Soccer Extreme : Spain manager Vicente del Bosque has decided not to carry out any experiments in Wednesday's friendly against Colombia.
The phlegmatic veteran coach has turned down the chance to try out newcomers in the game, which will be played in Real Madrid's Estadio Bernabeu.
Instead, he has stood by the players who won the World Cup seven months ago. The only player in his squad who was not in his Wortld Cup group is Villarreal midfielder Santi Cazorla, who missed out on the South Africa trip due to injury.
Missing from the squad is Barcelona captain Carles Puyol, who has acute tendinitis in his left knee. In addition, Javi Martinez and Juan Mata - both of whom were reserves in South Africa - will be playing for the Spainsh Under-21 team instead.
Del Bosque will have to discard four players from his squad because new FIFA regulations only permit six substitutions in friendly matches.
He is determined that his players take the game more seriously than they did in autumn, when they lost 4-1 against Argentina and 4-0 against Portugal in one-sided friendlies.
'I have decided not to call up certain players from Valencia, Villarreal, Espanyol or Athletic Bilbao who are in good form because the ones that we already have are also playing well,' Del Bosque said.
'We have to be aware that we should give the best image possible. I do not want a repeat of what happened against Portugal. Colombia are a good team, nearly all of their players are playing in European leagues.'
On Friday Del Bosque was given the honorary title of marquis by King Juan Carlos because of his role in Spain's first ever World Cup triumph.
'This is an extra responsibility,' said Del Bosque, with his habitual humility.
'This obliges me to be better every day...All these titles and prizes embarrass me a little, to be honest. The players should just continue to call me Vicente.'