‘Black day’ as Pumas trim squad

ARGENTINA coach Marcelo Loffreda admits the task of trimming his 41-man preliminary World Cup squad down to the final 30 was “very painful”.

Loffreda has cut 11 players from the group of players who have been working together since the start of July.

“It was a black day, a very painful decision,” he said. “It was worse than when Australia eliminated us from the last World Cup. In this sport you always get very close to the players. Rejecting 11 of them was very painful and some of the selected men showed how sad they are. The look in theirs faces said it all.”