Veron delighted to be back in Argentina set-up

BUENOS AIRES, March 6 (Reuters) Argentine midfielder Juan Sebastian Veron trained with the national team after a wait of more than three years and said it felt just like the first time.

Veron, the driving force in the Argentine midfield for several years before falling out of favour, has been included in a squad of home-based players for a training camp this week.

It is his first call-up since the World Cup qualifier against Colombia in November 2003.

''It's always something special to be picked by Argentina and I haven't been here for a long time,'' he told reporters yesterday.

''It was like the first time.

Veron, 31, was regarded as one of the world's top players until 2002, when Argentina suffered a shock first-round exit at the World Cup and he was widely blamed for their poor performances.

Veron was given a hostile reception during a subsequent game against Chile in Buenos Aires the following year and was not picked at all by Jose Pekerman, who was in charge from 2004 until the last World Cup.

''Of course, I was sad but today I can enjoy a different moment.....You have to take the rough with the smooth,'' he said.

He returned to Argentina last July and inspired the Estudiantes team which won the Apertura championship in December.

''I don't give this much importance,'' he said of the critics.

''The important thing is that the Estudiantes fans like me.

Veron played down talk of a final World Cup appearance in 2010.

''There's a long way to go between now and the World Cup and it will depend on me, on the players we have available and a lot of things.'' ''Football can give it to you and it can take it away,'' he added.

Coach Alfio Basile, who replaced Pekerman after last year's World Cup, said his first priority was to win the Copa America in Venezuela in July.

''We must win the Copa America, we will do the impossible to win it,'' said the gravel-voiced coach, who was also in charge from 1991 to 1994.

REUTERS PDS ND1510