiza (Mallorca), Luis Garcia (Espanyol), F.Torres (Liverpool).

Italy

Goalkeepers: Buffon (Juventus), Amelia (Livorno)

Defenders: Barzagli (Palermo), F.Cannavaro (Real Madrid), Grosso (Lyon), Materazzi (Inter), Panucci (Roma), Oddo (Milan), Zambrotta (Barcelona)

Midfielders: Ambrosini (Milan), Aquilani (Roma), Camoranesi (Juventus), De Rossi (Roma), Gattuso (Milan), Perrotta (Roma), Pirlo (Milan)

Forwards: Borriello (Genoa), Di Natale (Udinese), Iaquinta (Juventus), Quagliarella (Udinese), Toni (Bayern Munich)

Also See:

France v England

Brazil v Sweden

Mexico v Ghana