Del Bosque: Costa Is Not A Problem

Del Bosque increased the doubts about his future in the national team after dropping him for the previous games against Luxembourg and Ukraine in October because the player was suspended for the first game, while criticising Costa’s behaviour during the controversial London derby against Arsenal that cost the striker a retrospectively three-game ban.

Club teammate Sergio Ramos and Atletico Madrid’s Juanfran had been forced to withdraw from Del Bosque’s original squad due to injury.

Diego Costa’s switch of allegiance from Brazil to Spain ahead of the 2014 World Cup has certainly not worked out as well as he or Vicente Del Bosque might’ve imagined it would.

However, Pique has become an enormously controversial character in Spain over the last few months and has been subjected to fearful abuse from his own supporters during recent internationals.

“The attacking players that we’ve got – Vards he’s been on a good goalscoring streak so far, Ross has been doing really well for Everton this season”.

But the microscope is firmly on Casillas, and another error-strewn performance like the one he produced against the Netherlands would see the pressure to promote De Gea rapidly intensify. And if you look at the other keepers they’ve had, that’s the business.

All four of Spain’s knockout wins en route to their 2010 World Cup triumph came via 1-0 score lines.

The 23-year-old, who has 11 global caps to his name, was included in the La Roja squad for their upcoming friendlies against England and Belgium.

Speaking in an intriguing interview with The Guardian, Del Bosque was questioned over Costa’s style of play and whether it gels with the slick passing that exemplifies Spain.

Asked to assess Cunningham against a fellow English winger in Steve McManaman, whom del Bosque coached as Real Madrid manager, he said: “Comparing them is impossible”.

His inclusion of Costa, indeed, is an attempt to add a greater degree of physicality, but so far it has not worked because the rest of the team is continuing to pursue a different style of play.

“This is a phenomenon that we cannot turn our back on; we can’t pretend it doesn’t exist”, Del Bosque says.