Diego Maradona has confirmed the 23 names he’s taking as members of the Argentina squad to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Ariel Garcé, of Colón de Santa Fe, is going to South Africa, as is Boca Juniors’ Martín Palermo and Estudiantes’ Juan Sebastián Verón, but the other Argentina-based players called up in the 30 last week are left out, as is Newcastle United’s Fabricio Coloccini. You can see the full list right here.
Final Argentina squad for FIFA World Cup South Africa 2010 (confirmed by AFA):
Goalkeepers:
Sergio Romero (AZ Alkmaar, Netherlands)
Mariano Andújar (Catania, Italy)
Diego Pozo (Colón)
Defenders:
Nicolás Otamendi (Vélez Sarsfield)
Martín Demichelis (Bayern München, Germany)
Walter Samuel (Internazionale, Italy)
Gabriel Heinze (Olympique Marseilles, France)
Nicolás Burdisso (Roma, Italy)
Clemente Rodríguez (Estudiantes de La Plata
Ariel Garcé (Colón)
Midfielders:
Jonás Gutiérrez (Newcastle United, England)
Javier Mascherano (Liverpool, England)
Juan Sebastián Verón (Estudiantes de La Plata)
Ángel Di María (Benfica, Portugal)
Javier Pastore (Palermo, Italy)
Mario Bolatti (Fiorentina, Italy)
Maxi Rodríguez (Liverpool)
Forwards:
Lionel Messi (Barcelona, Spain)
Gonzalo Higuaín (Real Madrid, Spain)
Carlos Tevez (Manchester City, England)
Sergio Agüero (Atlético de Madrid, Spain)
Diego Milito (Internazionale)
Martín Palermo (Boca Juniors)
For those who are trying to put their fingers on the missing names, the seven to be cut are: Newcastle’s Fabricio Coloccini; Napoli forward Ezequiel Lavezzi; Olympiakos’ Jesús Dátolo; Estudiantes midfielder José Sosa; newly-crowned Argentine champion with Argentinos Juniors, Juan Mercier; Lanús enganche Sebastián Blanco, and Newell’s Old Boys defender Juan Manuel Insaurralde.
I’d expected most of those, but had rather thought one of Lavezzi, Dátolo and Sosa would stay, and that Garcé would also be cut. Mario Bolatti would also have been an obvious and easy name for any sane manager to… um… never have even named in the preliminary squad to begin with, but cutting him would have left the side without any defensive midfield cover in the event of mid-tournament injury or suspension to captain Javier Mascherano. Since Martín Palermo was never going to be cut, Ezequiel Lavezzi was eminently the most sensible player to drop of the other strikers, and there’ll be some small joy that Diego Milito is going to South Africa, even though Lisandro López isn’t, and Milito will still presumably be behind Palermo in Maradona’s thinking.
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Photo pinched from ole.clarin.com
Hasta El Gol Siempre 
“…but the other Argentina-based players called up in the 30 last week are left out…”
Diego Pozo….?
(Sorry, just wanted to be pedantic!)
Haha… good spot AJ. As we knew the three goalkeepers would all be taken from the original list as-was, they totally slipped my mind!
Gotta say I’m glad that is over with. Everybody has a gripe and it wouldn’t be a player selection process without alot of back biting and hair pulling. Given that Maradona is the manager, it actually could have been alot worse. At least he saw fit to bring Pastore. I do fear an injury to Mascherano or a suspension. Bolatti is just flat out not an adequate replacement for Masche. Maybe Maradona figures with four centerbacks he could still get by. A pipedream at that level of play. Pozo is a disaster waiting to happen so we must pray that nothing happens to both Romero and Andujar.
I hope Argentina does well, but teams like Brazil, with alot of speed and counter attacking ability are going to be very hard to deal with. Mascherano is going to be under a tremendous amount of pressure.
I’m happy the wait is over. And, even though I’m not happy with the exclusion of Pupi and Cambiasso, the team stills seems to have plenty of great players who are currently playing very well on their club teams. VAMOS MUCHACHOS! Is the game v. Canada televised in the U.S.?
it will broadcast on sportnet in canada and espn deportes in espanish in eeuu. fox sport en espanish and fsc are showing mexico – england at that time i think
Do you know, ich0, I hadn’t even looked at the kick off time for the England match. I’m going to have to see if I can find somewhere in Buenos Aires that’s showing both games now!
If anyone who’s been in Buenos Aires a bit longer than me wants to chip in with suggestions, please feel free!