Fernando Torres named in Spain squad for Denmark friendly

The striker is included in new manager Vicente Del Bosque’s first national squad list for clash versus Danes in Copenhagen

Fernando Torres will join the rest of Spain’s squad at the Las Rozas football complex on Monday 18 August as Vicente Del Bosque’s men prepare for the friendly meeting with Denmark at the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen on Wednesday August 20, kick-off at 19:15 hours (BST).

The squad will train at the Spanish Federation’s training complex on the outskirts of Madrid before traveling to Denmark on Tuesday, where they will face the Danes one day later.

The international friendly will be an important warm-up for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers versus Bosnia and Armenia on September 6 and 9 respectively. Spain are placed in Group 5, and will also have to face Belgium, Turkey and Estonia for a place at the 2010 South Africa World Cup.

Torres, who hit Spain’s winner at the 2008 European Championships to help his country to their first major international trophy in 44 years, will meet up with his team-mates following Liverpool’s opening Premier League game away to Sunderland on Saturday.

In a recent interview, Fernando Torres gave the national team manager his full backing. “We know him from his time as manager at Real Madrid. We know what he is like and how he likes to work. We all hope to help him to get to grips with the position, and that the national team continues on from where we left off in Austria. Del Bosque arrives at a great time. The style of play and players are all there, but we have to keep working hard so that the manager continues to call on us. We hope that everything runs smoothly from the start. Taking over a group can be complicated, but we are all going to try to make sure that this will not be the case.”

Following the recent Euro 2008 triumph in Austria & Switzerland, Spain now top the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking for the first time. The Spanish national team have 1557 points, and lie ahead of second-placed Germany, who have 1343 points, and third-placed Italy, who have 1320 points. Spain’s midweek opponents Denmark are placed 36 with 722 points.

The full list of 22 names for the Spain squad versus Denmark are: Casillas, Reina, Sergio Ramos, Puyol, Juanito, Albiol, Amorebieta, Iraola, Fernando Navarro, Capdevila, Xabi Alonso, De la Red, Silva, Xavi, Iniesta, Cazorla, Senna, Diego Capel, Fernando Torres, Villa, Güiza and Bojan.