Two bits of news for Tuesday: Boca Juniors’ quest to find a replacement for Martín Palermo during his long-term injury layoff has come to an end with the signing on loan (with a US$1.5 million fee should Boca wish to make the signing permanent) of former Central and River Plate striker Luciano Figueroa from Genoa. Figueroa’s loan lasts until next June, and he’s likely to come into Carlos Ischia’s first team plans shortly after the superclásico in a couple of weekends’ time, thus just missing the chance to say a nice friendly hello to his former fans in the Monumental.
The other news is that on Sunday Alfio Basile named the 18 foreign-based players who will form the majority of the Argentina squad to take on Uruguay and Chile in the next round of World Cup qualifiers in a couple of weeks’ time. Read on for the list.
Foreign-based players in the Argentina squad vs. Uruguay and Chile:
Goalkeepers:
Juan Pablo Carrizo (Lazio, Italy)
Sergio Romero (AZ Alkmaar, Netherlands)
Defenders:
Fabián Luciano Monzón (Real Betis, Spain)
Javier Zanetti (Internazionale, Italy)
Martín Demichelis (Bayern München, Germany)
Daniel Díaz (Getafe, Spain)
Gabriel Heinze (Real Madrid, Spain)
Fabricio Coloccini (Newcastle United, England)
Nicolás Burdisso (Internazionale)
Midfielders:
Pablo Zabaleta (Manchester City, England)
Maxi Rodríguez (Atlético de Madrid, Spain)
Javier Mascherano (Liverpool, England)
Esteban Cambiasso (Internazionale)
Angel Di María (Benfica, Portugal)
Forwards:
Lionel Messi (Barcelona, Spain)
Sergio Agüero (Atlético de Madrid)
Carlos Tevez (Manchester United, England)
Diego Milito (Genoa, Italy)
Heinze’s inclusion is a surprise given his own goal and generally ham-fisted performance against Paraguay recently, whilst Tevez is in the squad because CONMEBOL ruled that his suspension for the red card he received in the same match should only be for one game, not the normal two. That only serves to justify those of us who didn’t think it should have been red to start with, and means he’s already served his time having sat out the Peru match.
No places for Gonzalo Higuaín, Lucho González, Lisandro López, Fernando Cavenaghi or Mauro Zárate, still. But what the hell hey Alfio, it’ll all be fine with Riquelme, won’t it?
Hasta El Gol Siempre 
I think you left Riquelme out of the actual squad list, Sam. Wishful thinking?
Lucho obviously just isn’t to Basile’s liking, and in a Masch-Riquleme midfield, its hard to see where midfielders without blinding pace – like Lucho, Cambiasso, even Veron at the Copa America – can fit in without being wasted on the wings.
Cavenaghi must be wondering what he has to do to get in ahead of Milito, though…
ah no, I see : Foreign-based players. D’oh!
Well, it looks like Coco is giving D Milito another shot. Good luck, but I wish he would have used L Lopez more in that spot. Does anybody know the status of Jonas Gutierrez after his injury in the recent qualifier ? Another favorite of mine that is not on the list.
I can’t believe Gonzalo didn’t get a call up; he’s been much better than Colo.
Surprised by the Figueroa story because, for a reason that I cannot comprehend, he was something of a cult hero at Genoa.
That said, they absolutely adore Diego Milito – they call him il principe (the prince) – and with good reason too, seeing how well he has been doing since getting back.