The man with the job of taking Spain’s penalties in the World Cup finals, according to sports daily AS on Sunday, will be David Villa.
AS claimed on Sunday that national manager Vicente del Bosque has decided that his principal penalty taker should be Villa, and the standby Xabi Alonso of Real Madrid.
Villa, 28, has just moved from Valencia to Spanish champions Barcelona. He was tournament top scorer at Euro 2008, where “La Roja” triumphed after 44 years without a majot trophy.
According to AS, Del Bosque has also decided that Barca playmaker Xavi should take all of Spain’s corners and most of their free-kicks - the same as at Euro 2008 and the 2006 World Cup.
The other free-kick takers will be Barca’s Andres Iniesta and David Silva of Valencia.
Defenders Sergio Ramos and Gerard Pique, both good headers of the ball, will go up for corners and free-kicks whilst fellow defenders Carles Puyol and Joan Capdevila stay back, together with defensive midfielder Sergio Busquets.
Del Bosque has taken these decisions after two days of intensive set-piece preparation in Madrid, after returning from Austria after Thursday’s 1-0 friendly defeat of South Korea.
On Tuesday Spain play their last preparation match, against Poland in Murca.
On Thursday they fly out to South Africa, where they will make their debut against Switzerland in Durban on June 16.
The European champions have been draw into Group H along with the Swiss, Chile and Honduras.
