Newcastle defender Fabricio Coloccini has failed to make the cut for Argentina's 23-man World Cup squad

The highly rated Napoli forward Ezequiel Lavezzi was another of the seven players that coach Diego Maradona dropped from his original 30-man party.

Liverpool winger Maxi Rodriguez, who played in the 2006 finals was preferred to Jose Sosa of Estudiantes as cover for Newcastle winger Jonas Gutierrez.

Veteran Martin Palermo is one of five home-based players in the squad.

The other English-based players in the Argentina squad are Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez and Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano.

Inter Milan duo Esteban Cambiasso and Javier Zanetti were the two surprise omissions from Argentina's provisional 30-man squad.

Real Madrid midfielder Fernando Gago and Barcelona central defender Gabriel Milito were also left out.

Full-back Zanetti and midfielder Cambiasso were omitted despite playing a key role in Inter's march to the Champions League final.

Cambiasso, who helped Argentina reach the World Cup quarter-finals in 2002, has never played under Maradona but the coach had been under pressure to select the 29-year-old because of his fine form for Inter.

Zanetti, a veteran of the 1998 and 2002 World Cups, has a record 136 caps for his country.

Inter, though, do have striker Diego Milito and defender Walter Samuel in the squad, while Bayern defender Martin Demichelis has also been selected.

Maradona, who has called up over 100 players during his year and a half in charge, picked several Argentina-based players who impressed him in a 4-0 friendly win over Haiti last week.

Colon defender Ariel Garce, who had won two caps in 2003 as a River Plate player, made his third international appearance against the Haitians.

Maradona, speaking before naming his squad, said he wanted Messi to roam freely during the World Cup in South Africa.

"I don't want him stationed on the [right touch] line," said Maradona. "All the balls have to pass through him.

"I'm going to defend with four centre-backs but I'm also going to have full-backs available in case we need to improve coming out of defence."

Argentina are in Group B together with Greece, Nigeria and South Korea.