Barcelona icon Gerard Pique’s staunch support of Catalan independence has promoted such severe jeering from Spain’s fans that the match against England, originally set for Pique’s home stadium, the Bernabeu, has been moved to the home of second division Hercules, Estadio Jose Rica Perez in Alicante. The game in Alicante features two sides that will be in the spotlight at next year’s European Championship _ with Spain bidding for a third consecutive European title and England hoping to build on its impressive run of 10 straight qualifying wins.
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The Spanish soccer federation says Francisco Alarcon “Isco” has been dropped from the national team because of muscle fatigue. Fortunately for England coach Roy Hodgson, another of his forwards _ Raheem Sterling _ is fit and ready to go.
After the disappointing early exit from the World Cup in 2014, England responded in fine fashion by winning every single one of their Euro 2016 qualifying matches. This is where we see where we are ahead of tournament in summer.
With Premier League top scorer Jamie Vardy an injury doubt, Tottenham striker Harry Kane is tipped to lead the line against Spain, with the 22-year-old having recently rediscovered his goal-scoring touch, bagging five in his last three top flight matches.
The teams last played in November 2011 and England won the game 1 – 0.
“Hopefully we can show what we can do and – it has been a good year and has been an exciting time”.
Chelsea striker Diego Costa is expected to start for the defending European champions despite failing to score in his last six games.
Spain have suffered a few recent injury problems, with David Silva not part of the squad due to injuries, while Sergio Ramos and Juanfran have withdrawn after getting injured at the weekend while playing for Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid respectively.
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But the £37.1m signing certainly appears keen to secure a starting spot in Vicente del Bosque’s line-up for the clash against the Three Lions. England will also play Germany and the Netherlands in March, while Spain will face Italy and Romania that same month in preparations for Euro 2016. “We can’t play these games as if they are friendlies, ” Spain defender Mario Gaspar said.
