Vicente Del Bosque, the Spain manager, will return home with his World Cup winners tonight.
Del Bosque, 59, will see his side play their first competitive home game since July's final in Soweto's Soccer City in the more modest surroundings of Salamanca's Helmantico stadium. Helmantico seats just 17,341 and despite Salamanca being one of the most beautiful Spanish cities and the home of the country's finest university, it is not a usual venue for international football matches.
Salamanca has been chosen because the city of 150,000, which lies 150 kilometres west of Madrid, was the birthplace of Del Bosque. Tonight is expected to be a glorious homecoming as Spain play Lithuania in a Euro 2012 qualifier. Del Bosque's first foray into paid football was in 1966 as a 16-year-old when he played for Salamanca's reserve team. Two years later, he was snapped up by Real Madrid, where he spent the next 15 years as a player, before managing the club for the best part of 20 years, first as reserve team coach and then during three spells with the first team.
Del Bosque is a modest, considered man who is keen to learn. He was fascinated by the legacy of apartheid when he was in South Africa and will reluctantly accept the fanfare tonight, though his son Alvaro is likely to be a more enthusiastic recipient. Alvaro has Down's Syndrome, and his father promised him that he would introduce him to his hero Xavi if Spain won the World Cup and allow him to ride on the victory bus with the trophy. Unfortunately, Xavi is one of several injured Spanish players alongside Pedro, Cesc Fabregas, Jesus Navas and Fernando Torres, all of whom played in the World Cup final.
Several of Spain's other World Cup winners have suffered injuries - mainly muscular ones - since South Africa. Valencia's Pablo Hernandez and Aritz Aduriz have benefited from such injuries with call ups, while their former teammate and veteran centre-back Carlos Marchena - now with Villarreal - denied that Spain will struggle without Xavi. "Xavi is important in this side, but there are other teammates who can take on his role with calm and confidence," Marchena said. "We hope to be prepared so that we don't notice any player being missing."
Del Bosque has also called up Borja Valero, the Villarreal playmaker, and his fellow midfielder Bruno Soriano. The Spain coach remains supremely confident of his charges, saying: "I can see virtually all of the world champions making 2012 and most of them getting to 2014, but we need to be on our guard if they don't." The proud son of Salamanca also has advice for opponents trying to decipher Spain's winning formula. "I'm not a great believer in formations and we don't copy anyone. Secondly it's about the type of players we have," he said.
"With the midfielders we've got it's impossible to copy and for us to play anything other than a possession game and mix long balls up with short ones. "We have our strong points and we can't go against them, but no team is complete without having some defensive strengths too. In our case that's our ability to close the opposition down and win the ball back." Lithuania, ranked 42nd in the world to Spain's first, are expected to be defeated, but they sit above their opponents in the table alongside Scotland, who Spain meet next Tuesday because the pair have played a game more. Lithuania have beaten the Czech Republic and drawn with Scotland so far.
They will be studying Spain hard in the city known as the Spanish Oxford. Joyous locals will be watching Del Bosque even closer.
midnight, Aljazeera Sport +2
