Batistuta is overlooked by Argentina

Gabriel Batistuta has been left out of the Argentina squad for their World Cup warm-up game with Cameroon, raising doubts about whether the prolific striker will make the trip to Japan and South Korea in the summer.

Batistuta is Argentina's record goalscorer with 55 goals in 75 games, but the 33-year-old forward has played only once for his country in the last year and was dropped by Roma before their 5-1 Italian derby win over Lazio on Sunday.

Argentina's coach Marcelo Bielsa's first-choice attack is the Lazio pair of Hernan Crespo and Claudio Lopez, while Rangers' 35-year-old striker Claudio Caniggia has kept his place in the squad for the friendly in Geneva on 27 March.

The Manchester United striker Diego Forlan has been called up by Uruguay for their game away to Saudi Arabia at the end of the month. The Spurs midfielder Gustavo Poyet was again overlooked but the biggest surprise was the absence of Sebastian Abreu. The striker scored both goals in Uruguay's 2-0 win over South Korea in February and has been in prolific form since moving to the Mexican club Cruz Azul earlier this year.