Carlos Tevez is the biggest absentee from Argentina’s latest squad for the World Cup qualifying matches.

Manager Gerardo Martino was expected to pick the former Manchester City and Juventus forward, but this has not been the case. Tevez recently returned to Argentine football to play for his hometown club Boca Juniors. This was also expected to help him feature more regularly for the national team. This has not been the case in recent years due to the lack of places especially in the forward position. The likes of Sergio Aguero, Gonzalo Higuain, and Angel di Maria will provide valuable alternatives to Tevez.

It is only when one of these players are unavailablethat it leads to a spot in the team for Tevez. Even though the headlines have been around the absence of Tevez, other important players who have been not named in the latest squad include Ezequiel Garay and Fernando Gago. These two players that part of the team that came up as runners-up in the recent Copa America. Their absence may suggest that Martino is not entirely happy with the squad and he would like to change a few things in order to make the team from being perennial runners-up into winners.

“The issue with Carlos also has to do with Boca. It isn’t only because of him. It is a complex situation at Boca,” said Martino about the absence of a star forward. One of the reasons for the omission may be the return of Lionel Messi to the starting line-up. The Barcelona superstar will make his first start in a qualifying match after having missed earlier games due to an injury. His absence was particularly filled in the opening three matches, as Argentina failed to win any of them. The team recently won the first qualifying match in the form of a 1-0 success over Colombia.