Argentina, who face the Republic of Ireland at Lansdowne Road next Wednesday, saw their World Cup preparations run into unexpected trouble in Tel Aviv yesterday when a 2-1 defeat by Israel, represented their first setback of the year to date.
The defeat ends an impressive run by Daniel Passerella's team who had earlier beaten Romania, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria.
The effect will be to make Passerella think again when he takes his squad of 23 players to Dublin next Monday to start their build up to the Ireland game. It is a measure of the changing times in the modern game that no fewer than 14 of the squad are now attached to European clubs.
Among them is the 28-year-old Fiorentina forward, Gabriel Batistuta who with 58 international appearances to his credit is quite the most experienced member of the travelling party. Claudio Caniggia, another mature international, is not included but generally the squad is representative of the best of the talent available to Passerella in the approach to the World Cup finals.
Eight of their foreign based players are with Italian clubs and in midfield, the manager has the option of selecting three of them, Matlas Almeyda (Lazio), Diego Simeone (Inter Milan) and Juan Sebastian Veron (Sampdoria).
River Plate provide four of the home-based players, including their goalkeeper, German Gurgos who is preferred to Ignacio Gonzales. The other goalkeeper in the party is Pablo Cavallero of Velez Sarsfield.
Argentina (squad v Republic of Ireland): Goalkeepers - G Burgos (River PLate), P Cavallero (Velez Sarsfield). Defenders - R Ayala (Napoli), G Lombardi (Salamanca), P Paz (Tenerife), M Pineda (Udinese), R Sensini (Parma), N Vivas (Lugano), J Chamot (Lazio). Midfielders - M Almeyda (Lazio), D Simeone (Inter Milan), J Veron (Sampdoria), L Astrada (River Plate), D Cagna (Boca Juniors), M Escudero (River Plate), M Gallardo (River Plate), R Cardoso (Boca Juniors), S Berti (River Plate). Fowards - A Ortega (Valencia), G Batistuta (Fiorentina), H Crespo (Parma), C Lopez (Valencia), M Delgado (Racing Club).
