Argentina head coach Alejandro Sabella has named a 30 man World Cup squad, to be whittled down to 23 by June 2, when countries can submit their final selections.
There a few shocks in the make up of the list, with the inclusion of Manchester City centre back Martin Demichelis perhaps the solitary eyebrow-raiser; however, the player’s stock has risen after a much more comfortable second half to the Premier League season in which he has recently picked up a winner’s medal.
It is in attack where the Argentines are most fearsome, with Sabella picking a Dream Team-esque combination of Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Gonzalo Higuain, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Rodrigo Palacio; Carlos Tevez wasn’t even in the selection conversations.
Argentina, second favourites to triumph in Brazil, are drawn in Group F of the competition and come up against Bosnia Hercegovina at the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro on June 15, before further games against Iran and Nigeria in the opening rounds.
