Spain coach Vicente del Bosque says international career may not be over for New York City FC's David Villa

Spain manager: David Villa's int'l career may not be over

David Villa

David Villa’s international career may not be over quite yet.


Spain manager Vicente del Bosque told Spanish media Tuesday the New York City FC striker is still in the conversation to be called back to the national team. It was widely believed that last summer’s World Cup would be the swan song for Villa, 33, who holds his country’s scoring record with 59 international goals and has received 97 caps.


"Of course we're still thinking about him,” del Bosque said. “For us he's still a national team player, so David Villa can still play his 100th game. On him specifically, you have to be thankful with someone like him, who's done so much for the national team.


"There are always exceptional cases and one of them is David.”



Despite that, Villa was not included in Spain’s squad for Friday’s Euro 2016 qualifier against Ukraine and friendly in the Netherlands four days later. Villa, who came to the MLS expansion side this year after a career with various La Liga clubs, has started all three of NYCFC’s games this season and scored the opener and set up the second goal in their home debut on March 15 at Yankee Stadium, a 2-0 victory over the New England Revolution.