Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque and goalkeeper Iker Casillas aren't expecting a world class performance from the World Cup winners in their friendly against Mexico.
The duo said Wednesday's match at the 100,000-seat Azetca stadium - Spain's first since winning the World Cup a month ago - will be a practice game for the out-of-shape Spanish players, most of whom are just coming off vacation.
Del Bosque said Tuesday he would play some of his top players just a few minutes, while others may not play at all. Barcelona, which has seven players on the team, has been the most vocal of the clubs back home complaining that their stars could risk injury by playing and should have been left off the squad.
And there's the matter of a frantic travel schedule.
Spain arrived late Monday with no time for players to get accustomed to Mexico City's altitude of 7,350 feet and the thin air which makes even a short walk feel like a mountain marathon for newcomers.
''What we can't do is play our luxury lineup,'' Del Bosque said. ''We have to see the game as part of the preparation for the games that are coming up.''
And there are plenty of those on the jam-packed calendar, both for Spain's national team, and the big Spanish clubs like Barcelona and Real Madrid.
The seven Barcelona players will have essentially no time to train for the first leg of this weekend's Super Copa against Sevilla. The second leg is a week later, followed in short order by the opening of the Spanish league. Then many players will again don Spain's national shirt for two more matches - a European championship qualifier on Sept. 3 and then a grueling trip to Buenos Aires for a ceremonial friendly on Sept. 7 against Argentina.
A few days later, the league season resumes followed by the opening of the Champions League group stage in mid-September.
Barcelona sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta has already hinted at the potential burnout and called the decision to call up his players as ''extraordinarily negative.''
Zubizarreta spoke last week just as Brazil and Real Madrid midfielder Kaka was undergoing knee surgery, which threatened his career. The injury was made worse by playing in the World Cup.
''It'll be the first time in history that players still on holiday will have been called up,'' Zubizarreta said. ''Logic would say they are not in a situation to make such a great effort and such a long trip.''
Iker Casillas, the Spain and Real Madrid keeper, acknowledged that most of the Spanish team players had not trained for a month. But he promised a complete effort for a match being played as part of Mexico's 200th anniversary celebration of independence - from Spain.
''It is obviously true that many on the team don't have the appropriate preparation,'' Casillas said. ''I don't know if this team will play like the World Cup team, or not. I can assure you we are just as fired up as we were a month ago.''
Casillas welcomed the possibility of eight substitutes being used in the match - instead of the normal six for an exhibition - which the Mexican federation is trying to arrange.
He also repeated several times that Spain would do more than ''just go through the motions.''
''Just doing that isn't OK,'' Casillas said. ''What's of merit here is that we are going to play an important game for Mexico - and for Spain. It's our first game after the World Cup and we know a lot will be expected of us. We are here to win, not just to walk around or be tourists.''
