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Goalkeepers
Santiago Cañizares (Valencia)
Iker Casillas (Real Madrid)
Daniel Aranzubia (Athletic Bilbao)
Defenders
Raúl Bravo (Real Madrid)
Joan Capdevila (Deportivo Coruna)
Cesar (Deportivo Coruna)
Gabri (Barcelona)
Iván Helguera (Real Madrid)
Juanito (Betis)
Carlos Marchena (Valencia)
Carles Puyol (Barcelona)
Midfielders
David Albelda (Valencia)
Xabi Alonso (Real Sociedad)
Rubén Baraja (Valencia)
Xavi Hernández (Barcelona)
Joaquin Sánchez (Real Betis)
Juan Carlos Valeron (Deportivo Coruna)
Vicente Rodreguez (Valencia)
Forwards
Joseba Etxeberria (Athletic Bilbao)
Raul González (Real Madrid)
Guti Alberto Luque (Deportivo Coruna)
Fernando Morientes (Monaco)
Fernando Torres (Atletico Madrid)
 

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Spain are in danger of losing a reputation that has been forged over decades of the merciful battering of lesser rivals by cricket scores and reach tournament finals brimming with confidence, only to underrate all comers, play to a fraction of their ability and go home in the first week, tail firmly between legs!
So it came as a huge surprise in finishing as runners up to Greece in the qualifying campaign. This wasn’t in the script cried a nation! The indignity of a play-off fell on the Spanish, and after conceding an away goal to the Norwegians, doubts circulated about their questionable quality, but the cold of Oslo was not enough to deter Spanish spirit, and a team focused totally on attending their neighbour’s party next summer.
Politik           
There is a notion that the Spanish football team doesn’t unite due to the extreme factions that go way beyond football, the politics of the Barcelona and Basque teams and big city teams of Seville and Valencia are magnified in the stadiums, all demanding autonomy and liberty from the ever conquering power house that rules Spain – Madrid.         
With this in mind a united Spain looks unlikely, the argument has gained weight in that players coming together for International duty, coincidentally never display the form that they show for their club sides – players and fans alike the question remains. Are Barcelona and Real Madrid bigger than Spain?
Go Forth        
On the pitch Spain play similar to Italy, always an err towards caution, frustrating to the purist who can see their full potential, unlike their Mediterranean friends the success that both club sides produce is not shown for Spain the way Italian football has, they never seem to flow and lack the danger and thrilling attacking flair always shown at club level.
They defend well with Valencia like resilience but going forward are poles apart from the beauty of Real Madrid in full flow, and rely too heavily on Raul, their proven world class striker with 37 goals from 68 appearances.
Copycats
Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery Spain could tactically resemble France, if they used the classy Joaquin on the right, a true winger from Real Betis, inside him the excellent ex Valencia star Gaitzka Mendietta with Diego Valeron and Rubens Baraja holding and with Soceidad’s impressive winger De Pedro a player with a fantastic low cross and one of the great reasons for club side Real Sociedad’s league runners up spot in 2003.
A five-man midfield would leave Raul alone up front true, but it’s a midfield with lots of goals in them. On the bench is the excellent Diego Tristan an exceptionally skilful striker with important goals in him, and also youngsters Reyes and Torres, but, and there’s the rub, Spain will never play like that! And it’s unlikely that they would ever go with this dream like team, this very forward thinking team. Penny for your thoughts…Real Madrid!