Maradona Has the Guns To Make History, Despite Big Name Absentees

There will always be big name omissions in any World Cup squad, and Diego Maradona's Argentina side is no different. The decision to leave Esteban Cambiasso and Javier Zanetti out in favor of Fabricio Colloccini and Juan Mercier is baffling. Martin Palermo at 36 is half the player that Lisandro Lopez is. Pablo Aimar, Javier Saviola, Lucho Gonzalez, Andres D'Alessandro, just to name a few never really had a chance.

Despite plenty of heavy hitters missing out, Diego Maradona has the squad to win the World Cup. 

It begins in goal, where Sergio Romero will guard the posts after many years of the nervous Roberto Abbondonzieri. Romero won the 2007 Youth World Cup in Canada and the Olympic Games in Beijing a year later. He was a champion in 2009 with AZ Alkmaar in the Dutch Eredivisie. 

Having won various titles at such a young age, Romero is as confident as any goalkeeper in the World Cup and has brilliant command of his penalty area, something El Pato Abbondonzieri lacked at Germany 2006 and the 2007 Copa America in Venezuela.

In front of Romero, Maradona will emply Walter Samuel and Martin Demichelis, two rugged centerbacks who will start in the Champions League Final later this month and have been in brilliant form this season, particularly Samuel. 

At leftback, Gabriel Heinze has been much maligned by fans and media a like, but he still became a champion yet again, this time with Marseille giving him a league title in three different countries: England with Manchester United, Spain with Real Madrid, and now France with Marseille. On the day that Marseille clinched the title, Heinze even struck a brilliant free kick against Stade Rennes. 

At rightback, Nicolas Otamendi, a young defender from Velez Sarsfield does not have the experience or attacking prowess of Zanetti, but the man being tracked by Real Madrid and AC Milan should supply security. 

In front of the back four, Maradona has of course arguably the best defensive midfielder in the World: Javier Mascherano, who will allow Juan Sebastian Veron to move forward and supply the bullets for the deadly attacking trio of Angel Di Maria, Gonzalo Higuain, and Lionel Messi.

In Messi, Maradona has the unquestioned best player on the planet, and should the Barcelona find his club form in South Africa, Argentina will be the most feared team. 

Higuain has been under fire by the Madrid media, but has scored 49 goals over the past two La Liga seasons and will be one of the favorites for the Golden Boot. 

On the left is where Maradona will deploy Di Maria, the man expected to head to Real Madrid for 45 millions Euros. Recently voted the best player in Portugal, Di Maria led Benfica to the Championship, the League Cup, and a run into the quarterfinals of the Europa League. 

Maradona is hopefully that the attention that Messi will undoubtedly draw, will allow Veron to spring Di Maria down the left. 

Should things go poorly, Maradona will have a bench filled with players capable of pulling rabbits out of hats such as Diego Milito, Carlos Tevez, and Martin Palermo, scorer of many miracle goals in his storied career with Boca Juniors. 

Yes, Maradona clearly made mistakes in his selections, but will they be costly? Zanetti is a class act and a winner, but at 36, his time with the National Team has been winding down for many years. 

Cambiasso has been brilliant for Inter, but was never at his best for Argentina, a brilliant goal against Serbia in Germany four years ago aside. 

Maradona will win the World Cup due to the security of his backline, the brilliance of Messi, Higuain, and Di Maria and a bench unrivaled by any other country. 

When Maradona finds himself in a bind he can look down the bench and send in the likes of Tevez, Aguero, Milito, Palermo, or the brilliant Javier Pastore. 

Dunga on the other hand will have Nilmar, Grafite, or Julio Baptista. 

Who would you choose?