Spain continues the defense of their 2010 World Cup Championship on Friday when they take on Belarus in a pivotal match for the defending champions. However, the glaring omission of Juan Mata from the upcoming roster brings a great deal of doubt regarding the champs' chances.
Spain was pretty dreadful in their last qualifier against Georgia. Despite a dominant possession game they could not score until the final moments of the game and almost lost as the opposition had a few quality chances to score. Roberto Soldado finally put the ball in the net and relief was given to Spain.
With the offensive trouble they displayed against a "weak" team in their group, a great deal of questions are certainly in the air about their chances against a Belarusian squad who despite losing its first two matches is troublesome and gave France a few headaches. More pressing is the match on Tuesday against France, who many believe to be the only other contender in the group.
This all leads to the major question of why did Vicente del Bosque leave Juan Mata out of his roster? Del Bosque's answer is that he could not fit in the playmaker, but Mata is only 24 (while most of the roster is aging) and is in the best form of his career. In six matches for Chelsea he has one goal and four assists. He also has two UCL goals and has looked dynamic and fresh in every match this season. Most importantly, his creativity and ability to unlock the talents of Fernando Torres makes him all the more valuable.
Spain's forward group has been struggling of late with David Villa fresh off an injury and Torres being wildly inconsistent. Roberto Soldado has been equally frustrating to watch. But Mata could solve the issue just by virtue of his chemistry with Torres. He knows how to find the striker and feed him the ball. He knows how to pump Torres' confidence when it sags. And just by doing that Mata becomes the only player on the squad who has been able to achieve that feat consistently over the last few years. With this crisis averted, Del Bosque could rely on Torres as his top striker to score some goals. However without Mata, he has to hope the rest of the team figures out how to find Torres some space or simply score without him.
Of all the midfielders for Spain he is also in the top form with Xavi losing a step and Iniesta fresh off an injury. Santi Cazorla has looked good this season, but whether or not he starts remains a big question.
Whether Mata will ultimately be missed will be on display Friday and Tuesday. If Spain is to lose or draw either of those matches, Del Bosque's leadership of the squad could be put into question. And this decision would be the one he regrets most.