Herzogenaurach (Germany): Argentina coach Jose Pekerman sprung a surprise by naming his team on Friday for their opening World Cup Group C match against Ivory Coast more than 30 hours before the match kicks off in Hamburg.
There was no surprise in the lineup itself, with Javier Saviola named as Hernan Crespo's strike partner for Saturday's match, since Pekerman had been practising with the same 11 players all week at Argentina's World Cup base near Nuremberg.
"In their linking up they gave me the most concrete results," Pekerman told a news conference when asked about his choice of Saviola over other forwards like Carlos Tevez and wonder boy Lionel Messi who is not an out-and-out striker.
"Messi is very well and if Messi is fine then we are all happy," Pekerman said of the forward who recently recovered from a thigh injury and is a likely substitute against Ivory Coast.
"There has also been good linking between Saviola with Roman," he added referring to playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme.
Pekerman said Crespo may not have scored in recent matches for Argentina but had carved out three great chances in their last warm-up against Angola in Italy last week.
Crespo scored his 29th international goal against England in November. The lineup is unchanged from the friendly with Angola in Salerno, which Argentina won 2-0 with goals from right wing Maxi Rodriguez and left back and captain Juan Pablo Sorin.
Pekerman said Argentina are a team of 23 and players left on the bench could play an important role in the tournament.
He also wants the 11 players starting the match to be totally relaxed about being first choice and says they should not perceive a substitution as anything negative.
"When I talk about the team I mean the whole squad. I decided to start with these 11 because we have a strategic order.
This is the team that potentially has the best balance for the first match." He said the Ivorian team were good all round and not totally dependent on key forward Didier Drogba but added that his defence and central midfielders would have to work hard to limit the tall striker's access to the ball.
"Drogba is a spearhead in the area who is a technically gifted player with good control of the ball and a very good header," Pekerman said.
Formation (4-4-2): 1-Roberto Abbondanzieri; 21-Nicolas Burdisso, 2-Roberto Ayala, 6-Gabriel Heinze, 3-Juan Pablo Sorin; 18-Maxi Rodriguez, 8-Javier Mascherano, 5-Esteban Cambiasso, 10-Juan Roman Riquelme; 7-Javier Saviola, 9-Hernan Crespo
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