Missing someone?

There have been injuries left, right and centre in Argentine football in the last 24 hours. Both the selección and leading club sides have been hit, as have Boca by the death of Gustavo Eberto and the news that Juan Román Riquelme won’t be arriving from Villarreal this year.

River Plate forward Mauro Rosales had to pull out of training with an injury to his right leg (if anyone with a thicker Spanish-English dictionary, or a greater knowledge of anatomical terms, than me can translate the word isquiotibial, I’d be much obliged), and will be out for around three weeks. In addition, when River play their postponed match with Newell’s on Wednesday night, it will have to be without Colombian forward Radamel Falcao García and new Chilean signing Alexis Sánchez, both of whom are representing their countries.

Independiente have even more reason to rue their luck – they lost top spot in the league at the weekend and now find themselves with an injury list of no fewer than seven first-teamers; Fabián Assman, Carlos Matheu, Lucas Mareque, Mariano Herrón, Daniel Montenegro (yes, again), Germán Denis and Gastón Machín, though the latter is the only one for now definitely ruled out of this weekend’s game with San Martín.

At least River and Independiente know they’re in good company – Alfio Basile’s selección have been dropping like flies as well. Daniel Díaz has pulled out of the squad due to personal problems, Hernán Crespo hasn’t yet hit his best form after coming back from injury (it’s difficult to do so when you’re not playing, after all), and Maxi Rodríguez has a strain to his right abductor due to which, according to Atlético Madrid’s official site, he’s been advised to rest for a while. Basile won’t be calling any replacements up, so Argentina will travel to Australia with a squad of just 18.