BUENOS AIRES - Juan Roman Riquelme seems headed to the Olympics after being named in an 18-man Argentina squad for next month's friendly with Guatemala in Los Angeles.

Argentina are using the February 6 match to begin preparations for their defence of the Olympic title in Beijing in August and have picked a young squad with few players over 23, one being Boca Juniors playmaker Riquelme.

Another veteran is Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano, who was in the Olympic gold medal-winning team in Athens in 2004, and is the only other member of the 2006 World Cup squad in Germany to be called up.

Real Madrid midfielder Fernando Gago, who was part of coach Alfio Basile's Copa America squad last June, and twice World Youth Cup winner Sergio Aguero have also been included.

The squad will be managed by Basile's assistant Sergio Batista, a former midfielder in the 1986 World Cup-winning team who has been charged with preparing the Olympic side.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Oscar Ustari (Getafe), Sergio Romero (AZ Alkmaar)

Defenders: Pablo Zabaleta (Espanyol), Ezequiel Garay (Racing Santander), Martin Demichelis (Bayern Munich), Cristian Ansaldi (Rubin Kasan), Federico Fazio (Sevilla)

Midfielders: Fernando Gago (Real Madrid), Ever Banega (Valencia), Jose Sosa (Bayern Munich), Javier Mascherano (Liverpool), Juan Roman Riquelme (Boca Juniors), Angel Di Maria (Benfica), Damian Escudero (Velez Sarsfield)

Forwards: Ezequiel Lavezzi (Napoli), Gonzalo Higuain (Real Madrid), Sergio Aguero (Atletico Madrid), Marco Ruben (River Plate).