Messi's last outing against Australia was back in September last year, the South Americans winning a friendly 1-0 at the MCG.

Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano, Real Madrid`s Fernando Gago and Boca Juniors star Juan Roman Riquelme are the other notable names in coach Sergio Batista`s 18-man party.

Diego Buonanotte, who recently won the Argentinian league with River Plate, and Lanus' Lautaro Acosta, one of the country`s most promising talents, are also included, while the biggest surprise is Boca Juniors defender Fabian Monzon.

Riquelme, Mascherano and Internazionale defender Nicolas Burdisso are the three over-aged players in the squad after Bayern Munich's Martin Demichelis and Deportivo La Coruna's Fabricio Coloccini were not released by their clubs.

Batista also named four players to remain on standby- Liverpool defender Emiliano Insua, Anderlecht duo Lucas Biglia and Nicolas Pareja and Napoli keeper Nicolas Navarro.

Argentina will travel to Tokyo to play a friendly against Japan on July 29 before going on to Beijing.

Australia and Argentina meet in the tournament on August 10. Serbia and Ivory Coast are the other group opponents.

The two countries met at the 2004 Olympics with Argentina defeating the Olyroos 1-0.

Argentina Olympic squad:

Oscar Ustari (Getafe), Sergio Romero (AZ Alkmaar), Pablo Zabaleta (Espanyol), Ezequiel Garay (Racing Santander), Federico Fazio (Sevilla), Nicolas Burdisso (Internazionale), Luciano Monzon (Boca Juniors), Fernando Gago (Real Madrid), Ever Banega (Valencia), Javier Mascherano (Liverpool), Juan Roman Riquelme (Boca Juniors), Angel Di Maria (Benfica), Jose Sosa (Bayern Munich), Diego Buonanotte (River Plate), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Ezequiel Lavezzi (Napoli), Lautaro Acosta (Sevilla) and Sergio Aguero (Atletico Madrid).