Argentina VS Spain: World Champions Pride Against A Wounded Footballing Heritage

It would be for the first time most of the spanish world champions would make a trip to Argentina and get to play the the historic stadium of Buenos-Aires.This game is being viewed as much more than just a friendly. It is a chance for Sergio Batista so strengthen his position in AFA and take a major step to become a long term coach of the first team. It becomes more important because of a fact that there are no qualifiers for Copa America and winning a trophy would do wonders to the squad morale.With the squads chosen and team all set to give their best, this game might just turn out to be a cracker.

Argentina Squad: 

While the squad against Ireland was Maradona's pick. This one is Batista's and there have been some sensible changes. Estaban Cambiasso, Javier Zanetti and Gabriel Milito have been called back but one can only imagine this could be nothing more than a farewell for them. Well one cannot count them out, Even though in their 30s, two of them are currently European champions and third plays for the Spanish and the World Champions. The main concern remains is the absence of a playmaker. With Riquelme out injured and Pablo Aimar and Javier Pastore overlooked, the only sensible choice remains to be D'Allesandro but it remains to be seen if he can deliver against the spanish defence. The formation is expected to be 4-2-3-1.

----------------- Romero -----------------

--Zanetti-Samuel---G.Milito-Insua--

------Mascherano--Cambiasso------

--Di Maria--D'Allesandro--Aguero--

--------------------Messi--------------------

With the abundance of attacking options Lavezzi, Higuain, Milito and Tevez would definitely expect a run around the field. Playing Messi in the centre would be the most important thing as it saves him the pain of running all over to get the ball because Allesandro is present to do that and the closer to the goal he is, the more dangerous he is.

Spain Squad:

The world champions do not need any introduction to this stage, with Fernando torres starting to find the net in the Euro qualifiers, it should be a simple choice for Vincente Del Bosque but he is expected to rotate players to avoid exhaustion. Carlos Puyol is injured. the lineup is 4-2-3-1.

--------------------Cassillas-----------------

-Ramos--Pique-Marchena--Capdevilla--

-----Busquets----------------Alonso--------

---------Iniesta-----Xavi------Villa-----------

---------------------Torres------------------------

Prediction: Spain has just played a match recently and even though they looked brilliant, the players will be tired and recovering. Loss of Puyol is  a big blow and Xavi Hernandes is not tipped to play the full match. Argentine side looks a bit more rested. With the Argentine defense looking better than ever before it should be a midfield battle and the best part would be to see who keep the possession more with the presence of two aggressive defensive midfielders either side.

Argentina-Spain:2-1