Jesus Navas gets the call

Jesus Navas gets the call

Sevilla winger Jesus Navas has been named in the Spain squad for the upcoming friendly internationals against Argentina and Austria.

Navas has long been considered one of Spanish football's most promising players but he has yet to represent the senior national side, mainly due to his problems with anxiety and panic attacks when away from home for extended periods.

However, the 23-year-old last week made himself available to coach Vicente del Bosque, and the quicksilver wideman has been included in a 23-man squad that otherwise has few surprises.

Liverpool duo Fernando Torres and Albert Riera, and Villarreal's Santi Cazorla and Marcos Senna, all miss out through injury, having been included in the last squad Del Bosque named for the World Cup qualifiers against Armenia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Osasuna's Nacho Monreal also drops out, with the men to come in being the fit-again David Villa, Pablo Hernandez, Alvaro Arbeloa as well as Navas.

Spain, who won all 10 of their World Cup qualifying matches and are amongst the favourites to triumph in South Africa next year, face Argentina at Atletico Madrid's Vicente Calderon stadium on Saturday before travelling to Vienna to take on Austria the following Wednesday.

Squad: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Jose Reina (Liverpool), Diego Lopez (Villarreal); Raul Albiol (Real Madrid), Alvaro Arbeloa (Real Madrid), Joan Capdevila (Villarreal), Andoni Iraola (Athletic Bilbao), Carlos Marchena (Valencia), Gerard Pique (Barcelona), Carles Puyol (Barcelona), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid); Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), Sergi Busquets (Barcelona), Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal), Xavi (Barcelona), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona); Dani Guiza (Fenerbache), Pablo Hernandez (Valencia), Juan Manuel Mata (Valencia), Jesus Navas (Sevilla), Alvaro Negredo (Sevilla), David Silva (Valencia) and David Villa (Valencia).