LONDON: Carlos Tevez excellent form for Italian champions Juventus this season failed to earn him a recall to Argentina’s provisional World Cup squad on Tuesday while the same fate befell Samir Nasri.

Nasri, who was instrumental in helping Manchester City to win the Premier League title, was left out by France coach Didier Deschamps from the squad of 23 players he plans to take to the World Cup.

Also not going to Brazil would be Gregory van der Wiel, who played in the 2010 World Cup final, after Louis van Gaal omitted his name from the Netherlands’ preliminary squad of 30 for the finals while Italian strikers Alberto Gilardino and Luca Toni also missed out.

Despite having just led Juventus to the Serie A title as the team’s top-scorer with 19 goals, Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella ignored pleas from Tevez’s passionate fan base in Argentina.

Sabella has never called up the hard-working striker since taking charge of the national team in 2011. Instead he’s put his faith in Ezequiel Lavezzi and Rodrigo Palacio as substitutes for star attackers Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuain and Sergio Aguero.

All were included in Sabella’s initial 30-player squad, which will be reduced to a final 23 by a FIFA deadline of June 2.

Argentina — who won the last of their two World Cups in 1986 — have been drawn in Group ‘F’ with Africa Cup of Nations champions Nigeria, debutants Bosnia and Iran. “I am sorry I had to leave out good players,” Sabella said, without mentioning names.

DEMICHELIS RECALL

He also excluded veteran midfielder Esteban Cambiasso of Inter Milan but central defender Martin Demichelis, a Premier League winner with Manchester City in his first season in England, earned a surprise call-up.

Demichelis, a veteran of the 2010 finals, had not been called up by Sabella since being dropped after a 1-1 draw at home to Bolivia in a South American qualifier in November 2011.

The 33-year-old, who has 37 caps, put behind him a poor Champions League last-16 performance against Barcelona in February, when he conceded a penalty and was sent off, to secure his place in the centre of the City defence in the title run-in.

There was no such luck for his City team-mate Nasri though.

Nasri scored seven goals and had seven assists in the Premier League this season but it was not enough to convince Deschamps.

The 26-year-old, who was also left out of Raymond Domenech’s squad for the 2010 World Cup, last played for France in the 2-0 defeat to Ukraine in the first leg of last November’s World Cup qualifying play-off.

“He is a player of great quality, but Samir’s performances for France have not been of the standard of those with his club Manchester City,” Deschamps said after revealing his squad live on French television channel TF1’s evening news programme.

“He is an important player and a first-pick for Manchester City and that is not the case for France. And when he is a substitute he is not happy, and that is felt by the squad as a whole. That is why he is not on the list.”

City left-back Gael Clichy, Monaco centre-back Eric Abidal and Lyon playmaker Yoann Gourcuff also didn’t feature in the squad or on the seven-man standby list for France who will play neighbours Switzerland, Ecuador and Honduras in Group ‘E’.

VAN DER WIEL OUT

Paris St Germain right-back Van der Wiel, a starter in the World Cup final four years ago, was the major casualty as Van Gaal sprung a few surprises in naming the Netherlands’ squad for Brazil where they will come up against reigning world champions Spain, Chile and Australia in Group ‘B’.

The absence of the 26-year-old means only eight members of the 30-man squad featured at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, when the Netherlands lost to Spain in the final.

Goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg and defenders John Heitinga and Joris Mathijsen are also missing but 2010 World Cup joint top-scorer Wesley Sneijder is there along with four Feyenoord defenders who play the 5-3-2 system Van Gaal is expected to use in Brazil.

Meanwhile, key defender Giorgio Chiellini was included in Italy’s preliminary 30-man World Cup squad, ending doubts that he might face a code of ethics punishment for his three-match ban with Juventus for elbowing an opponent.

Cesare Prandelli, who is to trim his squad to 23 by June 2, also lifted the World Cup hopes of Giuseppe Rossi, Antonio Cassano, Ciro Immobile and Mattia Destro.

Rossi only recently returned from a four-month injury lay-off but the Fiorentina star must reach full fitness for Brazil at a 10-day training camp beginning next week while Cassano has not played for Italy since leading the attack at Euro 2012.

Torino’s Immobile leads the Serie A scoring charts on 22 goals and is believed to have the edge over Roma forward Mattia Destro.

GILARDINO EXCLUDED

Gilardino, who played in the 2006 and 2010 World Cups, has scored 15 goals for Genoa this season but it was not enough to swing Prandelli.

Toni, 37 this month, had pushed himself into contention with 20 goals for Verona but missed out, as did AS Roma’s Francesco Totti, another 37-year-old for four-time champions Italy who are in Group ‘D’ with England, Uruguay and Costa Rica.

Also missing the cut were forward Pablo Osvaldo, Sunderland winger Emanuele Giaccherini — a regular in the Confederations Cup last year, attacking midfielder Alessandro Diamanti, who recently joined Chinese club Guangzhou Evergrande, and Zenit St Petersburg full-back Domenico Criscito.

Cristiano Ronaldo, however, will lead Portugal’s World Cup campaign after being named in their provisional 30-man squad, despite currently being out with a hamstring injury.

The Portugal captain picked up the injury playing for Real Madrid against Real Valladolid last week but is expected to recover in plenty of time for Portugal’s opening World Cup match in Group ‘G’ against Germany on June 16.

Colombia are hoping their talisman Radamel Falcao also recovers in time for the World Cup after coach Jose Pekerman picked him in their provisional squad despite the Monaco striker still recovering from knee surgery.

Falcao is Colombia’s big hope on their return to the finals after a 16-year absence and they face Greece, Ivory Coast and Japan, in that order, in Group ‘C’.

Elsewhere, Luka Modric and Mario Mandzukic will spearhead Croatia’s challenge at the World Cup, where they play hosts Brazil, Mexico and Cameroon in Group ‘A’, after coach Niko Kovac found a blend of youth and experience for his provisional 30-man squad.

“We have a great mix of youth and experience,” Kovac, who took over the post seven months ago, said on Wednesday. “We’ll try our best in Brazil, but the earth won’t stop turning if we fail.”

Tim Cahill and Mile Jedinak will lead an inexperienced Australia after coach Ange Postecoglou was true to his word and picked a youthful 30-man Socceroos preliminary squad with an average age of 25.

Two London-based players, Fulham midfielder Ashkan Dejageh and Charlton striker Reza Ghoochannejad, feature in Iran coach Carlos Queiroz’s 30-man squad while Ecuador coach Reinaldo Rueda named three untested strikers, Cristian Penilla, Angel Mena and Armando Wila, in his preliminary squad.

Published in Dawn, May 15th, 2014