The Argentina national team trained ahead of the semi-final against Croatia and the player number 11 is yet to be determined

Still minus 1 of the day. The sixth so far in this World Cup. A sign that the Argentine national team is running and advancing in Qatar 2022. A relaxed atmosphere at the Qatar National University before the duel against Croatia, for a place in the final on 18 December. And, for now, a few indications on the eleven who will start playing this Tuesday, from 16:00 in Argentina, at the Lusail stadium.

Certainties, for now, are few. It is known that Marcos Acuña and Gonzalo Montiel will not be able to play after receiving two yellow cards. And that Alejandro Papu Gómez was the only one who didn’t move together with his teammates, since he was observed with his shoes on, but only doing a short reaction work, so as not to force his ankle, under the supervision of Pablo Capuchetti, one of the kinesiologists.

The rest, as Lionel Scaloni said, is “available”. And this means that, before he started the tactical work – they always moved in offensive and defensive modules – with his eyes fixed on the duel against Luka Modric and company, the same doubt persisted. Between Lisandro Martínez, Leandro Paredes and Ángel Di María, the eleventh player of the team will come out. Although in the last few hours the possibility has also emerged that Lautaro Martínez has the opportunity to play from the start.

The player chosen by Scaloni – who exchanged a warm greeting with the Bulgarian legend Hristo Stoichkov – and the technical staff will end up defining the game plan which will stop from the first minute of the semifinal.

It is that if Licha Martínez continues, the five-man line he used against the Netherlands will return, but if Paredes and Di María return, the draw can change to 4-4-2 or 4-3-3. The same in the event that Lautaro, author of the decisive penalty last Saturday, regains his place in the eleven after exiting after the clash with Mexico.

The training had a massive press presence. There were almost a thousand journalists closely following the last test of the Argentine national team. The weather also continues to be generous before winter arrives in Qatar. Just over 20 degrees and a relative humidity that barely exceeded 50% so players didn’t have an extra enemy, as well as the intense heat that prevailed in the early days of the competition.

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