Boca Juniors striker Daniel Bilos was called up for the first time by coach Jose Pekerman just when he was being courted by Croatia [ Images ], the land of his forebears, who have also qualified for the 2006 World Cup in Germany [ Images ].

Cruz has been in top form in Serie A this season for Inter and will be hoping he has better luck than four years ago. He scored in a 1-1 friendly draw against Wales in Cardiff in February 2002 but failed to win a place in Argentina's squad for the Asia finals.

He is one of four Inter players in the 22-man squad, including right back Javier Zanetti who missed four matches for Argentina since winning his 101st cap in the Confederations Cup final against Brazil [ Images ] in Frankfurt in June.

Striker Javier Saviola, on loan at Sevilla from Barcelona [ Images ], has been recalled after recovering from injury.

Argentina meet arch-rivals England on neutral ground in Geneva on November 12. They play in Qatar four days later.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Roberto Abbondanzieri (Boca Juniors), Leonardo Franco (Atletico Madrid)

Defenders: Roberto Ayala (Valencia), Diego Placente (Celta Vigo), Javier Zanetti, Walter Samuel (both Inter Milan), Martin Demichelis (Bayern Munich [ Images ]), Gabriel Milito [ Images ] (Real Zaragoza), Fabricio Coloccini (Deportivo Coruna)

Midfielders: Sebastian Battaglia (Boca Juniors), Juan Roman Riquelme, Juan Pablo Sorin (both Villarreal [ Images ]), Esteban Cambiasso (Inter Milan), Luis Gonzalez (Porto), Mario Santana (Palermo), Daniel Bilos (Boca Juniors), Maxi Rodriguez (Atletico Madrid)

Forwards: Hernan Crespo [ Images ] (Chelsea [ Images ]), Lionel Messi [ Images ] (Barcelona), Carlos Tevez [ Images ] (Corinthians), Javier Saviola (Sevilla), Julio Ricardo Cruz (Inter Milan).