Spain manager Vicente Del Bosque has put off naming his 23-man roster for the World Cup to give Diego Costa time to possibly recover from his injury.
Atletico Madrid’s striker appeared to reinjure his hamstring in the ninth minute of the Champions League final, the same injury that threatened to keep him out of the game altogether.
The injury was originally sustained during Atletico’s title-clinching draw against Barcelona last week.
But Del Bosque says he needs Costa to recover soon or else he may be forced to replace him on the defending champion’s roster.
“We are doing it this way because we don’t know everyone’s physical condition and until June 2 we aren’t obligated to give FIFA our final squad,” Del Bosque said to Spanish reporters. “We would like that by June 2 everyone is ready to practice.”
He had originally said he would name his final roster today.
Another member of the 30-man roster in the same boat is Atletico’s Juanfran, who appeared to severely roll his ankle in the waning minutes of the Champions League final as Real Madrid made their final push.
The defender remained on the pitch simply because Diego Simeone had used all his substitutes, and looked incredibly limited in his movements and was limping heavily at times.
Someone who could benefit from Costa’s potential miss is Everton loanee Gerard Deulofeu, who Del Bosque mentioned as someone who they believe could do the job.
“We trust [Deulofeu] and if someone were to pull out tomorrow he would be top of the list.” Del Bosque said. Deulofeu was named to the 30-man squad, and could get a chance to prove his worth in Spain’s upcoming final against Bolivia.
Del Bosque named just a 19-man squad for that match, which was curious considering Jesus Navas, Alvaro Negredo, Fernando Llorente were left off that list.