Krkic misses on Far East tour

Krkic misses on Far East tour

Frank Rijkaard has named the same squad that travelled to Scotland for the tour of the Far East, with the exception of Bojan Krkic who will join up with the Spanish Under-17 squad.

The Dutch coach has named a 24-man squad for the three-game trip which start with a flight to Beijing on Thursday and will see the team tralve onto Yokohama and Hong Kong.

One player missing, however, will be Krkic who has had to travel to the Under-17 preparation phase ahead of the World Championships in Korea later this month.

The Spain squad will assemble in Las Rozas, just outside Madrid, and will train between August 2 and 12 before heading to the tournament on August 13.

The absentees Eidur Gudjohnsen, Carles Puyol and Edmílson are all still out injured and will not travel and neither will the trio of Rafael Márquez, Lionel Messi and Gaby Milito, who will all begin pre-season training in Barcelona after appearing in the Copa América.

The 24-man squad The squad that will depart for the Far East tour on Thursday is: Valdés, Jorquera, Oier, Belletti, Sylvinho, Zambrotta, Abidal, Valiente, Oleguer, Thuram, Olmo, Xavi, Touré Yaya, Iniesta, Motta, Deco, Crosas, Dimas, Giovani, Ronaldinho, Eto’o, Henry, Maxi and Ezquerro.
Laporta laments Krkic omission
During the presentation of the hockey player, Lluís Teixido, club president Joan Laporta reiterated his desire to see Bojan Krkic take part in the tour of the Far East with FC Barcelona. "I understand everyone likes the boy because we are all enchanted by him," he said. "We think that it would be good for him to play on our tour and then go directly to the World Championships. We hoped that could have happened."