Unlike of what had happened in the World Cup Germany 2006 and the Euro 2008, the defeat of Spain in the first match in South Africa 2010 did not allow to the coach Vicente del Bosque rotate massively to the team in the group stage. In the previous two tournaments, Luis Aragonés aligned in the last match of the first phase, with the classification already in the pocket, to all players than they had not participated as starters in the previous two games except the third goalkeeper. Del Bosque's idea was to continue with this practice so that everyone felt like they were participating in the tournament, but the prick in the first meeting forced the technician go out with everything before Honduras and Chile.
However, as Spain progressed phases, Forest was finding minutes for almost everyone. In fact, the only three players who did not play a single second in the entire World Cup were Albiol, that the entire championship was injured, and the substitute goalkeepers Valdés and Reina. By cons, Casillas played all the possible minutes, something that only two other La Roja players did: Piqué and Capdevila.
In addition to these three untouchables, the equipment was quite definite. Six other players participated as starters in all matches: Puyol, Ramos, Busquets, Alonso, Xavi and Villa. Iniesta, habitual in the eleven and absolute protagonist of the World Cup, missed the game of Honduras for some inconvenience.