Pekky has called up 18 foreign based players for the friendly on March 1. Leonardo Franco y Maximiliano Rodríguez (Atlético madrid), Juan Sorín y Juan Riquelme (Villarreal), Pablo Aimar (Valencia), Leonardo Ponzio, Gabriel y Diego Milito (Zaragoza), Fabricio Coloccini (La Coruña), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Walter Samuel, Esteban Cambiasso y Nicolás Burdisso (Inter), Luis González (Porto), Hernán Crespo (Chelsea), Lionel Scaloni (West Ham), Martín Demichelis (Bayern Munich) y Carlos Tevez (Corinthians). Looks reasonable enough to me, notable absentee is Javier "Pupi" Zanetti and Gonzalo Rodriguez. I am expecting to see 4 more players added from the home base, simply because I dont see him taking 3 keepers for this friendly. My guesses are Pato, Bilos, Battaglia and Aguero maybe?
Re: Squad for Croatia friendly Samuel frightens me...hopefully there is not enough room for him in Germany.
Re: Squad for Croatia friendly I really like zanetti...he always plays good. And I'd rather see gonzalo play than coloccini...
[BigSoccer News] Convocaron a los dos Milito y no a Zanetti También a Coloccini, Scaloni y Burdissso, y excluyeron a Javier Saviola, Diego Placente y Julio Cruz. Se completaría con Abbondanzieri y Ustari. Link To Original Article
Re: Squad for Croatia friendly I'd rather see Coco the Clown than Coloccini. Gonzalo should be in the squad. Also Aguero should be given a game, this would be a good opportunity in a friendly.
Re: Squad for Croatia friendly Good selection imo... You seem to be quite harsh with Coloccini. He has been great up to Confed Cup. Agreed he is now on a down slope, but if he's back in shape, he can be great.
Re: Squad for Croatia friendly You're right bsas, Coloccini's form does tend to go up and down, personally I think he should get his haircut as that might make him play better. Seriously though Gonzalo is an excellent defender and still very young and this would have been a good opportunity to bring him into the squad in a low key, no pressure game. I would love to see Aguero given a game.
Re: Squad for Croatia friendly Doubt it will be a low pressure game, provided its the only one before the cup. My question to ask in that squad is Burdisso. He is a great young prospect, a good central defender, but if Pekky wants to play him at central defence, maybe he shouldnt, because he has been playing his club football lately as a left back. As much as I like Burdisso, i dont think he is good enough to be a fullback, because the attacking element of his game isnt sumthing to be very proud of. If he was to play in central defence, wouldnt Gonzalo be a very good choice anyways? I also hope Pupi gets Scaloni's role inthe cup itself, trying to be as less critical as I can about the manager here.
Re: Squad for Croatia friendly Shaf, I believe another 2 games are planned before the world cup. Zanneti is pure class, presumably he is not in this squad because he has nothing to prove to anyone. Would like to see Aguero in the squad, sorry to labour the point.
Re: Squad for Croatia friendly I hope Pekerman doesn't try a complete new team. He should consolidate with the 80% of his final team, and only try out some people for the remaining 20%.
Re: Squad for Croatia friendly I agree but I think Aguero, Gago, Palacios, Gonzalo. etc.. are for the next World Cup and not this one.
Re: Squad for Croatia friendly (pre-game comments) In my humble opinion there can be no harm at all in giving Aguero a run out in the national team in a friendly. Sometimes a player comes out of nowhere to make the squad and then goes on to have a big impact at a major tournament, perhaps that could be Aguero.
Re: Squad for Croatia friendly (pre-game comments) I'm all over Aguero getting a shot. My question is does he really fill a need on this team? I'd prefer to see Gago since backing up Mascherano is an important thing. Gonzalo as well. He's arguably or best defender at the moment. He's also shown up big time in the Champions League. Aguero will be great and he'll get his shot. I wouldn't give his minutes to Messi or Tevez right now though.
Re: Squad for Croatia friendly (pre-game comments) Looking at the report by igsoccerbot, looks like Aguero will not be called up at all.
Re: Squad for Croatia friendly (pre-game comments) Shame really, would have been nice to have seen him play for Argentina, although I gather he is injured at the moment anyway.
Re: Squad for Croatia friendly (pre-game comments) Yep looks like only Pato and Ustari will be added to the current 18, dont see the point of taking 3 keepers though, hes probably not goin to even substitue the keeper.
Re: Squad for Croatia friendly (pre-game comments) It is a real shame that things have not quite worked out for Santiago Solari at Inter because he is (IMHO) a superb player and would have been a great addition to the world cup squad.
Re: Squad for Croatia friendly (pre-game comments) Aguero is hurt. It is not a serious injury but he is not expected to play for a match or two. I don't know if that had anything to do with his exclusion. Of the players excluded, not counting the injuries, I think Zanetti (obviously) and Gonzalo Rodriguez are the ones that I think should be included in the final squad. Rodriguez may be young, but he is ready, and his pace and speed may be needed in our central defense.
Re: Squad for Croatia friendly (pre-game comments) While watching Tyc (estudio futbol) a commentator (gaston recondo) said that while no one on this list gets injured, Zanetti will not go to the World Cup, what do u guys think.
Re: Squad for Croatia friendly (pre-game comments) I want what he's smoking. Pupi is the veteran leader of that team. He's still class on the pitch and always consistent. At least IMO.
Re: Squad for Croatia friendly (pre-game comments) I say if it ain't broken, don't fix it. Zanetti is a monster on the whole right side. Difficult to think of a better and more confident player there.
Re: Squad for Croatia friendly (pre-game comments) zanetti will be there in world cup, i have no doubts in that but onething i am not happy with is that why veron is not included in pekerman's plan? he is a great player and we cannot always depend on riquelme , what will happen if he is hurt or that in certain match he won't work at all? so i think we need a back up in that offensive midfield position and noone beats veron in that . so i hope pekerman will call veron to national team again.
Re: Squad for Croatia friendly (pre-game comments) Veron has no chance of making the world cup squad, for whatever reason pekerman has a problem with Veron and simply refuses to pick him. Aimar will act as back up to Riquelme in Germany.