Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas has found first-team opportunities limited at Real Madrid this season. He has not played a league match in 2013, which could seriously affect his chances of being in the Spain squad for the World Cup 2014. He has been the number one goalkeeper for both club and country over the last decade. During this period, he has lifted every possible trophy including the World Cup and Champions league. However, Diego Lopez has been the number one under Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti, which has increased speculation that Vicente del Bosque may also adopt this approach and drop him from the team.
Spain, who are the favourites to win the upcoming World Cup, will not be changing goalkeepers anytime soon according to the former Real Madrid coach, who recently extended his contract with the national team. Despite not featuring in the league matches, Casillas continues to remain as the number one in the European matches. Physically, he has been doing well and this will help him keep his place in the national team according to del Bosque. The manager has also revealed that he has started collecting data about the opposition at the World Cup.
Netherlands, Australia, and Chile will be the group opponents for Spain with every team being considered strong right now.
“He is active and training. He is playing in the Champions League and I don’t see any problems. Physically he’s fine. We are in the process of gathering data on all teams. We know Holland was a finalist in the World Cup and Chile has a very good team. Australia is the most anonymous but we have the utmost respect. The Netherlands have changed the most. They have retained some players but most are new and young,” said del Bosque.
He also spoke about the chances of Diego Costa being picked for the national team.