Argentina and Uruguay prepare for friendly in Tel Aviv

SHOWS:

NETANYA, ISRAEL (NOVEMBER 17, 2019) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

1. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) URUGUAY COACH, OSCAR TABAREZ, SAYING:

"The players never said that they didn't want to come and these are internal conversations that I don't want to discuss in public. Yes, like I said in the first answer, they were worried, just like I and the rest of the technical team, because from Montevideo they were sending us pictures of missiles exploding in the air, and we don't have experience of these things. So how we are not going to be worried? But never did the players or anyone from the Uruguay Football Association say, 'we are not going'. Whoever said that has distorted reality a bit."

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (NOVEMBER 17, 2019) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

2. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ARGENTINA COACH, LIONEL SCALONI, SAYING:

"As far as the (squad) list (for qualifiers), it won't be that different. As far as the players we will put on the pitch, yes, I'd like to see some players that didn't play in the match against Brazil. But it will also depend a lot on how tired everyone else gets. And even though it's not an ideal match to try something out, because it is a top-notch opponent, given that it's the last friendly before the qualifiers, we think we can take the chance and try out a player and give them an important match. Hopefully it will go well. We think that's what we need to do, so that's the plan, more or less."

STORY: Argentina and Uruguay are set to clash in a friendly in Tel Aviv on Monday (November 18) in a match that will pit Lionel Messi against his Barcelona team mate Luis Suarez in what should be an exciting match.

Uruguay trained on Sunday (November 17) ahead of the showdown and coach Oscar Tabarez said the team never considered pulling out of the friendly, but admitted they were concerned after seeing reports of hostilities between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip this week.

The match was in doubt before the Islamic Jihad and Israel declared a halt to fighting across Gaza on Thursday (November 14).

After arriving to Tel Aviv following a 1-0 friendly win over Brazil in Saudi Arabia on Friday (November 15), Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said he wasn't going to change the lineup too much, but said he'd like to try to get some other players some playing time before World Cup qualifiers get underway in March.