Argentina will be heading to the World Cup with the spotlight split between Lionel Messi and a player who’s unlikely to make the cut.
Carlos Tevez is just as famous as Messi in Argentina and even more popular among many fans. Formerly at Manchester United and Manchester City, the hard-working striker now plays in Italy for Juventus and is the team’s top scorer this season.
Still, the 30-year-old Tevez is unlikely to be called when Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella picks his squad for Brazil.
“Carlitos” hasn’t played for Argentina since a disappointing Copa America on home turf in 2011, where his missed penalty proved decisive as Argentina lost to Uruguay in a quarter-final shootout.
Sabella, who took charge of the national team after that tournament, hasn’t shown any interest in Tevez, despite a mounting chorus of fans who say the team needs his grit and fighting spirit to go all the way.
“It’s only Sabella’s choice,” Tevez said earlier this year. “I don’t know if it’s a political choice. I think it all depends on Sabella.”
Having grown up in a poor, high-crime neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Tevez has the gritty character of a boxer who gets up before the count of 10. That has given him more passionate support among Argentines compared with the distant admiration that many feel for Messi, who moved to Barcelona as a teen.
The problem is that for all his heart, Tevez faces tremendous competition. Besides Messi, Argentina has impressive attacking quality in Gonzalo Higuain, Sergio Aguero, Angel Di Maria and Ezequiel Lavezzi.
It doesn’t help that Tevez has a history of getting into conflicts with coaches, including when he refused Roberto Mancini’s orders to enter as a substitute in a Champions League match with Manchester City in 2011.
“I’ve got confidence in the strikers that I have. They are all stars at the highest level,” Sabella said after Argentina’s 0-0 draw in a March 5 friendly against Romania, appearing to close the door on Tevez.
With or without him, Argentina are one of the big favourites to win the World Cup, along with hosts Brazil, defending champions Spain and Germany.
If there’s one player the team can’t do without, however, it’s Messi. A series of injuries last year raised some concerns about his fitness, but he’s back in familiar goal-scoring form for Barcelona this year.
Despite Messi’s wealth of club titles and individual accolades, some say he needs to win the World Cup with Argentina to cement his place among all-time greats such as Diego Maradona and Pele.
Argentina have been World Cup champions twice, but not since Maradona lifted the trophy in Mexico in 1986. With a range of players at or nearing the peak of their careers, this could be the year of the Albiceleste, currently third in Fifa’s world rankings.
Though their defence is not as imposing as their attack, Sabella’s team should advance easily from the group stage, where they face Nigeria, Iran and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Still, Messi wants to make sure Argentina don’t get arrogant.
“There’s been a lot of talk about how easy it’s going to be,” he told Fifa.com. “But it’s the World Cup and there are no easy teams. If they’re there it’s because they deserve to be – there are no straightforward matches at the World Cup.”
With a squad packed full of talent from Europe’s top clubs, Argentina are certainly one of the title contenders at this year’s World Cup.
Sabella is spoiled for choice, particularly up front with Lionel Messi the main scoring threat, so he can afford to leave out top-class players like Tevez.
Even without Tevez, plenty of goals are expected from Messi, Aguero and Higuain.
Here are five players to watch:
Lionel Messi – Though immensely gifted, he was too young to make an impact at the 2006 World Cup. Four years later, he failed, like Argentina overall, to fulfill expectations in South Africa.
This year’s World Cup in Brazil is Messi’s chance to make a mark on football’s greatest stage and prove to those who still have doubts about his ability.
At 26, the Barcelona maestro will be at a peak age for a footballer and he’ll be surrounded by talent in an Argentine squad that won their qualifying group and are considered one of the title favourites.
Even if Argentina don’t make it all the way, watching Messi weave through opponents promises to be one of the highlights of the World Cup.
Gonzalo Higuain – His transfer from Real Madrid to Napoli appears to have done him good.
Even though he scored 121 goals over seven seasons in Madrid, Higuain never established himself as a regular starter. He has done that at Napoli, where he’s become a mainstay in the attack and the team’s top scorer.
A clinical striker, Higuain has also been successful when called up by the national team. With nine goals, he was second only to Messi and Uruguay striker Luis Suarez in South American qualifying.
Higuain was Argentina’s top scorer at the 2010 World Cup with four goals, including a hat-trick in a group match against South Korea.
Sergio Romero –In Argentina's star-studded lineup, he has a fairly low profile, even though he's been the team's first-choice goalkeeper since the 2010 World Cup.
Some Argentines worry, however, that Romero may not be at the top of his game in Brazil because he hasn’t been playing regularly for Ligue 1 club Monaco this season.
Sabella doesn’t have too many options, though. Romero’s backup, Mariano Andujar, has also been struggling to stay in the starting lineup at Serie A club Catania.
Fernando Gago – A key provider for Messi, he is a talented midfielder with a great eye for the game.
Real Madrid signed him from Boca Juniors for $27 million (Dh99m) in 2006, but he left the Spanish club five years later after spending most of his time on the bench.
The shortage of playing time left him out of Argentina’s World Cup squad in 2010. This time, Gago has a better chance of making it, even though he missed many of Argentina’s qualifiers due to injury.
Sergio Aguero – The speedy and powerful striker made his debut in the Argentine league in 2003, when he was only 15. Since then, "Kun" has won Olympic gold with Argentina in 2008, the Europa League with Atletico Madrid in 2010 and the Premier League in his first season with Manchester City in 2012.
Aguero’s memorable injury-time goal against Queens Park Rangers in the last game of that season clinched City’s first league title in four decades.
As long as he arrives in Brazil injury-free, he’s a given in Argentina’s World Cup squad but may have to battle with Gonzalo Higuain for a place in the starting lineup.
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