Ángel Correa deserved to be in the original list and play the Qatar 2022 World Cup

“We’ll be here cheering until the end of every game,” he said. Angelo Correa before the certainty of being excluded from the list for the second consecutive World Cup at the last cut. The reaction paints the character, the boy. positive, healthy Dear in the selection group.

But beyond what he adds to privacy, the Atlético de Madrid player contributes to football. It’s a lot. We are talking about a player with eight years in Spain under the orders of Diego Simeone, who has added spice (defensive and tactical, above all) to the excellent natural conditions of the 27-year-old from Rosario.

With the Cholo, Correa played midfield on the right, left and as a second striker. And he always gave up.

Four years ago, when Jorge Sampaoli had also excluded him from the list for Russia 2018, the national team played a friendly match against Spain in Madrid. The evening before, Simeone had invited the special envoys to dinner. Germán Burgos, then Cholo’s first collaborator, left a sentence that was recorded: “I don’t understand how Angelito is not on the list. He reminds me of Orteguita for his ability to go overboard hand in hand”.

Correa’s last-minute call sounds like football justice, not compensation. Perhaps he should have been on the original payroll. It is true that he is not very similar to Nicolás González, whom he replaces.

Fiorentina’s is left-handed, more physical, with better aerial play and deployment. Atlético’s is right-footed, more skilled and talented, capable of taking on piloting duties. There doesn’t seem to be a head-to-head in the substitution, indeed the feeling is that Correa had one foot left in the stirrup.

He was player number 27. And he goes up.

It is true that with the farewell of Nico González, Scaloni loses an alternative for Di María. There are also differences, but he was the natural replacement spaghetti and holder until the resurrection of the current black and white striker. But now Di María has settled on the right and has become irreplaceable. González did it to left field. The two could relegate to put together a four-man midfield, or play forward. Correa can also do it on both sides, with different profiles. But here it is necessary to refer to another absence, that of Giovani Lo Celso, who is re-evaluated a little more.

Correa adds up and deserves to be there, but now the list is unbalanced. There are no left-handed midfielders as an alternative and Correa and Almada, who overlap with the Papua Gomez.

Correa has the DNA of the national team. Since 2015 he plays in the Sub 20, in the Sub 23 (Olympic Games) and in the major. With Scaloni he has 14 games and two goals. He joined the US champions team a year ago.

He is not an outsider, neither emotionally nor in football.

Doha, Qatar. Special delivery.