ARGENTINA: SOCCER / FOOTBALL - Argentina's star forward Carlos Tevez has hinted that he will probably be on his country's World Cup team when the final line up is announced

Record ID: 447909

  • Title: ARGENTINA: SOCCER / FOOTBALL - Argentina's star forward Carlos Tevez has hinted that he will probably be on his country's World Cup team when the final line up is announced
  • Date: 29th April 2006
  • Summary: CLOSE UP: ARGENTINE FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION SIGN
  • Embargoed: 14th May 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Argentina
  • Country: Argentina
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVAK3PQISBQ2I0ISK3QSJUIS37E
  • Story Text: Argentina's star forward Carlos Tevez has hinted that he will probably be on his country's World Cup team when the final line up is announced by coach José Pekerman.
    The 22-year-old striker, who currently plays for Brazil's Corinthians, has been training with the other World Cup hopefuls with just six weeks to go before the championship gets underway. But as Pekerman puts the team through their paces before announcing his final selection, Tevez looks like an obvious choice in the squad's forward line-up.
    Speaking in his home city of Buenos Aires on Thursday (April 27), Tevez admitted both he and Argentine teammate Javier Mascherano, who also plays for Corinthians, had been summoned by Pekerman for a discussion.
    "Jose (Pekerman) wanted to talk to me and to (Javier) Mascherano to tell us how we have been playing, and to talk to us a bit as well, as the World Cup is coming. (I'm) very happy to be here today and returning to the national team always makes one happy," Tevez said, hinting that his return to the squad seemed inevitable.
    Tevez, who has recovered from a knee injury suffered last month during a Libertadores Cup game against Mexico's UANL, promised that the Argentine team would be playing their hardest to try and win the cup for their country.
    "We Argentine players are always going to give it our all to make Argentina come out ahead, and of course to do everything possible to bring the cup home," he said. But the young footballer stopped short of confirming definitively that he would feature on the final line-up.
    "I don't know. Ask Jose (Pekerman)," he told journalists.
    Tevez played for Argentine club Boca Juniors before signing to Corinthians for a South American record fee of $18 million in 2004. He went on to lead Corinthians to the Brazilian championship title in his first season with the club.
    The star striker was voted Latin America's Footballer of the Year for the third year running in a poll by Uruguayan newspaper El Pais in December last year. He is the first player to win the award three times.
    The award, the most respected in the region, has been given every year since 1986 and is based on a poll of around 400 journalists. Players and coaches have to be based in Latin America for at least part of the year to be eligible.
    Argentina, who have won the World Cup on two previous occasions, will be playing the Ivory Coast, Serbia and Montenegro and the Netherlands in the first round of the World Cup in Germany.
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