MANCHESTER City’s defender Pablo Zabaleta is one of the players listed by Argentina’s coach, Sergio Batista, for the international friendly between his country and the Super Eagles of Nigeria, christened, Guinness The Match, and holds at the National Stadium, Abuja on June 1.

The Argentine Football Association announced the team list yesterday, saying the choice of players demonstrates the strength and breadth of the Argentine talent available. Many of the players were in the Argentine team that defeated the Super Eagles at the South Africa 2010 World Cup, with the majority playing for top European clubs.

But as widely anticipated, Lionel Messi and Javier Mascherano are not included in the Argentine squad due to Champions League final commitment with their club, Barcelona, just as Carlos Tevez, who was tested for fitness in the FA Cup final last weekend but only managed half a game, is not match fit as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury.
Apart from Zabaleta, other players in the team are Gabbarini Adrian of Independiente (Argentina), Angeleri Marcos (Sunderland, England), Garay Ezequiel (Real Madrid, Spain), Otamendi Nicolas (Porto FC, Portugal), Fazio Federico (Sevilla, Spain) and Belluschi Fernando of Porto, Portugal.

Also in the list are Cabral Alejandro (Legia Varsovia, Poland), Formica Mauro (Blackburn Rovers, England), Insua Emiliano (Galatasaray, Turkey), Cristaldo Jonathan (Metalist Kharkiv, Ukraine) and Gaitan Nicolas of Benfica, Portugal.

Piatti Pablo, who plays for Spanish side, Almeria, Ruben Marco of Villarreal, Jara Franco of Benfica, Portugal, and Perotti Diego of Sevilla, are also in the team. To make up the squad are Boselli Mauro of Genoa, Italy, Bertolo Nicolas of Real Zaragoza, Spain, Tino Costa of Valencia and Matteo Musacchio of Villarreal.

Speaking on his team, Argentina’s coach, Batista, said: “I have named a world class squad for Guinness The Match. It befits our status as one of the world’s greatest and most successful football nations and combines the strength of our more experienced team members with the best of our exciting young talent.

“We intend to put the Super Eagles to the test in a way only Argentina can – and we will win for our fans and our nation.”

Posted by admin on May 17 2011. Filed under Headlines, Soccer, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry