Argentinian Squad

[Roo69]

Some very big name players left out (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2006/teams/argentina/5003602.stm)...........

NO - Veron, Samuel, Zanetti, Kily Gonzalez or Delgado

[Risteard]

Fecking hell.
Either he's nuts or they're brilliant.
What back 4 are they gonna go with so?

[gustavo]

dont think veron was gonna be in his plans anyway

[eirebhoy]

Has he got something against Inter?:confused: Zanetti is still top class.

[finlma]

Does it look likely that Tevez will start for Argentina?

I'm considering a flutter on Argentina/Tevez double.

[DmanDmythDledge]

Pure madness leaving out Zanetti.

[soccerc]

I've lifted this from an Argentine fan of Irish football (Diego Abatecola) who posted this elsewhere on 15 May.


Abbondanzieri (Boca), Leo Franco (At. Madrid), Ustari (Independiente)

Coloccini (Deportivo), Cufré (Roma), Ayala (Valencia), Gabriel Milito (Zaragoza), Sorin (Villarreal), Heinze (Man Utd), Burdisso (Inter), Scaloni (West Ham)

Luis González (Porto), Maxi Rodríguez (At. Madrid), Cambiasso (Inter), Mascherano (Corinthians), Aimar (Valencia), Riquelme (Villarreal)

Palacio (Boca), Crespo (Chelsea), Tevez (Corinthians), Messi (Barcelona), Saviola (Sevilla), Cruz (Inter)

Nice squad, and there´s a song here that goes in the lines of "Argentina will be the champions, the day that all the f####ng chickens go away from the international squad"... and it looks like this might be the day!

Everybody knew since Pekerman got the job that Zanetti was out, and its only a surprise that the Boca right back, Hugo Ibarra, isnt there. He´s probably the unluckiest player in the world when it comes to an international squad, as nobody deserved a call more than him, and yet he never was called not even as a sub. He was succesfull in Argentina and in Europe, and R. Carlos askes for him to go to Real Madrid once, as he was as good as Cafu.

4-3-1-2 is the classic set up in Argentina, and probably what we will play, but people here´s still hoping to see a 4-2-2-2, in order to play Messi Riquelme, Tevez and Crespo. Good news is that we´ll have a flexible formation, and we are willing to try any squad to get the cup, and it was a great success at youth level. (Almost half the players were champions at youth level with the same coach)

[gustavo]

Bit surprised to see Aimar there
Cant wait to see Maschenaro play , very highly rated player

[Roo69]

Scaloni has got in ahead of Zanetti, which in fairness is crazy. Zanetti is a fantastic player, just a plain bad decision to leave him out. Walter Samuel is a very good defender aswell and should be in the squad ahead of the likes of Ayala and Cufré.

But yeah, can't wait to see Mascherano play........

[tetsujin1979]

THere was an Argetinian journalist on Off The Ball on Newstalk last week when the squad was announced, according to him noone in Argentina was surprised that Zanetti was left out, the big shock was that Boca's right full, whom the coach had called the best Argentinian right full in 10 yedars, had been dropped.

[Roo69]

It's strange alright, but i thought that a manager was supposed to pick his best squad. Scaloni is not better than Zanetti.

[Risteard]

Walter Samuel is a very good defender aswell and should be in the squad ahead of the likes of Ayala and Cufré.
I agree Samuels a great player but surely you're not suggesting Ayala should have been left out?
I'd imagine some of those left out are for morale rather than football reasons.

[DmanDmythDledge]

It looks like that Messi could miss the first game against Ivory Coast.

[Over the post]

Samuel hasn't been near his best since the disastrous period he spent at Real Madrid. Ayala has missed a good part of this season through injury but is still twice the player Samuel is.

Strong squad but I feel they're lacking a bit of bite in midfield. They've no shortage of attack-minded midfielders-cum-strikers with Riquelme, Aimar, Saviola & co but they could do with another enforcer or two.

[DmanDmythDledge]

It looks like that Messi could miss the first game against Ivory Coast.
He played in a friendly and scored.

[drinkfeckarse]

Scaloni is not better than Zanetti.

I was really surprised to see Scaloni ahaead of Zanetti. I couldn't believe how poor he looked during his short period at West Ham. On that level I would say Scaloni is not better than Owen Heary....

[Over the post]

Maybe Scaloni was called up for his versatility. At Depor he played both at full back and as a defensive midfielder, solid enough but was never a first team regular in A Coruña. Hence the move to West Ham.