Casillas: Limited preparation time no excuse
Reuters - Friday 25 May 2012, 12:28
A lack of preparation time together is no
excuse for Spain as they get ready for their first Euro 2012
warm-up match without a large part of their regular squad,
captain Iker Casillas said on Friday.
The world and European champions take on Serbia in
Switzerland on Saturday after a provisional 21-man squad started
their build-up this week without up to a dozen players from
Chelsea, Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao.
"We'll see if it works against us or not at Euro 2012," the
Real Madrid goalkeeper told a news conference at their training
camp in Austria.
"If Spain don't do well someone will use it as an excuse.
It's true, for us, it is a different squad get-together but this
is not to say it is worse than previous ones.
"There is no need to dwell on it because all the members of
the squad have known each other for a long time now."
Juan Mata and Fernando Torres join the squad this weekend
but will not play against Serbia after helping Chelsea win the
Champions League final against Bayern Munich last weekend.
Barca and Bilbao compete in the King's Cup final on Friday
and Spain coach Vicente del Bosque will call up players from
those teams when he names his final 23-man squad on Sunday for
the tournament in Poland and Ukraine.
Del Bosque has two more friendlies, against South Korea in
Switzerland on Wednesday and China back in Spain on June 3.
They start the defence of their European title against Group
C rivals Italy on June 10 in Gdansk.