Spain

Spain made hard work of qualifying despite favourable draws in both the group stage (where they eventually stumbled to second-place behind Serbia and Montenegro) and the playoffs (a 6-2 aggregate win over Slovakia). If ever the Spanish are to shed the tag of World Cup underachievers, having been drawn alongside debutants Ukraine, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia in Group H, now is the time.

As always, Iberian optimism is sky-high despite patchy success at international tournaments. Little doubt exists as to the quality of the squad at Luis Aragones' disposal. Though as a sign of the times, perhaps, Real Madrid offer only a supporting cast rather than the protagonists, especially with captain Raul sustaining a torn cruciate ligament in November - an injury likely to see him miss large parts of the domestic season. Whether the country's talisman regains fitness in time for Germany, we shall see.

The heartbeat of the 2006 side hails from champions Barca, most notably the uncompromising Carlos Puyol and inventive schemer Xavi. The goalscoring burden lies with 21-year-old Athletico Madrid frontman Fernando Torres, scorer of seven goals in qualifying. While Valencia's new recruit David Villa, the current leading homegrown forward in La Liga with nine goals from 14 games, will add vital support.

Coach: Luis Aragones (ESP)
FIFA Ranking: 6

Spain Matches

Match #	Date & Time	Group	Teams		Result	Venue
15	Wed 14th Jun 15:00	H	ESP	UKR	4 - 0	Leipzig
31	Mon 19th Jun 21:00	H	ESP	TUN	3 - 1	Stuttgart
47	Fri 23rd Jun 16:00	H	KSA	ESP	0 - 1	Kaiserslautern
56	Tue 27th Jun 21:00	R2	ESP	FRA	1 - 3	Hanover

Match times shown are local times for Germany (CEST/GMT+0200). Click on match date/time to view match statistics.

Past World Cup performance

First Round: 1962, 1966, 1978, 1998
Second Round: 1982, 1990
Quarter Finals: 1934, 1986, 1994, 2002
Fourth Place: 1950

Key Players

Luis Garcia
Fernando Torres
Xavi Hernandes

World Cup 2006 Qualification

Although they were unbeaten in European Qualifying Group 7, Spain only managed to win half their matches and draw the other half, finishing second in Group 7 behind Serbia & Montenegro. A 6-2 aggregate win over Slovenia in their play-off matches secured qualification for Germany 2006.

Squad

						Total		World Cup 2006
#	Posn	Name	DOB	Club		Caps	Goals	Pld	Goals	OG	YC	RC
1	GK	Casillas Iker	20-05-1981	Real Madrid	ESP	62	0	3	0	0	0	0
2	DF	Salgado Michel	22-10-1975	Real Madrid	ESP	51	0	1	0	0	0	0
3	DF	Pernia Mariano	04-05-1977	Getafe	ESP	5	1	3	0	0	0	0
4	DF	Marchena Carlos	31-07-1979	Valencia	ESP	28	1	1	0	0	1	0
5	DF	Puyol Carlos	13-04-1978	Barcelona	ESP	51	1	3	0	0	2	0
6	MF	Albelda David	01-09-1977	Valencia	ESP	36	0	2	0	0	1	0
7	FW	Raul Gonzalez	27-06-1977	Real Madrid	ESP	100	44	4	1	0	0	0
8	MF	Xavi Hernandez	25-01-1980	Barcelona	ESP	41	1	4	0	0	0	0
9	FW	Torres Fernando	20-03-1984	Atletico Madrid	ESP	35	14	4	3	0	0	0
10	MF	Reyes Jose Antonio	01-09-1983	Arsenal	ENG	20	4	1	0	0	1	0
11	FW	Garcia Luis	24-06-1978	Liverpool	ENG	14	3	3	0	0	0	0
12	DF	Lopez Antonio	13-09-1981	Atletico Madrid	ESP	11	1	1	0	0	0	0
13	MF	Iniesta Andres	11-05-1984	Barcelona	ESP	4	0	1	0	0	0	0
14	MF	Alonso Xabi	25-11-1981	Liverpool	ENG	30	2	3	1	0	0	0
15	DF	Ramos Sergio	30-03-1986	Real Madrid	ESP	15	2	3	0	0	0	0
16	MF	Senna Marcos	17-07-1976	Villarreal	ESP	7	0	3	0	0	0	0
17	MF	Joaquin Sanchez	21-07-1981	Betis	ESP	41	4	3	0	0	0	0
18	MF	Fabregas Cesc	04-05-1987	Arsenal	ENG	9	0	4	0	0	1	0
19	GK	Canizares Santiago	18-12-1969	Valencia	ESP	46	0	1	0	0	0	0
20	DF	Juanito Gutierrez	23-07-1976	Betis	ESP	16	2	1	1	0	0	0
21	FW	Villa David	03-12-1981	Valencia	ESP	13	7	4	3	0	0	0
22	DF	Pablo Ibaez	03-08-1981	Atletico Madrid	ESP	15	0	3	0	0	0	0
23	GK	Reina Jose Manuel	31-08-1982	Liverpool	ENG	3	0	0	0	0	0	0