Argentina have been dealt a further double injury below ahead of their crunch World Cup qualifier with Brazil in Buenos Aires next week. The albiceleste were already without attacking duo Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero, and the situation has been exacerbated by the withdrawal of defenders Pablo Zabaleta (Manchester City) and Ezequiel Garay (Zenit St. Petersburg).
Zababaleta was substituted in Manchester City’s 2-1 win over Norwich City on Saturday with a sprained left knee. Garay has an unspecified injury, having completed 90 minutes of Zenit’s last fixture. Coach Tata Martino has acted quickly to draft in replacements, calling up right back Gino Peruzzi of Boca Juniors and Jonathan Maidana of River Plate. Argentina’s qualifying campaign got off to an awful start with only 1 point taken from matches against Paraguay and Ecuador in October. They play Brazil in Buenos Aires next Thursday and Colombia in Bogota on Tuesday, 17th November. Neymar returns from a four match suspension for Brazil, who took 3 points from their opening qualifiers with Chile and Venezuela.