These are happy times for la Real. One of our homegrown players, Álvaro Odriozola, has been called up by Julen Lopetegui for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia. Today, the Head Coach announced his 23-man World Cup squad. The inclusion of the defender from Donostia is an award that recognizes the work done at Zubieta over the years.
The last homegrown players who belonged to la Real and represented the txuri-urdin club in the World Cup were Agustín Aranzabal (France, 1998), Javi De Pedro (Korea, 2002) and Liassine Cadamuro and Antoine Griezmann (Brazil, 2014). Now it is Álvaro Odriozola’s turn. The boy who started playing in la Concha beach will soon be part of the most prestigious tournament in the world. Having entered at the alevín level, Álvaro played for all the txuri-urdin youth sides at Zubieta. He gained promotion to the first team thanks to his hard work and effort. Now, he is one of the 23 top footballers to travel to Russia. Zorionak, Alvaro. Zorionak, Zubieta.
Januzaj and Héctor Moreno, in Belgium and Mexico’s preliminary squads
Adnan Januzaj and Héctor Moreno may have options to be in Russia. Both are in the preliminary squads of their respective countries. Januzaj is in Belgium’s 28-man preliminary squad. With regard to Héctor, he is also included in Mexico’s 28-man preliminary squad. All 23-man squads need to be finalised by June 4.