While some coaches are still not certain about which players to bring to Brazil in order to represent their respective countries, Argentina is not going through the same conundrum as the head coach Alejandro Sabella has already announced the players that will be playing against Romania for their upcoming friendly match and those same performers are expected to play for Argentina for the 2014 World Cup.

The squad that Alejandro Sabella selected was already established some weeks ago as the tactician already has a clean cut vision for what he wants his squad to do when they go against Bosnia, Iran and Nigeria for their upcoming World Cup matches.

The team consists of: Sergio Romero, Mariano Andujar, Hugo Campagnaro, Lisandro Lopez, Federico Fernandez, Gino Peruzzi, Pablo Zabaleta, Ezequiel Garay, Marcos Rojo, Jose Basanta, Nicolas Otamendi, Javier Mascherano, Jose Sosa, Angel Di Maria, Augusto Fernandez, Ricardo Alvarez, Lucas Biglia, Lionel Messi, Rodrigo Palacio, Gonzalo Higuain, Sergio Aguero, Ezequiel Lavezzi. Continue reading →

Argentina superstar Lionel Messi has said that his nation does not face any easy games at the World Cup 2014. The Barcelona forward slowly appears to be showing his best form for the national team.

Argentina superstar Lionel Messi has said that his nation does not face any easy games at the World Cup 2014. The Barcelona forward slowly appears to be showing his best form for the national team.

The four-time FIFA Ballon d’Or award winner says that Argentina face a tough fight to even qualify from the group stages. The South American team come into the World Cup 2014 as one of the favourites to win the competition. After years of underperforming with the national team, Messi slowly appears to find the best way of performing with his international compatriots.

He has formed a great partnership with Manchester city striker Sergio Aguero. The 26-year-old did not especially get on well with Carlos Tevez and the absence of the Juventus striker in the team has indirectly contributed to Messi doing well. Sabella has managed to find his best team in the last few months. Continue reading →

Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella has come under criticism from Inter Milan for calling up the player who has been injured for more than a month.

Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella has come under criticism from Inter Milan for calling up the player who has been injured for more than a month.

Hugo Campagnaro has played for inter Milan since the end of September, but he has been used in international duty by Sabella claiming that the player had recovered. Inter Milan have released that the player has not sufficiently recovered from his injury and has just started training with his personal trainer. Hence, they feel that calling him up for international duty at this stage will threaten to spoil the recovery operation.

Inter Milan have also stated that Sabella cannot claim that he was not aware of the injury because the Italian club had made it clear to the Argentina manager. The 33-year-old has made five appearances so far for the Italian club in this season. After struggling for form in the last few seasons, the club has been doing well under the regime of Walter Mazzarri so far. They are undefeated in the last five matches of all competitions, while they are only a couple of points below table leaders Roma. Continue reading →

Barcelona are set to face AC Milan yet again in the Champions league after being down with the Italian team in the group stages of the competition.

Barcelona are set to face AC Milan yet again in the Champions league after being down with the Italian team in the group stages of the competition.

They faced Milan only in the last season’s quarter-final, while this was not the only match between the two clubs in recent seasons. Even though Barcelona have come out on the successful side more often than not, super star Lionel Messi said that it was a difficult draw indeed. Barcelona will also have matches against Ajax and Celtic, who are their other group opponents.

Barcelona will undoubtedly be the favourites to qualify from the group along with Milan, but Messi reckons that is not as easy as it sounds. Messi saw him being beaten by Bayern Munich’s Franck Ribery for the title of the best midfielder in Europe for 2012-13. Rather than be disappointed with the outcome, Messi praised Ribery by saying that he was indeed the best midfielder in Europe last season, while Bayern Munich are also the best team in Europe. Bayern Munich went on to win the Champions league last season and they also beat Barcelona 7-0 on aggregate during the process. Continue reading →

Betting on who will win the Premier League at this stage of preseason is tricky. The big clubs are on their marathon global tours and predicting how those results will go down is impossible. Manchester United have already lost one tour game, a 1-0 result against Singha All Stars, while rivals City lost 2-0 in Pretoria. These results only create uncertainly for predicting who will win the league.

Betting on who will win the Premier League at this stage of preseason is tricky. The big clubs are on their marathon global tours and predicting how those results will go down is impossible. Manchester United have already lost one tour game, a 1-0 result against Singha All Stars, while rivals City lost 2-0 in Pretoria. These results only create uncertainly for predicting who will win the league.

One team many supporters are convinced will lead the title chase is Chelsea, who are ready for a new era under returned boss Jose Mourinho. The manager oversaw back-to-back title campaigns in his first stint in charge and, after winning the Champions League with Inter and La Liga with Real Madrid, is back to claim more silverware with the Blues.

Mourinho’s first remit is to win the English top flight and then go for European honours, a feat that may take a few seasons. Yet savvy punters are already backing Jose to win the league on his season return, so good is this Chelsea side. Frank Lampard’s place in the midfield is crucial and with Ramires, Juan Mata and Oscar around him there is plenty of opportunity for Chelsea to score goals. At the back, David Luiz now appears a competent international defender and Gary Cahill continues to develop into the John Terry mould. Continue reading →

Former Manchester city striker Carlos Tevez, who recently completed a £ 10 million move to Juventus, has said that he does not see himself playing for Argentina as long as Alejandro Sabella is in charge of the national team.

Former Manchester city striker Carlos Tevez, who recently completed a £ 10 million move to Juventus, has said that he does not see himself playing for Argentina as long as Alejandro Sabella is in charge of the national team.

Sabella has been the manager of the Argentine national team since 2011 and Tevez has not been featured for the national team since then. The World Cup is just around the corner, but Tevez does not see himself playing at this tournament if Sabella remains in charge of the national team.

Sabella has been one of the few managers to have got the best out of Lionel Messi at the national level, and it is highly unlikely that he will be sacked before the World Cup. Tevez has even gone on to state that Sabella maybe a little afraid of him, which explains his reasons for not being selected. The 29-year-old played a crucial role in the national team during the regime of Diego Maradona, but it was an ill-fated time for the national team. Continue reading →