Spain coach Vicente del Bosque will give striker Diego Costa as long as he possibly can before deciding on whether or not to include the injured Atletico Madrid star in his World Cup squad.
Costa has struggled with a hamstring problem for some time and was forced off early on in Atletico’s Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid.
The Brazil-born attacker faces around two weeks on the sidelines and Del Bosque wants all of his players available to train by the time he has to send his final 23-man squad list to FIFA on June 2.
Costa had seemed certain to be involved in the World Cup for defending champions Spain but he is now a major doubt, although Del Bosque will give the striker until the FIFA deadline before he makes his final call.
“We don’t know any more about Diego Costa than what was in the medical report. He has a muscular injury and we’re monitoring his recovery; we will wait until the last minute before making our decision,” Del Bosque told Spanish radio station Cadena SER.
“The other day I said that I would like all the players to be in good condition by June 2, but that doesn’t mean that I cannot make an exception.
“We’re not doing this on a whim, we have until the second to give the list of 23 and we don’t have to rush things. I hope he makes it, but we have good alternatives.”
Spain are priced at 7.00 to win the World Cup and at 16.00 to be the highest scoring team at the tournament.
Del Bosque’s side are installed at 1.74 to win what is a tough-looking Group B, having been drawn alongside the Netherlands, Chile and Australia.
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