Jose Pekerman, the manager of Argentina's national soccer team, told reporters on Monday that he has chosen a young squad, characterised by youthful midfielder Julio Cruz.

He surprised media by ditching defender Martin Demichelis, who plays for German team Bayern Munich, and goalkeeper German Lux, who plays for Argentina's River Plate, who had been thought to be certainties until a few hours ago.

Cruz has scored 17 goals this season for Italian league team Inter Milan and is playing in his first World Cup. His inclusion, as an attacking player replacing a defender could be an indication that Argentina is more concerned with scoring goals than saving them.

Argentina has included six attacking players in its squad: Rodrigo Palacio, of Argentina's Boca Juniors; Javier Saviola, of Spanish team Sevilla; Carlos Tevez, of Brazilian team Corinthians; Hernan Crespo of English league team Chelsea; and Lionel Messi of Spanish league team Barcelona.

The squad includes only four footballers who were in the 2002 South Korea-Japan World Cup, a disastrous competition for Argentina, in which they arrived as favorites but were eliminated in the first round.

The four are Pablo Aimar and Roberto Ayala, who both play for Spanish league club Valencia; Juan Pablo Sorin, who play's for Spain's Villareal; and Crespo.

Aimar had been in doubt because he had not been called to the final group meeting last week in Madrid.

It is the first time that Argentina has fielded a World Cup squad that does not include a River Plate player, and only three of the squad currently play in Argentina: Palacio, Boca teammate Roberto Abbondanzieri and Oscar Ustari, a young goalkeeper who plays for Independiente.

Source: Xinhua