Madrid, Nov 8 (IANS): Spain coach Vicente del Bosque named Brazilian-born striker Diego Costa in his squad for the friendly games against Equatorial Guinea and South Africa Nov 16 and 19.
Del Bosque had been expected to hand a call up Thursday to the striker, who is currently the top scorer in the Spanish Primera Liga with 13 goals and who last week signed a letter saying he preferred to play with Spain rather than his homeland, reports Xinhua.
Despite having been born in Brazil and having spent most of his life there and as well as making two appearances in friendly games earlier this year for his homeland, the 25 year-old is eligible to play for the current world champions after having lived for the past five years in the country and as well as not having played competitive football at any level for Brazil.
In an interview last week on the Atletico Madrid website Costa said that he owed everything to Spain which is where he has spent his entire professional career, playing for Albacete, Valladolid, Rayo Vallecano and Atletico Madrid.
Costa's call up means that other big name Spanish strikers such as Roberto Soldado and Fernando Llorente have not been called up by Del Bosque and their chances of being taken to next summer's World Cup finals look limited.
Del Bosque has included Costa's club mate, David Villa in a squad which has few surprises.
"We saw that Costa could play and we have called him up after a logical process," said Del Bosque.
"It all started in September when he fulfilled the requirement, we know him and we got a very good feeling from him," said the Spain coach, who nevertheless insisted Costa was not assured a place on the plane to next summer's World Cup finals in Brazil.
"He doesn't have unlimited credit and there is a long time between now and the World Cup. We will play against Italy in March and we will see what happens then, he is in the same condition as the other players," added Del Bosque.
Costa's decision to choose Spain ahead of Brazil will almost certainly mean that the Spanish will find a hostile reception from the home fans next summer, but Del Bosque said that prospect didn't worry him.
"I am more worried about preparing well. We are going to have the atmosphere against us, but I won't mind that if we get to the final," he commented.