Uruguay unveil lineup for Argentina match

Montevideo, Oct 15 (IANS) Uruguay’s national team coach Oscar Tabarez unveiled the new lineup for the South American Qualifying Tournament match against Argentina Tuesday, in the lead-up to the 2014 Brazil World Cup.

The lineup includes midfielders Diego Perez and Christian Stuani, and leaves out defender Jose Maria Gimenez and midfielder Walter Gimenez and. Gimenez and Gimenez played in the match against Ecuador Friday that Uruguay lost 0-1, reports Xinhua.

The players that trained Monday at the team’s training camp on the outskirts of the capital here included Fernando Muslera, Maximiliano Pereira, Diego Lugano, Diego Godin, Jorge Fucile, Egidio Arevalo Rios, Perez, Stuani, Cristian Rodriguez, Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez.

Uruguay has so far secured a fifth-place ranking in the regional tournament, meaning it still has to compete in playoffs for a chance to go to Brazil, while Argentina is ranked No.1, with 32 points, and automatically advances to Brazil.

The teams play each other Tuesday at Montevideo’s Centenario Stadium in what will be the 18th match day of the regional tournament.

With a total of 22 points and goal tally of minus one (-1), Uruguay has a slim chance of bumping Chile or Ecuador from fourth place, to avoid going to playoffs.

Chile and Ecuador, which also play each other Tuesday, but in Santiago, have 25 points each and a goal tally of +3 and +5, respectively.

Argentina’s star player Lionel Messi will not play Tuesday.