SPAIN Coach, Vicente del Bosque has warned his players to be ready for the battles of their lives if they hoped to add the Confederations Cup to the World Cup and European Championship’s titles in their custody.

Spain is drawn in the same group with Nigeria, Uruguay and Tahiti in the first round of the Confederations Cup.

The world champions was beaten in the second round of the competition four years go in South Africa, and Del Bosque says the same fate might befall them if they did not gird their loins well.

Looking ahead to the tournament, Del Bosque told FIFA.com: “Not only are there four world champions, but there are countries who are Olympic champions like Mexico and African champions like Nigeria. Japan is one of the countries, who have made great progress and any of the teams could be uncomfortable opponents. We will try to be at the level we need to be.”

Spain’s first game is against Uruguay in Recife on June 16. Four days later the reigning world and European champions play Tahiti in Rio de Janeiro, before taking on Nigeria in Fortaleza on June 23.

Group A comprises hosts Brazil, Italy, Mexico and Japan.

Prior to the tournament, Spain has friendlies against Haiti and Republic of Ireland in the U.S.A.

Del Bosque has admitted he was left with a virtually impossible task to find a place in his provisional squad for all the players who deserved to be called up. He named a 26-man preliminary squad for the tournament in Brazil next month, with three players set to drop out following this weekend’s final round of La Liga fixtures.

Fernando Torres and Javi Martinez have both been recalled, while Javi Garcia, Benat Etxebarria and Roberto Soldado are also in the provisional group, along with captain Iker Casillas, who has not played for Real Madrid since January.

A number of hopefuls were left disappointed, though, including Sevilla striker Alvaro Negredo, who was a member of Spain’s UEFA EURO 2012-winning squad and has scored 21 league goals this season.

“It’s almost impossible to have every player who merited a place,” said Del Bosque. “(Cesc) Fabregas, (David) Villa, Torres and Soldado are our four strikers. You could just as easily ask why we didn’t include (Imanol) Agirretxe, Iago Aspas, Michu.

“We can’t bring in everybody. We’ve deemed it fit to call up Soldado because he’s had a great season. We’ve called up those players, who are going to help us have the best tournament,” he said.