Argentina coach Jorge Sampaoli gave his thoughts on his squad, which will include Juventus striker Gonzalo Higuain for the friendly match against Russa on Saturday. Sampaoli was asked about it in his pre-match press conference: "During the short turnaround we thought that bringing Gonzalo, who is a top class striker, was not ideal for him nor for what the national team needed. Once we qualified we went and called him up. We will keep eyes on him and he could be called in the future, especially if he stays at the high level. The ideal scenario is to come to March with the possibility of having three players for each position and narrow it down to two plus the three keepers. Dybala? We need to work to ease Paulo's entry in our system, leaving aside Messi's presence. Icardi? To clarify I can say I received a call from Mauro. He told me that he was suffering from a chronic injury, he received a knock and it was bothering him. But the difficult thing with his absence is not to be able to see him in the matches against Russia and Nigeria. He could have met us here in Russia, but Inter made the decision to keep him there and allow him to recover, the club made the necessary decision for the player, and that's fine."
