Buenos Aires: Mauro Icardi, who won the Serie A scoring crown with 29 goals for Inter Milan, has been left out of the final 23-man World Cup roster announced Monday by Argentina national coach Jorge Sampaoli. The coach has opted for the Juventus duo of Paulo Dybala and Gonzalo Higuain alongside Lionel Messi and Sergio Agüero as forwards for the tournament, which gets underway June 14 in Russia. Dybala nabbed a spot on the line-up despite not having been called for recent international matches.
Goalkeeper Franco Armani, who has been a standout this year with River Plate, won a place though he wasn’t in Sampaoli’s squad for the qualifiers played earlier this year. “With the talent at our disposal, someone will have to face the axe,” Sampoli reasoned with reporters. The 2014 runners-up will open their Russia 2018 campaign against debutants Iceland on 16 June, before further Group D matches against Croatia and Nigeria.
The squad: ( Goalkeepers) Sergio Romero , Wilfredo Caballero, Franco Armani; (Defenders) Cristian Ansaldi, Gabriel Mercado, Nicolas Otamendi, Federico Fazio, Marcos Rojo, Marcos Acuna, Nicolas Tagliafico; (Midfielders) Javier Mascherano, Cristian Pavon, Maximiliano Meza, Angel Di Maria, Giovani Lo Celso, Manuel Lanzini, Ever Banega, Lucas Biglia, Eduardo Salvio; (Forwards) Paulo Dybala, Gonzalo Higuain, Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero.
