International Career
Cambiasso first represented Argentina in the youth squads, along with national teammates Juan Román Riquelme, Pablo Aimar, Walter Samuel, and others. He was in the squads for the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship, where he scored the first goal in the final even though he was the youngest player on the squad, and captained the team during the 1999 edition.
Cambiasso made his senior national debut in 2000 for Argentina. On 15 May 2006, he was named in the Argentinian national team for the 2006 World Cup, and on 16 June, he capped a spectacular 24 pass Argentine interplay with a finish to score the second goal in a 6–0 victory over Serbia and Montenegro. In the quarter-finals match against Germany on 30 June 2006, the match went into penalties, where Cambiasso had his penalty kick saved, resulting in Argentina losing 4–2 and Germany progressing to the semi-final.
Since Diego Maradona took over as Argentina coach, Cambiasso was only called-up once to the national team for a friendly game on 14 November 2009 against Spain, despite continuing to play a vital role for Inter and affirming his status as one of Europe's best central midfielders. On 12 May 2010, Cambiasso was controversially left out of the 30-man provisional 2010 World Cup squad for Argentina.
On August 20, 2010, new Argentina coach Sergio Batista recalled Esteban Cambiasso to the national team for the upcoming friendly against newly-crowned world champions Spain. Argentina handed Spain their first defeat since becoming world champions two months prior, earning a resounding 4–1 win in a friendly at the Monumental Stadium in Buenos Aires.
Read more about this topic: Esteban Cambiasso
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