18 WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2018 sports 29 days to go…… Germany Argentina names unveil squad World Cup squad for Russia Sergio Aguero has not played for Manchester City since March because of a left • Coach Joachim Low knee injury and had surgery in April also revealed he has signed a deal until 2022 AP | London Fazio (Roma), Nicolas Tagliafico (Ajax), Gabriel Mercado (Sevil- Mario Gotze njured striker Sergio Aguero la), Eduardo Salvio (Benfica), missed• out on squad and midfielder Lucas Biglia Marcos Acuna (Sporting Lis- were included in the pre- bon) Javier Mascherano (Hebei I FIFA | London liminary, 35-player Argentina China Fortune), Marcos Rojo Joachim Low squad for the World Cup in (Manchester United), German Russia on Monday. Also, four Pezzella (Fiorentina), Ramiro IFA World Cup holders Ger- players with few or no games for Funes Mori (Everton), Cristian Fmany have unveiled their Bayern Munich’s Sandro the national team were picked. Ansaldi (Torino). preliminary squad for Russia Wagner failed to make the cut The final 23-man squad will be Midfielders: Angel Di Ma- 2018, with Joachim Low nam- despite having also been part announced next Monday. ria, Giovani Lo Celso (Paris ing a 27-man selection, as well of that Confederation’s Cup Aguero has not played for Saint-Germain), Ever Banega as announcing he has signed squad, but Freibrug’s Nils Pe- Manchester City since March (Sevilla), Manuel Lanzini (West a contract that will run until tersen, who is yet to win a cap, because of a left knee injury and Ham), Leandro Paredes (Zenit Qatar 2022. got the call having netted 15 had surgery in April. St. Petersburg), Diego Perot- Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer goals in the German Bundesli- Biglia broke two vertebrae in ti (Roma), Maximiliano Meza was included, even though he ga this season. April, missed three AC Milan Sergio Aguero (Independiente), Enzo Perez has not featured since Sep - Low, who has been leading games, and was injured again on (River Plate), Ricardo Centu- tember, while the man who the four-time World Cup win- Sunday after an Atalanta player rion (Racing), Lucas Biglia (AC scored the winner at Brazil ners since 2006, having acted hit him in the operated area. World Cup. Aguero’s likely re- was difficult to play with Messi. Milan), Guido Pizarro (Sevilla), 2014 – Mario Gotze – missed as assistant at Germany 2006, Coach Jorge Sampaoli consid- placement is Gonzalo Higuain, Argentina is in Group D with Rodrigo Battaglia (Sporting Lis- out having slipped down the will lead Die Mannschaft into ers Aguero and Biglia as likely but the Juventus scorer has not Iceland, Nigeria and Croatia. bon), Cristian Pavon and Pablo pecking order over the last 18 his third global finals this year. starters in the World Cup for the showed the same efficiency for Argentina: Goalkeepers: Ser- Perez (Boca Juniors). months. His new contract, which ex- opening match against Iceland Argentina. Inter Milan top scor- gio Romero (Manchester Unit- Strikers: Paulo Dybala, Gon- Low will be able to call on pires at the end of the next in Moscow on June 16. The two er and captain Mauro Icardi ed), Wilfredo Caballero (Chel- zalo Higuain (Juventus), Lionel FIFA Confederations Cup Rus- World Cup in Qatar, would will be closely followed when and Racing’s Lautaro Martinez sea), Nahuel Guzman (Tigres), Messi (Barcelona), Sergio Ague- sia 2017 adidas Golden Boot see him surpass the likes of the squad gathers. were also picked. Striker Paulo Franco Armani (River Plate). ro (Manchester City), Lautaro and Golden Ball winners Timo Helmut Schon and Sepp Her- Lionel Messi, the captain, was Dybala, also of Juventus, was in- Defenders: Nicolas Otamen- Martinez (Racing), Mauro Icar- Werner and Julian Draxler, berger as their all-time long- confirmed to play his fourth cluded despite recently saying it di (Manchester City), Federico di (Inter Milan). though. est-serving coach.

Coentrao asks Russia 2018: FIFA World Cup JUNE 14 - JULY 15 Venues Russia hosts the FIFA World Cup for the first time, but the lowest ranked team in the tournament faces a huge challenge to compete with the world’s top footballing powers out of Portugal’s Saint Petersburg RED AMBITION: Russia finished fourth in 1966, as Soviet Union, but Marquez in Stadium, 67,000 Russian Federation team has yet to qualify from group stage Yekaterinburg: Moscow: Ekaterinburg World Cup squad Performance Luzhniki Stadium Arena by host Capacity: 80,000 35,000 Spartak Stadium Kaliningrad 45,000 Stadium Group stage 2nd round / Quarter- 3rd / 4th Final Winner Kazan ESPN | London 35,000 1 Last 16: 3 final: 4 5 2 6 Arena 45,000 preliminary 2010 1982, 94, 1938, 54, 1962, 90, 1950, 1930, 34, 2002 70, 86 2002, 06, 14 58 66, 74, 78, 98 Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, 45,000 Samara Arena n “exhausted” Fabio WINNING FEELING: Victory for Germany would equal Brazil’s five 45,000 World Cup crowns and be first successive title win since 1962 Saransk: Coentrao has asked Brazil Win ratio: 67.3% Tournament wins: 70 Mordovia Arena Volgograd A 44,000 Germany 62.3% 66 Arena to be left out of Portugal’s Rostov Arena 45,000 Mexico squad Leroy Sane Italy* 54.2% 45 Germany qualified 45,000 World Cup squad this sum- Rising German Argentina 54.5% 42 with superlative star, 22, set to 10-game winning Sochi: Fisht mer. shine on world Spain 49.2% 29 streak – scoring Olympic Telstar stage after France 47.5% 28 43 goals Stadium 2018 excelling for 48,000 Netherlands* 54.0% 27 Coentrao, who is on loan Official Manchester City World Cup in Premier League England 41.9% 26 Igor Akinfeev to Sporting Lisbon from match *Did not qualify for Russia captain and ball Top goalscorers: World Cup 2018 veteran goalkeeper Real Madrid, played in 43 Poland’s Robert crucial to host Lewandowski (right) nation’s hopes – matches over five different and Mohammad over 100 caps Al-Sahlawi of Competition schedule for his country competitions this season Saudi Arabia both scored 16 goals in 32 teams contest total of 64 matches, 0 FIFA rank at The 30-year-old left-back qualifying matches played at 12 venues, over four weeks time of draw 65 63 30 17 7 43 10 19 2 11 22 38 5 49 28 12 wrote on Instagram that he June A June C June E June G has informed Portugal boss 14 Russia Saudi Arabia Moscow 16 France Australia Kazan 17 Costa Rica Serbia Samara 18 Belgium Panama Sochi 15 Egypt Uruguay Yekaterinburg Peru Denmark Saransk Brazil Switzerland Rostov Tunisia England Volgograd Fernando Santos he did not 19 Russia Egypt St Petersburg 21 Denmark Australia Samara 22 Brazil Costa Rica St Petersburg 23 Belgium Tunisia Moscow 20 Uruguay Saudi Arabia Rostov France Peru Yekaterinburg Serbia Switzerland Kaliningrad 24 England Panama Nizhny believe he could meet the 25 Uruguay Russia Samara 26 Denmark France Moscow 27 Serbia Brazil Moscow 28 England Belgium Kaliningrad Saudi Arabia Egypt Volgograd Australia Peru Sochi Switzerland Costa Rica Nizhny Panama Tunisia Saransk demands of a World Cup P W D L F A Pts P W D L F A Pts P W D L F A Pts P W D L F A Pts 1 1 1 1 this year. 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 “In the last week, after 4 4 4 4

a lot of thinking, I told the 3 8 48 34 4 21 18 41 1 16 25 62 6 32 13 44 Rafael Marquez June B June D June F June H national team coach that, 15 Morocco Iran St Petersburg 16 Argentina Iceland Moscow 17 Germany Mexico Moscow 19 Colombia Japan Saransk Portugal Spain Sochi Croatia Nigeria Kaliningrad 18 Sweden South Korea Nizhny Poland Senegal Moscow ter being included in Mexico’s after a very exhausting sea- 20 Portugal Morocco Moscow 21 Argentina Croatia Nizhny 23 South Korea Mexico Rostov 24 Japan Senegal Yekaterinburg Iran Spain Kazan 22 Nigeria Iceland Volgograd Germany Sweden Sochi Poland Colombia Kazan preliminary 28-man squad. son, I feel I don’t have the 25 Iran Portugal Saransk 26 Nigeria Argentina St Petersburg 27 Mexico Sweden Yekaterinburg 28 Japan Poland Volgograd Rafael Marquez Spain Morocco Kaliningrad Iceland Croatia Rostov South Korea Germany Kazan Senegal Colombia Samara • The 39-year-old, who plays necessary conditions to rep- P W D L F A Pts P W D L F A Pts P W D L F A Pts P W D L F A Pts became the first to 1 1 1 1 at centre-back or defensive resent the national team,” 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 captain a team in midfield, would join German he wrote. 4 4 4 4 four World Cups Lothar Matthaus and compa- Coentrao has made 52 ap- Top two from each group progress to knockout stage If scores level after 90 minutes, knockout stage matches go into extra-time. Matches remaining level decided on penalties triot Antonio Carbajal in the pearances for Portugal and Second stage Quarter-finals Third-place play-off Quarter-finals Second stage July 14 St Petersburg at Brazil 2014 June Sochi July Moscow select group. has twice participated in the 30 A1 1 B1 July 6 Nizhny July 7 Sochi Marquez, who won four World Cup. B2 A2 Kazan Semi-final FINAL Semi-final Nizhny Marquez also 30 C1 1 D1 Spanish titles and two Cham- “I would never turn my July 10 St Petersburg July 11 Moscow • D2 July 15 Moscow C2 became the second pions Leagues with Barcelona, back on my country, and I July Samara St Petersburg 2 E1 3 F1 July 6 Kazan Opened in 1956 as Central Luzhniki Stadium Reopened in Nov 2017 July 7 F2 Samara E2 Mexican to score will find out by 4 June if he hope I can return to rep - Lenin Stadium, flagship Capacity: 80,000 after four-year, €350m Rostov stadium of Communist renovation to expand Moscow makes the final 23 for Russia resent our national team 2 G1 Russia – hosted 1980 roof structure, 3 H1 in three successive H2 Summer Olympics increase capacity G2 2018. The tournament begins more times in the future,” and Champions and preserve League final iconic Soviet ROLL CALL OF CHAMPIONS Host nation tournaments in 2008 facade on 14 June. The Atlas player, he wrote. 1930 Uruguay 4-2 Argentina Uruguay 1978 Argentina 3-1 Netherlands Argentina who has 143 caps, became the Also missing out on the 1934 Italy 2-1 Czechoslovakia Italy 1982 Italy 3-1 West Germany Spain 1938 Italy 4-2 Hungary France 1986 Argentina 3-2 West Germany Mexico BBC | London first to captain a team in four World Cup will be Rena - 1950 Uruguay 2-1 Brazil Brazil 1990 West Germany 1-0 Argentina Italy 1954 West Germany 3-2 Hungary Switzerland 1994 Brazil 0-0 (3-2 pens) Italy USA World Cups at Brazil 2014. to Sanches, who was voted 1958 Brazil 5-2 Sweden Sweden 1998 France 3-0 Brazil France 1962 Brazil 3-1 Czechoslovakia Chile 2002 Brazil 2-0 Germany Korea/Japan afael Marquez could be- He also became the second best young player at Euro 1966 England 4-2 West Germany England 2006 Italy 1-1 (5-3 pens) France Germany come the third player to Mexican to score in three suc- 2016 but has since struggled 1970 Brazil 4-1 Italy Mexico 2010 Spain 1-0 Netherlands South Africa R 1974 West Germany 2-1 Netherlands West Germany 2014 Germany 1-0 Argentina Brazil appear in five World Cups af- cessive tournaments. for form and fitness. Source: FIFA Pictures: Getty Images © GRAPHIC NEWS