Iker Casillas

Full Name: Iker Casillas Fernández
Squad No: 1
Position: Goalkeeper
Birth Date: May 20, 1981
Birth Place: Mostoles, Spain
Height: 6' 1'' (1.85m)
Weight: 84 kg
Foot: Left
 

Profile:
Captain of his country and a hero to millions of Madridistas, Casillas also has a strong claim to the title of the finest goalkeeper of his generation. The Real Madrid icon has won tournaments with his country at Under-15, U-17 and U-19 level, but his crowning glory was lifting the Euro 2008 and World Cup trophies in two stellar years.

Nicknamed San Iker ('Saint Iker') at Real Madrid, Casillas is a rare homegrown talent among a sea of galacticos having joined the club at the age of nine. He made his first-team debut under the current national coach, Vicente del Bosque, in the 1998-99 season and cemented his place the following year when becoming the youngest goalkeeper to appear in a Champions League final when beating Valencia just four days after his 19th birthday. A rare slump in form saw him dropped for the encounter with Bayer Leverkusen two years later but he appeared as a substitute in the second half in Glasgow and won the trophy for Real with a series of superb saves.

Casillas has been an established and respected member of the first XI ever since and has played a major role in Real's extensive success over the past decade - winning almost everything there is to win in the game.

He is Spain's most capped player, breaking the record held by the legendary Andoni Zubizarreta, and it will take some effort from his rivals for his position - the likes of Victor Valdes and Pepe Reina - to wrestle the national jersey off Casillas.

Strengths: As the last line of defence in a team that often pays scant regard to such an art, Casillas gets plenty of practice and frequently demonstrates his impressive reflexes, superb agility and innate ability to pull off a spectacular save. His forceful personality and will to win ensure he is a born leader.

Weaknesses: His aura of invincibility has been slightly dented due to a handful of mistakes and he can be slightly rash when rushing off his line.

Career high: Lifting the World Cup trophy at Soccer City in 2010.

Career low: A humbling experience at the Bernabeu last season when arch rivals Barcelona smashed six past Casillas in May in a game that effectively clinched the league title for the Catalans.

Style: Energetic, extravagant, commanding, a leader from the back.

Quotes: "Iker is the perfect captain. I'd give him ten out of ten for everything he does as a keeper, a captain and in the way he behaves. He sees everything so clearly. The whole squad deserve a ten but Casillas more than anyone. As the captain he's the one I speak to the most. He's a phenomenon." Luis Aragones, June 2008.



Youth Carrer :
1990–1998 Real Madrid


Senior Carrer:
1998–1999: Real Madrid C 
1999          : Real Madrid B 
1999– .......: Real Madrid 
 

Puyol ruled out of Euro 2012

koclokindoblog, 8 Mei 2012, Spain have been dealt a blow ahead of Euro 2012 with news that Barcelona's Carles Puyol will miss the tournament with a knee injury.

Puyol, 34, played 90 minutes in Barcelona's win over Espanyol at the weekend but complained of knee soreness.

Further tests on Monday revealed the central defender requires an operation.

"After tests were conducted it was decided the player would have arthroscopic surgery on Saturday," Barcelona said in a statement.

"The estimated time he will be out of action is around six weeks."

Puyol was a key member of Spain's winning sides at Euro 2008 and the World Cup two years ago.

He will also miss Barcelona's final league fixture against Real Betis and the Copa del Rey final against Athletic Bilbao.

Spain face Italy in their Euro 2012 opening group game in Gdansk on June 10.
 

soccerway.com

 

David Silva

Full name : David Josué Jiménez Silva

Date of birth : 8 January 1986

Place of birth : Arguineguín, Canary Islands, Spain

Height : 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
 
Playing position : Attacking midfielder




David Josué Jiménez Silva is a Spanish footballer who plays for Manchester City and the Spanish national team. Silva is capable of playing on the wing, as a traditional number 10, and sometimes as a supporting striker. A Spanish international since the age of 20 with over 50 caps, he was a member of the squads that won both the Euro 2008 and 2010 World Cup.

He spent six years of his professional career with Valencia CF, appearing in more than 150 games and winning one Copa del Rey, before moving in 2010 to Manchester City.

Early life .
Silva was born in Arguineguín, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, to Fernando Jiménez, a former municipal police officer who eventually was responsible for the safety of the Valencia CF stadium, and Eva Silva. His father, Fernando, is Canarian while his mother, Eva, is of Japanese descent, confirmed in an interview by his family members to the Canarian media. Silva has two younger siblings, sister Natalia and brother Nando. He is commonly called by the nickname Chino (Spanish for "Chinese") due to his physical appearance.

Silva began playing football in the youth team of UD San Fernando, near Maspalomas. Originally, he played as a goalkeeper, before becoming a winger and mirrored his game around his footballing idol as a youth, Michael Laudrup. When he was 14, he received an offer to become a youth player at Valencia CF, which he accepted. He stayed in Valencia's youth set-up until he was 17.

International career

Silva first represented Spain in the 2003 FIFA U-17 World Championship in Finland, scoring three goals. In 2006, he became an under-21 international and scored four goals during the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship; this was enough to earn him joint-fourth place in the goal ranking, alongside Italian strikerGraziano Pellè.

Silva made his senior international debut in the 1–0 friendly home defeat to Romania on 15 November 2006, and continued to receive call-ups to the side after good contributions in his first games. On 22 August 2007, he scored his first two goals for Spain, netting twice in a 3–2 friendly win versus Greece, and was then called-up to the squad of 23 for UEFA Euro 2008.

In the semi-finals game versus Russia, Silva scored the third goal for Spain after a quick counter-attack in which Cesc Fàbregas delivered a low cross, and he sent the ball into Igor Akinfeev's goal with his left foot. In the final, he was involved in an incident with Germany's Lukas Podolski. After he pulled Podolski to the ground, the German approached Silva, which resulted in an angry exchange of words and a coming together of heads that the referee decided not to punish. Shortly afterward, Spanish coach Luis Aragonés substituted Silva for Santi Cazorla in an attempt to calm the tensions.

After appearing regularly during the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification stages – Spain won all ten fixtures – Silva was also picked for the squad for the finals in South Africa. His participation would be, however, a small one, as the national team won the tournament: he started in the first match, a 0–1 group stage defeat against Switzerland, then played the last four minutes of the 1–0 win against Germany in the semi-finals.

On 11 August 2010, during an international friendly with Mexico, Silva scored two minutes into second-half injury time, ending the game with a 1–1 draw

In a Euro 2012 qualifier against Liechtenstein on 3 September 2010, Silva scored after 62 minutes, in a 4–0 away win. The following month, in the same competition, he scored through a rare header, as the national team downed Lithuania in Salamanca (3–1).

In Spain's first match for 2011, a friendly against Colombia on February 9, he came off the bench to score the game's only goal with just four minutes remaining, helping Spain to a hard-fought 1-0 win. He scored twice and provided one assist in Spain's 3-1 victory against Scotland in their final match of the Euro 2012 qualifiers. The win saw the Spaniards enter the tournament with a perfect qualifying record by winning all their group games. He scored the first goal in Spain's 2-2 comeback against Costa Rica, a friendly match where he came on as a substitute in the second half with Spain trailing 2-0. He once again scored in Spain's first friendly of 2012 against Venezuela to make the score 2–0 in a match that ended in a 5–0 win.

Hierro: Villa return key to Spain chances

koclokindoblog, 2 Mei 2012, Former Spain captain Fernando Hierro believes the fitness of David Villa will be a key to his country's chances of winning Euro 2012.

The Barcelona forward, 30, has been out of action since fracturing his left tibia in December last year, and is reportedly closing in on a return.

Hierro, who retired in 2005, said on Tuesday the fitness of Spain's all-time leading goalscorer was crucial to their chances of success.

"I think that it's important for Villa to be fit because he's a very important goalscorer for the team," Hierro said.

"Players' form is constantly changing, especially toward the final phases of international competitions because of the accumulated fatigue.

"There are a lot of matches in very little time. I think that Vicente del Bosque will know that the decision has to be made at the end of the season in May and not before."

The reigning world and European champions have been drawn alongside Italy, Croatia and the Republic of Ireland in Group C for the tournament in Poland and Ukraine, which starts on June 8.

Hierro, now the general manager of Malaga, believes the Euro 2008 quarter-final win against Italy was a breakthrough Spain needed.

"I think that a lot has changed. There was a very important moment for Spanish football, and that was the quarter-finals of Euro 2008 in Vienna against Italy," he said.

"We had come from a generation of players that always got knocked out in the final phase, usually around the quarter-finals.

"We were never able to get through to the final. I've always said in previous interviews that I didn't know what competition it would be in, but when Spain got through the quarter-finals they would go far.

"I think we had a psychological barrier that we needed to break."