Roncaglia, Otamendi in Argentina football squad

Buenos Aires, Nov 1 (IANS) Argentina Friday announced a 22-man-squad for the November friendlies against Ecuador and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Alejandro Sabella, coach of Argentina, named this experimental squad mainly aiming at the friendly matches against Ecuador in East Rutherford, New Jersey, Nov 15 and Bosnia-Herzegovina in St. Louis, Missouri Nov 18, reports Xinhua.

In order to strengthen the defence line of his team, Sabella has handed call-ups to Porto’s Nicolas Otamendi as well as Fiorentina’s Facundo Roncaglia, while Lucas Orban of French side Bordeaux has also been handed his first call-up.

Barcelona star Lionel Messi, Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero, Angel Di Maria of Real Madrid and Napoli’s Gonzalo Higuain are all in the roster.

Argentina will play in next year’s World Cup in Brazil after winning the South American qualifying competitions.

Following is the Argentine squad:

Goalkeepers: Sergio Romero (Monaco, France), Mariano Andujar (Catania, Italy)

Defenders: Pablo Zabaleta (Manchester City, England), Facundo Roncaglia (Fiorentina, Italy), Hugo Campagnaro (Inter Milan, Italy), Federico Fernandez (Napoli, Italy), Nicolas Otamendi (FC Porto/Portugal), Ezequiel Garay (Benfica, Portugal), Jose Basanta (Monterrey, Mexico), Marcos Rojo (Sporting Lisbon, portugal), Lucas Orban (Bordeaux, France)

Midfielders: Javier Mascherano (Barcelona, Spain), Ever Banega (Valencia/Spain), Lucas Biglia (Lazio, Spain), Angel Di Maria (Real Madrid, Spain), Ricardo Alvarez (Inter Milan, Italy), Erik Lamela (Tottenham Hotspur, England)

Forwards: Lionel Messi (Barcelona, Spain), Sergio Aguero (Manchester City, England), Gonzalo Higuamn (Napoli, Italy), Ezequiel Lavezzi (Paris Saint-Germain, France), Rodrigo Palacio (Inter Milan, Italy).