Hey, if it works for Euro 2008 Champion Andres Iniesta..

UPDATE -  Vicente Del Bosque has been appointed the new boss of Spain after the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) announced that on Wednesday the former Real Madrid head coach will be formally introduced to the media in Madrid.

The 57 year old Del Bosque’s contract will run through the end of the 2010 World Cup.

Will Raul be back in the fold?

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Yesterday I was talking about Holland and Liverpool baller Ryan Babel.

Today it’s Andres Iniesta, one of the best midfielders (and still maybe one of the most underrated, even though the 24 year old beat out Cesc consistently for a starting spot with Spain) in La Liga.

There is an interesting story over on Divinity Metrics which looks at Euro 2008 and compares who really won between Nike and adidas. It says that even though both teams in the finals were adidas sponsored, that nike came out as the winner because of the individual players on the Spanish team sponored by Nike.Add in the fact that Portugal, even though they got knocked out, are a Nike sponsored team, as is CRon7. With so much on the line for the two sporting giants, tournaments like Euro 2008 are hugely important for both brands. If you had to take a guess, who would you say was the big winner?

Check out a pretty interesting Nike ad after the jump

[Via Divinity Metrics]

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According  to SI, after winning Euro 2008 Spain jumps to the top spot on FIFA’s rankings.  Winning Euro 2008bumped them up three places to the top spot on the list. As for the United states, we are currently number 30 on the list. I know rankings and polls don’t necessarily mean a whole lot, but we need to strive for better. What do you guys think? Even though they are just rankings, how do you feel seeing the US ranked number 30?

The Euro 2008 winners were all smiles as they took the bus top celebration route from the Barajas Airport to Madrid.

Can you imagine being at this party?

images via Euro2008

One of the most creative, yet overlooked players in the game has finally been recognized as the Castrol best player of the 2008 Euros.

Barcelona’s 28 year old midfielder Xavi Hernandez was chosen by the nine-person Uefa technical panel that left off Cristiano Ronaldo due to Portugal’s early exit.

Via Soccernet

UEFA’s squad of the tournament:
Goalkeepers: Buffon (Italy), Casillas (Spain), van der Sar (Holland)

Defenders: Bosingwa (Portugal), Lahm (Germany), Marchena (Spain), Pepe (Portugal), Puyol (Spain), Zhirkov (Russia)

Midfielders: Hamit Altintop (Turkey), Modric (Croatia), Senna (Spain), Xavi (Spain), Zyryanov (Russia), Ballack (Germany), Fabregas (Spain), Iniesta (Spain), Podolski (Germany), Sneijder (Holland)

Striker: Arshavin (Russia), Pavlyuchenko (Russia), Torres (Spain), Villa (Spain).

image via As

The best buy in football last year led Spain to a 1-nil win over Germany in the 2008 Euro Championship Final.

Liverpool’s Fernando Torres ended Spain’s 44 year quest for a major trophy after skipping past Bayern Munich outside back Philipp Lahm in the 33rd minute and cheekily chipping the ball up and over on onrushing Jens Lehmann with the inside of his right foot at the Ernst Happel Stadium.

This after out jumping German centerback Per Mertsacker in the 22nd minute and heading off the post, a header that had looked to beat the slow reacting Lehmann.

During the knockout stages keeper Iker Casillas, along with the back four of Sergio Ramos, Carlos Puyol, Carlos Marchena and Joan Capdevila held the fort tight, not allowing a goal scored against since their 2-1 win over Greece in the last match of Group D play.

FC Uptown & Dunny

images via Sun-Sentinal

UPDATE - According to the US Mens National Team Blog, Spain’s roster for Wednesday’s friendly has been set.

Goalkeepers:
Andrés Palop Cervera(Sevilla F.C. S.A.D.)
José Manuel Reina Páez(Liverpool F.C. )
Iker Casillas Fernández(Real Madrid C.F.)

Defenders:
Raúl Albiol Tortajada(Valencia C.F. S.A.D.)
Joan Capdevila Méndez(Villarreal C.F. S.A.D.)
Carles Puyol Saforcada(F.C. Barcelona)
Sergio Ramos García(Real Madrid C.F.)
Juan Gutiérrez Moreno(Real Betis Balompié S.A.D.)
Carlos López Marchena(Valencia C.F. S.A.D.)
Álvaro Arbeloa Coca(Liverpool C.F.)
Fernando Navarro Corbacho(R.C.D. Mallorca)

Midfielders:
Marcos Antonio Senna Da Silva(Villarreal C.F. S.A.D.)
David Jiménez Silva(Valencia C.F. S.A.D.)
Xavier Hernández Creus(F.C. Barcelona )
Andrés Iniesta Luján(F.C. Barcelona )
Francesc Fabregas Soler(Arsenal F.C.)
Xabier Alonso Olano(Liverpool F.C.)
Rubén de la Red Gutiérrez(Getafe C.F. S.A.D)
Sergio García de la Fuente(Real Zaragoza S.A.D.)
Santiago Cazorla González(Villarreal C.F. S.A.D.)

Forwards:
David Villa Sánchez(Valencia C.F. S.A.D.)
Fernando José Torres Sanz(Liverpool F.C.)
Daniel Gonzalez Güiza(R.C.D Mallorca S.A.D.)

According to the US Mens National Team Blog, the US Roster has been set against Spain.

U.S. ROSTER BY POSITION

Goalkeepers (3): Dominic Cervi (out of contract), Brad Guzan (Chivas USA), Tim Howard (Everton FC)

Defenders (7): Carlos Bocanegra (out of contract), Dan Califf (FC Midtjylland), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Jay DeMerit (Watford FC), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock)

Midfielders (6): Freddy Adu (SL Benfica), DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Eddie Lewis (Derby County), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids)

Forwards (4): Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC), Nate Jaqua (out of contract), Eddie Johnson (Fulham FC), Josh Wolff (out of contract)

image via Soccerlens

The United States got a good look at their opponent this week as Spain took on Peru in Huelva over the weekend.

Do you see any weaknesses in their starting 11?  Yeah, me neither.