Spain announces Preliminary World Cup Squad

World Cup holders Spain have announced their provisional squad for this year's edition and there were not many surprises. The only player who has been left out unexpectedly is Isco.

Atletico Madrid's Diego Costa, who was born and raised in Brazil and made two friendly appearances for them last year before choosing to play for Spain, has been included in the squad. Fernando Torres has been included in the squad despite a poor domestic season. The two could play together in Brazil before they join up at Stamford Bridge with fresh reports claiming that a deal between Atletico and Chelsea for Costa is in place.

Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes has been ruled out of the World Cup and uncapped Manchester United shot-stopper David De Gea has been preferred to Real Madrid's first-choice goalkeeper Diego Lopez.

There is no place for Tottenham’s Roberto Soldado, Napoli’s Jose Callejon or Fiorentina’s Borja Valero, however. Llorente, who has enjoyed a strong comeback season with Juventus following a difficult final year at Athletic Bilbao but faces stiff competition from Costa, Torres, Villa and Alvaro Negredo for a spot on the plane to Brazil.

La Roja begin their title defence in Group B with an opening fixture against their 2010 Final opponents the Netherlands, before games with Chile and Australia. Del Bosque will announce the final 23- man squad list on May 25. 

THE SQUAD 

Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Pepe Reina (Napoli), David De Gea (Manchester United).

Defenders: Dani Carvajal, Sergio Ramos (both Real Madrid), Gerard Pique, Jordi Alba (both Barcelona), Cesar Azplicueta (Chelsea), Juanfran (Atletico Madrid), Javi Martinez (Bayern Munich), Raul Albiol (Napoli), Alberto Moreno (Sevilla).

Midfielders: Sergio Busquets, Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas (all Barcelona), Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), Ander Iturraspe (Athletic Bilbao), David Silva (Manchester City), Santi Cazorla (Arsenal), Koke (Atletico Madrid), Tiago Alcantara (Bayern Munich), Juan Mata (Manchester United), Jesus Navas (Manchester City).

Forwards: Diego Costa, David Villa (both Atletico Madrid), Alvaro Negredo (Manchester City), Pedro Rodriguez (Barcelona), Fernando Llorente (Juventus), Fernando Torres (Chelsea).

Colombia announces 30-man provisional World Cup squad

Colombia announced their 30-man preliminary squad for the World Cup and there was one surprise - striker Radamel Falcao had been called up for his country's provisional 30-man squad as he recovers from a damaged anterior cruciate ligament.
The striker sufferedthe injury in January and the injury had ended his campaign with Monaco and was a serious doubt for the WorldCup with several media outlets claiming that he would not be able to recover in time to go to Brazil and is in for a long lay-off. But he has been named in Jose Pekerman's squad, which will be cut to 23 by 2 June.

Colombia have been drawn in Group C with Greece, Ivory Coast and Japan.

THE SQUAD

Goalkeepers: David Ospina (Nice), Faryd Mondragon (Deportivo Cali), Camilo Vargas (Independiente Santa Fe)

Defenders: Mario Yepes (AC Milan), Cristian Zapata (AC Milan), Pablo Armero (West Ham United), Camilo Zuniga (Napoli), Aquivaldo Mosquera (America, Mexico), Santiago Arias (PSV Eindhoven), Luis Amaranto Perea (Cruz Azul), Eder Alvarez Balanta (River Plate), Carlos Valdes (San Lorenzo)

Midfielders: Fredy Guarin (Inter Milan), Juan Cuadrado (Fiorentina), Victor Ibarbo (Cagliari), James Rodriguez (Monaco), Abel Aguilar (Toulouse), Juan Fernando Quintero(Porto), Carlos Sanchez (Elche), Macnelly Torres (Al Shabab), Aldo Leao Ramirez (Morelia), Edwin Valencia (Fluminense), Alexander Mejia (Atletico Nacional), Elkin Soto (Mainz)

Forwards: Radamel Falcao (Monaco), Luis Fernando Muriel (Udinese), Jackson Martinez (Porto), Carlos Bacca (Sevilla), Adrian Ramos (Hertha Berlin), Teofilo Gutierrez (River Plate)

France World Cup 2014 Squad

France coach Didier Deschamps has left Samir Nasri and Gael Clichy out of Les Bleus' World Cup squad, despite starring in Manchester City's Premier League title winning side.

Southampton's uncapped midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin makes the standby list, joining a whole array of Saints' players who are on the brink of a World Cup appearance following an impressive season.

THE FRANCE SQUAD

GOALKEEPERS: Mickaël Landreau, Hugo Lloris, Steve Mandanda    

DEFENDERS: Mathieu Debuchy, Lucas Digne, Patrice Evra, Laurent Koscielny, Eliaquim Mangala, Bacary Sagna, Mamadou Sakho, Raphaël Varane    

MIDFIELDERS: Yohan Cabaye, Clément Grenier, Blaise Matuidi, Rio Mavuba, Paul Pogba Moussa Sissoko, Mathieu Valbuena

FORWARDS: Karim Benzema, Olivier Giroud, Antoine Griezmann, Loïc Rémy, Franck Ribéry    

RESERVES: Rémy Cabella, Maxime Gonalons, Alexandre Lacazette, Loïc Perrin, Stéphan Ruffier, Benoît Trémoulinas, Morgan Schneiderlin.

England World Cup 2014 Squad

The World Cup is less than a month away and the participating countries have begun announcing their rosters for the mega-event. Several countries have released their final squad for the competition while many have announced their preliminary squads which will eventually be chopped down to the final 23-man squad by June 2, a deadline set by FIFA.

At Footballathon, we will post the squad lists as and when they are announced as part our plans to provide a complete World Cup 2014 coverage.

We begin with the England squad. Coach Roy Hodgson has selected a host of young players along with midfield veterans, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard and start striker Wayne Rooney.

England begin their World Cup campaign against Italy in Manaus on 14 June, before further group matches against Uruguay and Costa Rica.

Manchester United's Michael Carrick and Toronto FC's Jermain Defoe have been left out of the 23-man squad and have been put on a standby list of 7 players. 

THE SQUAD

Goalkeepers: Fraser Forster (Celtic), Ben Foster (West Bromwich Albion), Joe Hart (Manchester City).

Defenders: Leighton Baines (Everton), Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Phil Jagielka (Everton), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Phil Jones (Manchester United), Luke Shaw (Southampton), Chris Smalling (Manchester United).

Midfielders: Ross Barkley (Everton), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Adam Lallana (Southampton), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), James Milner (Manchester City), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal), Raheem Sterling (Liverpool), Jack Wilshere (Arsenal).

Forwards: Rickie Lambert (Southampton), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Daniel Sturridge (Liverpool), Danny Welbeck (Manchester United).

Standby: John Ruddy (Norwich City), Jon Flanagan (Liverpool), John Stones (Everton), Michael Carrick (Manchester United), Tom Cleverley (Manchester United), Andy Carroll (West Ham United), Jermain Defoe (Toronto FC).

England National Football Team: A Word Cloud

Last night, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Martin Kelly were handed their England international debuts and in the process, became the 1181st and 1182nd players to don the Three Lions' jersey respectively. After the success of the Cristiano Ronaldo vs. Lionel Messi graph (thanks to a few good people on twitter), my blog had run dry for a week (that is, back to normal). The debutants or England were set to be my theme for a new post and the idea of a word cloud struck. So, here's a word cloud based on frequency of first or last names featuring among the 1182 players to have been capped by England. This is just a fun-post or a post out of boredom, to be honest, so I hope you like it.

Cristiano Ronaldo vs. Lionel Messi: Race for the Pichichi 2011-12

Click on the PLAY button (or simply use the scroll bar at the bottom of the graph) to see how the Pichichi race between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo turned out this season. Also, use the tabs on the graph for different types of visualisations.

VISUALISED: The Premier League Title Race 2011/12

Click the PLAY button to see how the title race between the Manchester clubs has turned out so far this season or simply use the scroll bar!