Spanish players at the World Cup will have to give up social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook during the tournament as coaching staff consider them an unnecessary distraction.

"The coaching staff have told us that they prefer that we are isolated from everything," striker Juan Mata told a news conference on Thursday.

"I have to respect that, we must be focused on each match and on our rivals. I don't think it's a big deal."

Barcelona defender Carles Puyol has already said goodbye to his Twitter fans.

"Hello everyone, from today we cannot connect until we get back from the World Cup, I will tell you about it when we get back! Greetings!" he said in a tweet.

Coach Vicente Del Bosque said days before the players gathered for training they should not use social networking sites in order to focus on the tournament, which takes place in South Africa from June 11 to July 11.

"They have asked us to not go into Facebook or Twitter from now until the end of the World Cup," midfielder Andres Iniesta said on Facebook.

"We'll meet again as soon as the tournament finishes for us, which I hope will be on July 11," he said, referring to the date of the final.

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