LONDON, Aug 20 (Reuters) – Londoners will witness the first appearance in international soccer of gifted teenage striker Sergio Aguero when Argentina meet Brazil in a friendly at Arsenal’s Emirates stadium next month.
Aguero has been picked along with teenager Lionel Messi of Barcelona in new coach Alfio Basile’s squad for the Sept. 3 match against Argentina’s arch-rivals.
The 18-year-old has impressed for Atletico in pre-season games since joining the Spanish club from Independiente for a reported – million at the end of May.
Messi, almost exactly a year older having turned 19 during the World Cup finals in which his limited appearances prevented him from making the expected impact, is one of 10 players from Jose Pekerman’s squad in the Germany tournament.
Others who helped Argentina reached the quarter-finals before going out to the hosts on penalties, include the impressive Brazil-based Corinthians pair Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano and Villarreal playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme.
Atletico’s Maxi Rodriguez, who scored one of the great goals of the World Cup, a volley in the 2-1 extra-time victory over Mexico in the second round, is also in Basile’s 20-man squad.
Centre-backs Roberto Ayala, embroiled in a pay dispute with Valencia, and Manchester United’s Gabriel Heinze, who is unfit, were not included but Basile recalled Inter Milan’s Walter Samuel, a 2002 World Cup veteran overlooked by Pekerman.
Also left out were strikers Hernan Crespo, who has just returned to Italy for Inter Milan on loan from Chelsea, and Javier Saviola, whose Barcelona future is in doubt.
The only home-based player is 32-year-old Boca Juniors full back Hugo Ibarra, formerly of Monaco, Porto and Espanyol.
Squad:
Goalkeepers: Roberto Abbondanzieri (Getafe), Leo Franco (Atletico Madrid)
Defenders: Hugo Ibarra (Boca Juniors), Fabricio Coloccini (Deportivo Coruna), Gabriel Milito (Real Zaragoza), Walter Samuel (Inter Milan), Clemente Rodriguez (Spartak Moscow), Fabricio Fuentes (Atlas)
Midfielders: Javier Mascherano (Corinthians), Pablo Zabaleta (Espanyol), Maxi Rodriguez (Atletico Madrid), Juan Roman Riquelme, Leandro Somoza (both Villarreal), Luis Gonzalez (Porto), Federico Insua (Borussia Moenchengladbach)
Forwards: Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Carlos Tevez (Corinthians), Sergio Aguero (Atletico Madrid), Daniel Bilos (St Etienne), Cesar Delgado (Cruz Azul)
