Vitolo and Juanmi will make debuts against Netherlands

The two players who have arrived most recently to the national team set-up, Vitolo and Juanmi, will make their debuts for Spain on Tuesday, against the Netherlands in Amsterdam. Vicente del Bosque, who has presided over 97 matches as national team coach, has already handed 54 different players their international bow, with 12 debutants since last summer’s World Cup. The numbers testify to the process of renewal and renovation that the national team is undergoing.

Since the disappointment in Brazil, Kiko Casilla, Ignacio Camacho, Nolito, Munir El Haddadi, Rodrigo, Mikel San José, Paco Alcácer, Dani Carvajal, Raúl García, Juan Bernat, José Callejón and Álvaro Morata have all appeared for La Roja. Vitolo and Juanmi are going to have minutes in the Netherlands. Due to the need to field David de Gea, it is unlikely Sergio Asenjo will appear.

Del Bosque has handed more players their international debut than any other Spain coach in recent times. Luis Aragonés, who presided over 54 fixtures, premiered 32 players (among them David Villa, Sergio Ramos, Andrés Iniesta, David Silva and Santi Cazorla). José Antonio Camacho debuted a half-century of players (Casillas, Puyol and Xavi were his greatest new call-ups) over the course of 44 matches. Meanwhile Iñaki Saez, who sat in the Spain dug-out on just 23 occasions, handed debuts to Xabi Alonso and Fernando Torres.

The Netherlands, the team that Spain beat in the World Cup final in South Africa in 2010 and the side that hammered the reigning champions four years later in Brazil, have changed less. Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie are injured, but they maintain the core of players that destroyed La Roja 5-1 in Salvador de Bahía on June 13 last year. However, only eight of the Spain players that featured that day will be in Amsterdam tomorrow: Iker Casillas, Gerard Piqué, Sergio Ramos, Sergio Busquets, David Silva, Andrés Iniesta, Pedro and Cesc Fàbregas. And half of those players will not start.

Del Bosque closes the doors and changes the team

Spain returned to training on Sunday after the Euro 2016 qualifier against Ukraine. La Roja had a double session (morning and afternoon) at their Las Rozas base and for the first time in the Del Bosque era (he is three matches away from reaching his centenary), two sessions in the same day were both behind closed doors.

Until now, the strange thing was that Del Bosque would work without the presence of the fans, but in recent times, especially since the World Cup in Brazil, he has decided to change. Since then it has been more common for Spain to train behind closed doors, but until yesterday that had not had happened twice in the same day. The Spanish national team are trying out new set-piece plays and strategy moves. Some of them will be seen in tomorrow night’s match, in which Del Bosque wants to give first-team minutes to nearly all of those who have been called up. The starting line-up against the Netherlands will bear little resemblance to the one that was fielded against Ukraine.

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