May 24, 2002

NARAHA, Japan, May 24 (Reuters) - Celta Vigo midfielder Gustavo Lopez has played himself into a three-way competition for the right wing berth in Argentina's World Cup attack.

Claudio Caniggia is back for his third World Cup after being overlooked for France 98 and Ariel Ortega is playing in his third consecutive finals.

But Lopez, a left footed attacking midfielder who did not play for Argentina for nearly a year, has made his mark in their last two games.

Lopez laid on four goals for Gabriel Batistuta from the right wing in a warmup game against Kashima Antlers of Japan on Thursday after providing the winner for Juan Pablo Sorin in last month's away victory over Germany.

Lopez, who could be Kily Gonzalez's replacement on the left should the Valencia player get injured, beat Real Madrid's Santiago Solari to a last forward's berth in coach Marcelo Bielsa's squad.

Bielsa pointed out the strengths of the trio during a news conference on Friday but gave no hint as to which he would be most likely to pick on the right wing for Argentina's World Cup group F opener against Nigeria in Ibaraki on June 2.

"They are all different, Caniggia is an up-and-down player," Bielsa said.

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"Gustavo needs to look inside to find his best profile (for his left foot) and Ortega needs to make diagonal runs because he is drawn to the ball and when it doesn't come to him he goes looking for it.

"The three give the position their own imprint." Expanding on wing play, Bielsa said: "I think the sides of the pitch must be exploited, to ignore them would be to centralise the game too much.

"We need to look to get behind the defence and a cross back into the middle is very difficult to defend," he said.

"Gustavo and Ortega fulfil that objective."

Caniggia missed the friendly against Japanese champions Kashima, a 5-1 win, but has almost completely recovered from a knee injury.

Ortega played in the first half in which Argentina were unconvincing in attack and only scored once.

Lopez took his place in the second half and his combinations with Batistuta produced four goals for the AS Roma striker, who is involved in another selection tussle with Hernan Crespo for the central striker's role.