Del Bosque: Maybe Raul should be at Confed Cup

BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa (AP) - Even as Spain reshapes football's record books, the legacy of Raul Gonzalez continues to trail the world's top-ranked team.

Spain coach Vicente del Bosque said Sunday, a day after leading the European champions to a record-breaking 15th straight victory, that maybe the iconic Real Madrid striker should be with the team at the Confederations Cup in South Africa.

"I don't know if we made a mistake or if we didn't make one by not bringing him, because you also have to be respectful of the past," Del Bosque said Sunday in an interview with The Associated Press and one other reporter. "He's someone who has donned the Spanish jersey more than 100 times. In other countries, with this fact, you have to be very careful. But we thought that what had been done without Raul worked and so we continued on with what was given to us."

Former Spain coach Luis Aragones endured constant questioning over Raul, Spain's all-time leading scorer, since dropping him from the team after a 3-2 European Championship qualifying loss at Northern Ireland in September 2006. Spain's last loss came two months later, and a 2-0 win over South Africa on Saturday stretched its unbeaten run to 35 games, a record that matched Brazil's 1993-96 streak. Spain reached the Confederations Cup semifinals with a perfect record from Group A.

The last 13 wins have come under Del Bosque, who believes that the continued saga over Raul had something to do with Spain's inability to let go of its most recognizable star.

"It's a little of everything," Del Bosque said. "The debate is a football one, because he's still playing at Real Madrid. And if Real Madrid has two strikers and one of them is Raul - that's a fact."

Raul, who has scored 44 goals in 102 appearances for Spain, has had two prolific seasons since being dropped, scoring 47 goals in all competitions as Madrid won the league title in 2007-08.

Without Raul, Spain has reached the top of FIFA's rankings after ending 44 years of futility in major tournaments with last year's European Championship victory.

"It wasn't an easy decision, and I'm sure that we probably didn't act so well with him but we did what we believed was convenient," Del Bosque said.

Del Bosque, who took over following that Euro 2008 win, said his decision to stick with Aragones' winning formula - from tactics to training methods - paid off by not disrupting a group that has come together, often calling each other teammates on the field and friends off it.

"We had a group that already had good relations and there was a way of playing that was practically untouchable and that we didn't have to change much," the Spanish coach said. "It was an easy arrival."