Uruguay boss Oscar Tabarez is without midfielder Gaston Ramirez, who suffered a leg injury while on club duty for Southampton during the weekend.

La Celeste’s attacking trio of Luis Suarez, Diego Forlan and Edinson Cavani may start together for the first time since the 3-0 qualifying defeat to Argentina last October.

Spain playmaker Xavi will miss Wednesday’s friendly against Uruguay at the Khalifa International Stadium with a hamstring injury.

Defender Cesar Azpilicueta and playmaker Isco are both included in the 20-man squad and could make their international debuts off the bench.

Real Madrid duo Xabi Alonso (groin) and Iker Casillas (hand) also miss out, while Javi Martinez, Roberto Soldado and Fernando Torres have all been omitted by coach Vicente del Bosque.

For Spain it's a familiar roster for the most part with the only two players looking to make name for themselves being Malaga forward Isco and Chelsea defender Cesar Azpilicueta. Both players have been called in by Vincente Del Bosque before but have yet to earn a cap. Neither made get a chance to do so this time around either, but sometimes how you perform in training is just as important as what you do on the pitch.

Fernando Torres would probably like to try to win a place back but he won't get a chance this time around, having been skipped over. You get the sense that Del Bosque knows what he has, likes what he's been seeing and isn't in a big hurry to start tinkering unless something goes wrong.

Despite all the recent struggles, Tabarez isn't making many changes with his roster. There are only four players in camp without double-digit caps, so it appears that Tabarez is going to ride out qualifying with this group for better or worse. Given the defensive problems for Uruguay, there's a chance that Sebastián Coates or Matías Aguirregaray could make a name for themselves if given the opportunity.
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google
  • Furl
  • Reddit
  • Spurl
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati

Comments are closed.