Argentina soccer selectors choose Messi, Tevez, Saviola and Aguero

Argentina's selectors have chosen Lionel Messi, Carlos Tevez, Javier Saviola and Sergio Aguero as part of the national squad for the 2006 World Cup, Julio Grondona, president of the Argentine Football Federation (FAF) told Argentine sports paper Ole on Thursday.

Grondona joked that those who wanted to see the four players together to rent children's movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Like seven of the protagonists of 1937 Walt Disney animation, the four players are famously short.

Jose Pekerman has been forbidden from playing the four at the same time, he added.

Places are assured for Messi, who plays for Spanish league team Barcelona, Tevez of Brazil's Corinthians and Saviola of Spain's Sevilla. Aguero, of Argentina's Independiente, has not yet been called on by Pekerman, so it is not certain if he will make the final squad of 23 players.

Grondona said that the team had a good variety of players, but no one player like Diego Maradona who could tip the balance of a match without help.

Grondona said that he was concerned about injuries sustained by Roberto Ayala, who plays for Spain's Valencia, and Gabriel Heize, who plays for England's Manchester United, more than any possible future injures to Carlos Tevez or Juan Roman Riquelme of Spain's Villareal.

"I want those two in the team and Javier Mascherano, of Brazil's Corinthians too," he said. "They are the backbone of the team. It makes no sense to have a tile roof when your house is made of paper," he said.

Source: Xinhua