Spain coach Luis Enrique announces the Spanish squad with seven changes for the upcoming international games

Spain manager Luis Enrique has named a squad with seven changes for the September FIFA World Cup qualifiers from their last game in the Euros.

Spain manager Luis Enrique has named a squad with seven changes for the September FIFA World Cup qualifiers from their last game in the Euros, where they got knocked out in the semi-finals to eventual winners Italy on penalties.

The players who are missing this time are Pedri González, Pau Torres, Mikel Oyarzabal and Dani Olmo. These players have played both the Euros and the Tokyo Olympics. Spain lost to Brazil in the finals of the Olympics and hence got the silver medal. Goalkeeper Unai Simon and defender Eric Garcia will not miss though, despite playing in both tournaments. Three other players haven’t been called into the squad: Diego Llorente, Fabián Ruiz and Thiago Alcántara. All three of them were in the Euro 2020 squad. Sergio Ramos, who wasn’t included in the Euro 2020 squad, will also not play this time around too against Kosovo, Sweden and Georgia.

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The players who were not present in the Euro 2020 squad and have been called are defenders Raúl Albiol and Íñigo Martínez, midfielders Mikel Merino, Carlos Soler and Brais Méndez, and forward Pablo Fornals. The biggest surprise was the selection of forwarding Abel Ruiz. The Sporting Braga player has been a regular in the youth teams but this is the first time he has been called up by the senior national team.

Spain is leading Group B of the qualifying rounds with 7 points. Sweden is a point behind them with a game in hand. Spain has to top their group to get direct qualification into the World Cup. The players who are coming from the Euro 2020 Squad are captain Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, César Azpilicueta, Koke Resurrección, Álvaro Morata, Adama Traoré and Gerard Moreno.