Icardi misses out as Argentina name World Cup squad
Date
5/22/2018 12:30:36 PM
(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Mauro Icardi, the joint top goalscorer in Italy's Serie A this season, was left out of Argentina's World Cup squad on Monday as coach Jorge Sampaoli named his 23 players for next month's tournament in Russia.
Sampaoli named just four forwards in his squad with Lionel Messi, Paulo Dybala, Sergio Aguero and Gonzalo Higuain all selected.
That meant there was no place for Icardi, who scored 29 league goals for
Inter Milan this season.
Although Argentina boast some of world football's most prolific strikers, they have struggled for goals in competitive matches, scoring just 19 times in the South American group's 18 qualifying matches. Only Bolivia scored fewer.
Argentina, who lost in the World Cup final four years ago but only qualified for this year's tournament thanks to a win in their final qualifying match, have been drawn in Group D alongside Iceland, Croatia and Nigeria.
Argentina 23-man squad GOALKEEPERS:Sergio Romero (Manchester United), Franco Armani (River Plate),Willy Caballero (Chelsea)
DEFENDERS:Gabriel Mercado (Sevilla), Federico Fazio (Roma),Nicolas Otamendi (Manchester City), Cristian Ansaldi (Inter Milan), Nicolas Tagliafico (Ajax) andMarcos Rojo (Manchester United)
MIDFIELDERS: Ever Banega (Sevilla), Javier Mascherano (Hebei China Fortune), Eduardo Salvio (Benfica), Lucas Biglia (AC Milan), Angel Di Maria (PSG), Gio Lo Celso (PSG),Manuel Lanzini (West Ham), Maxi Meza (Independiente) and Marcos Acuna (Sporting Lisbon)
STRIKERS: Lionel Messi (Barcelona),Sergio Aguero (Manchester City), Gonzalo Higuain (Juventus), Cristian Pavon (Boca Juniors) and Paulo Dybala (Juventus)
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