Mascherano compiled the list for the old Hope of Toulon and called the whole “foreign legion” of youth

The technical director of the Argentine U20 National Team, Javier Mascherano, gave on Friday a list of 22 players called up for the Toulon Hopes Tournament, now called Maurice Revello, with the presence of young soccer players playing in various clubs in Europe and may be mentioned by country groups of other countries.

Thus, Alejandro Garnacho (Manchester United), Nicolás Paz (Real Madrid), Tiago Geralnik (Villarreal), Matías Soulé (Juventus), Luka Romero (Lazio) and the brothers Franco and Valentín Carboni (both at Inter) are among 22 mentioned.

In addition to these seven players, Mascherano called up Franco Gómez (Racing Club), Valentino Quintero (Rosario Central), Agustín Giay (San Lorenzo), Brian Aguilar (Lanús), Lautaro Di Lollo (Boca), Nahuel Génez (Boca) , Julián Aude (Lanús), Maximiliano González (Lanús), Mateo Tanlongo (Rosario Central), Gino Infantino (Rosario Central), Facundo Buonanotte (Rosario Central), Nicolás Palavecino (Students of La Plata), Santiago Castro (Vélez ), Brian Aguirre (Newell’s) and Mateo Sanabria (Lanús).

The tournament

Argentina will debut on May 29 against Saudi Arabia, at 2:00 pm (Argentina time), and will continue its journey on June 1 against Panama (2:00 pm) and on June 4 against France (5 : 30 pm).

Only the three leaders of groups A, B and C along with the best second will qualify for the semifinals; the remaining teams will compete for the 5th positions. to 12th in playoff matchups.

The current champion is Brazil, who in the previous edition beat Japan on penalties after tying one.

Argentina has won it twice in the Toulon Tournament, in 1998 and 1975, so it is in seventh place in the table of champions, away from France (12), Brazil (9), England (6) and will try to catch up with Portugal (3) and Colombia (3).

At the 1998 presentation, Juan Román Riquelme, the current vice president of Boca, was selected as the best player and striker Francisco “Panchito” Guerrero, from Independiente, finished as the top scorer.

The other Argentines who won the most important player award were Mascherano in 2003 and Diego Buonanotte in 2009, championships in which Argentina finished in third place.

the foreign army

All of these people from the “foreign legion” have already been summoned by Lionel Scaloni for the last double date of the South American Qualifiers so they can work under Mascherano’s command. Some of them were born in Argentina and traveled with their parents to the Old Continent, as was the case with the Carboni brothers, and others like Garnacho, who has already made his Manchester United First Division debut, were born in another country and their link to the country is limited to maternal blood.

Garnacho was born on July 1, 2004 in Madrid and has already played for youth teams in Spain, but his decision was to play for Argentina. The youngster, who started at the Atlético de Madrid youth academy and came to Old Trafford after paying 500,000 euros and a fight with Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund, has already signed his first contract. His blood tie in Argentina is his mother, Patricia Ferreyra Fernández.

Tiago Geralnik’s story is different from Garnacho’s. Although he is also based in Spain, he was born 18 years ago in Rosario and left Argentina when he was 16 years old and one of the great promise of the Lower River, where he came to join the Reserve. bank.

Tiago left the Núñez club appealing to the old source of parental authority. A very good midfielder, he caught the attention of European clubs in a series of tournaments he played on the Old Continent. English Fulham first sought him out and later Villarreal arrived, who persisted and persevered until he hid.

The surname Carboni is synonymous with Lanús. Ezequiel, el Kely, was one of the great idols of the last days of the Garnet people. There, south of Greater Buenos Aires, in Guidi and Cabrero, it was there that Franco and Valentín Carboni began to show their talent and where it was believed they would reach the First Division.

However, when the former midfielder after some bad experiences as a coach in Argentina had a chance to take the reins of the young Catania, Franco and Valentín -and also Cristiano, the youngest- joined him. And they immediately caught Inter’s attention. Franco has already been called up by Italian Sub 17 and Sub 19 and is in the eyes of Roberto Mancini in the Azzurra renewal. He acts as a winger and lane. Valentín is also left -handed and a dribbler. He already had action in Spring, Inter’s reserve, after adding minutes in Inter’s Sub 18 and Sub 17,

Luka Romero (17) is the best known of this group of rookies to call Scaloni for a Qualifiers double date. His name made news when he became the youngest footballer to make his Spanish League debut. He did so on October 24, 2020 when he was in Mallorca against Real Madrid. He is 15 years and 219 days. He then spent to add minutes to the Balearic team and he went to Lazio in Italy, where this season he has only played 4 games out of 30 possible.

Another has soccer in his genes like Romero and the Carboni. In this case, Nicolás Paz Martínez (17) is the son of Pablo, a defender who played for Newell’s, Banfield and Independiente and even played in the 1998 World Cup in France with Daniel Passarella as coach. After appearing in Tenerife, he played for Real Madrid B, although it was difficult for him to add minutes. He is another, like Garnacho, who can play for Spain. So Scaloni’s initial call led to criticism of Luis Enrique, who asked that he had not been called to ensure his services.

Finally, Soulé (19) is a right winger from Mar del Plata who, after going through the Kimberley, joined Vélez’s lineup. It didn’t take long for the Liniers because Juventus looked for him and took him. In 2020, he was included in the list of the 100 best soccer players under 21 in the world published by the Italian newspaper Tuttosport. And he has already added minutes in the highest Calcio category.