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Friendly international

Spain 2 - Bolivia 0

Spain beat Bolivia 2-0 in their first warm up game prior to this summer’s World Cup, and the squad now fly out to the United States for a second and final friendly match against El Salvador in Washington before moving on to Brazil. With players from Champions League finalists Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid unavailable, Del Bosque had to reshuffle his side, giving a start to newcomer Iturraspe, and also blooding his latest call-up Deulofeu for the last fifteen minutes or so. The South Americans set out their stall early on though with a 5-4-1 formation, and although Spain had the majority of possession, the only real chances in the first half were a shot against the post from Azpilicueta, and a efforts by Pedro, Mata and Javi Martínez which Quiñónez kept out. Early in the second half however the Albanian referee awarded the locals a penalty after Luis Gutiérrez pushed Javi Martínez inside the area, and Fernando Torres stepped up to fire a soft spot kick past the keeper. The introduction of Iniesta, Silva, Fàbregas and Busquets livened things up after that, and Torres, Fàbregas and Pedro all failed to convert chances before Iniesta finally scored the second with a shot from outside of the area which went in off the far post. A win to start things off, and Del Bosque now has to prune his provisional list down to a final 23 before heading out to defend that title. (30.05.14)