Vicente del Bosque has admitted that Roberto Soldado looks sharp for Spain, but has given nothing away over his Confederations Cup plans.
The Valencia striker came off the bench for David Villa to open the scoring for La Roja and follow on from his equally strong showing against Haiti last Friday.
“The No 9 works when the team functions,” commented Del Bosque on Soldado’s performance in the 2-0 win over the Republic of Ireland in New York on Tuesday night.
“I will not say who will begin as a starter, but Soldado has had two games in which he has proven to be very sharp, but so have Torres and Villa.
“There are no starters and substitutes, because they are all leading figures in their clubs and hence the difficulty in choosing, because they are all very good.
“Here we have met our objectives, there have been no injuries, we have generated a good atmosphere and we have advanced the team physically. We are better now than when we arrived.”
Last night’s win was sealed with a late goal from Juan Mata, to ensure Spain’s second win in their final warm-up game before heading out to Brazil for the Confederations Cup.
“We played well, we had possession and dominated and if we have lacked anything then it has been the final pass, but the victory is deserved and not having achieved it would have been unjust for the chances created.
“We go into the Confederations Cup with confidence, in a good moment and with ambition, but there are seven teams vying for the title and who have the same opportunities.
“And that is assuming that Tahiti is a bit weaker, which we will see on the field.”
Del Bosque notably went with eight Barcelona players in his starting line-up.
“We have tried to distribute the minutes equally in both friendlies and they have fallen this way, but it is an objective fact that Barcelona has the most representatives.
“Casillas? He had a good performance, but any of the three goalkeepers can play. On June 16 we will see.”
That date is when Spain begin their Confederations Cup campaign in Group B against Uruguay. Spain go into the competition as one of the favourites, having won the last three tournaments they have entered.
“We have grown a lot. Our youth has had more facilities for sports, there are more players, more Coaches, more fields.
“It is no coincidence. It is not difficult to lead this group, it is a reflection of Spanish society – good guys, normal people who have passion and good conditions in which to play football.”
