Today’s match between France and Argentina marks Roberto Ayala’s 107th international for Argentina. He passes Diego Simeone’s record. Ayala started his international career against Chile on 16 November, 1994 under the present manager Alfio Basile. Ayala is one of Argentina’s greatest center backs and was selected in the 2006 World Cup All Star squad.
Strangely enough, given that these two teams are amongst the elite, they rarely meet.Their last encounter was 20 years ago in a friendly in Paris that France won, 2-0. Argentina are without their playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme, who retired from international soccer. In his place is 20 year old Fernando Gago. Basile has also kept out Messi and Tevez. Les Bleus are without injured defenders William Gallas and Lilian Thuram. In their place, Raymonde Domenech is the new pair of Julien Escude and Sebastien Squillaci.
Connections: David Trezeguet is of Argentinian descent, born in Rouen to Argentine immigrants. Gabriel Heinze played for PSG before moving to Man Utd and Javier Saviola did duty at Monaco before moving back to Barca.