体坛英语新闻：Maradona summons Argentine squad for WC qualifier

BUENOS AIRES, March 13 (Xinhua) -- Coach Diego Maradona has named a 26-member squad Friday for Argentina's matches against Venezuela and Bolivia in South America's qualifications for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

    Among the players, 19 of them play abroad, including Lionel Messi, Javier Mascherano, Carlos Tevez and Sergio Aguero. And there's seven players from local clubs like Juan Sebastian Veron.

    Juan Ramon Riquelme was not summoned, since this week he resigned to the national team for having differences with Maradona.

    Goalkeeper Federico Vilar of Mexico's Altante and defender Juan Forlin of Boca Juniors were called up for the first time.

    Argentina will play Venezuela in Buenos Aires on March 28 and Bolivia in La Paz on April 1, which will be Maradona's official debut as Argentina's coach after two friendly wins over Scotland and France.

    Paraguay leads the South Afircan standings with 23 points, followed by Brazil with 17, Chile and Argentina both with 16.

    Following is squad named by Maradona:

    Goalkeepers: Juan Pablo Carrizo (Lazio, Italy), Mariano Andujar(Estudiantes de La Plata, Argentina) and Federico Vilar (Atlante, Mexico);

    Defenders: Javier Zanetti (Internazionale, Italy), Emiliano Papa (Velez Sarsfield, Argentina), Gabriel Heinze (Real Madrid, Spain), Daniel Diaz (Getafe, Spain), Walter Samuel (Internazionale, Italy), Juan Forlin (Boca Juniors, Argentina), Marcos Angeleri (Estudiantes de La Plata, Argentina) and Martin Demichelis (BayernMunich, Germany);

    Midfielders: Javier Mascherano (Liverpool, England), Fernando Gago (Real Madrid, Spain), Maximiliano Rodriguez (Atletico Madrid, Spain), Jonas Gutierrez (Newcastle United, England), Sebastian Battaglia (Boca Juniors, Argentina), Luis Gonzalez (Porto, Portugal), Juan Sebastian Veron (Estudiantes de La Plata, Argentina), Angel Di Maria (Benfica, Portugal) and Daniel Montenegro (Independiente, Argentina);

    Forwards: Lionel Messi (Barcelona, Spain), Sergio Agero (Atletico Madrid, Spain), Carlos Tevez (Manchester United, england), Lisandro Lopez (Porto, Portugal), Diego Milito (Genoa, Italy) and Ezequiel Lavezzi (Napoli, Italy)