Luis Aragones has called up Getafe left back Mariano Pernia to replace injured Asier Del Horno in Spain's World Cup squad, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) announced on Thursday. The Argentine born defender, who scored 10 goals with Getafe this season, was tipped to be in Aragones's squad for the World Cup, but the latter opted to pick players who participated in the qualifying campaign. Also, Pernia's papers for traveling to the World Cup was delayed, given that he only obtained the Spanish citizenship in April. Nevertheless, Aragones' calculations fell short when Del Horno damaged the area around his Achilles tendon in a training last week to be sidelined for three weeks forcing him to choose between Deportivo's Joan Capdevilla and Pernia, with the latter already on the short-list. "I have a clear conscience because I've taken this decision in the best interests of the team and for what I wanted to do with them," Aragones said. "Our full backs have to be able to get forward, Capdevilla maybe the best in defense but not in attack, I'm sorry for him and in particular for Del Horno but I couldn't risk being left with only one left back," Aragones added. Spain will kick off their World Cup campaign against Ukraine on June 14th before facing Tunisia and Saudi Arabia in Group H.
