PREVIEW: Del Bosque trying to restore harmony within Spain squad

By Duncan Shaw Aug 31, 2011, 7:16 GMT

St. Gallen, Switzerland - Spain manager Vicente del Bosque will start to try to restore harmony within his bitterly divided squad on Friday, when La Roja faces Chile in a high-profile friendly in St. Gallen, Switzerland.

The taciturn, paternalistic Del Bosque is respected the world over as a coach who brings common sense and affability to a dressing-room. Which is just as well given the rift between the massive group from Barcelona in his squad and the smaller, but also important, group from Real Madrid.

Relations between the Spanish twin giants became especially poisoned after four acrimonious Clasicos in spring.

The situation became even more hostile after two more explosive clashes between the big two in the Super Cup in August - with Del Bosque looking on horrified from the stands as yet another touchline free-for-all broke out.

Last week Del Bosque said, with an air of resignation: 'It was, I suppose, to be expected that there would be more problems (between the Barca and Real players)..This was not good propaganda for Spanish football.

'Now we need to return to a good co-existence within the squad, that is very important.'

Del Bosque then had words of praise for Spain and Real captain Iker Casillas, who last week called Barca captains Xavi and Carles Puyol in an attempt to reduce the tension between the two factions.

Casillas' calls apparently annoyed Real coach Jose Mourinho, but Del Bosque said: 'Any gesture aimed to improve the situation is very welcome. I am pleased with what he (Casillas) did.'

Del Bosque called up young defenders Martin Montoya, Alvaro Dominguez and Alberto Botia - all of whom helped Spain to win the European Under-21 title in Denmark in June - for the Chile friendly, to cover for injury victims Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol.

In addition, Del Bosque seems to be phasing out veteran defenders Carlos Marchena and Joan Capdevila.

After announcing his squad, Del Bosque said: 'We are interested in seeing these young boys, who have already shown their quality at a lower level.

Claudio Borghi's Chile team will be led by winger Alexis Sanchez, who has just joined Barcelona from Italian club Udinese.

'It is a very important game for us,' said Sanchez, after helping Barca to thrash Villarreal 5-0 on Monday. 'We are really looking forward to playing the world champions.'

Chile flattered to deceive at the Copa America in July, looking strong and promising in the first round by then surprisingly losing to minnows Venezuela in the quarter-finals.

Read more about Chile