The arrival of Messi in the American dawn for the friendlies of the national team. Photo: Video capture / Fede Rodas.
No matter the time or place, there are always Argentines willing to receive a greeting from Lionel Messi. It happened this Monday morning, around 5:15 am, when Rosario Flea reached the concentration of the Argentine national team in Miami, together with Leandro Paredes, Ángel Di María and Nicolás Tagliafico to take the lead of Lionel Scaloni in front of the friendlies against Honduras and Jamaica.
It is not just another FIFA window, because it will be the last before the final list of the Qatar World Cup, beyond the fact that there are still games to test some specific themes. Hours earlier, Emiliano Dibu Martínez, Julián Álvarez, Alexis Mac Allister (all from England) and Thiago Almada (who traveled from Atlanta to Miami) had already arrived.
Messi was the first in line to enter the concentration in Fort Lauderdale, behind him escorted by Di María, Tagliafico and Paredes. But all the screams went to the Flea. “Leo, please, there are only five of us. Let’s wait two hours”it was heard that they shouted at him, as an appeal, to the best Argentine footballer.
The accumulated fatigue and the need to recover hours of rest meant that the players concentrated quickly. It is that this Monday afternoon will be the first training session scheduled by the Scaloni technical staff, who will repeat the routine on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Argentina will play on Friday 23 against Honduras in Miami and on Tuesday 27 against Jamaica in New Jersey. For these preparatory commitments, in which Lionel Messi will be present, the coach born in Pujato has called 28 players, or has cut four from the 32 pre-list that he had announced in early September.
A list with absences
Those who are left out this time are Juan Musso, Lucas Martínez Quarta, Exequiel Palacios and Nicolás González. Why did you prefer not to have them? For the cases of Palacios and González, the answer is physical. Both are “touched” and do not reach one hundred percent.
The Bayer Leverkusen midfielder has a hamstring injury that prevented him from playing in the Champions League. The former River still wanted to be there because he doesn’t have a guaranteed World Cup ticket and other midfielders are bidding on him for a seat. Meanwhile, the left-handed Fiorentina has injured his foot and is not even ready to play.
He is different from Musso, the former Racing goalkeeper, today at Atalanta. The one born in San Nicolás was recently a father, a situation that may explain his lack of vocation. However, Gerónimo Rulli’s presence at Villarreal may have given him a slight edge in that dispute for a spot where established Emiliano Martínez and Franco Armani are already a fixture.
The Martínez Quarta thing appears to be a more footballing decision in Scaloni’s preference as variants such as Nehuén Pérez and Facundo Medina appear instead. In case of transport of nine defenders, as expected, there are eight who have their strongest place and it remains to be defined who will be the ninth: Juan Foyth, one who has a point in the head, does not appear on the list because he suffers from an injury and it will be necessary to see if this takes away points in the final race.
Among the new faces are Thiago Almada (Atlanta United) and Enzo Fernández (Benfica). Curious, given that neither of them had participated in the coach’s phone calls, which seems to have resolved a large part of his elections. But they still have unfinished boxes and he tries to clear up all doubts before deciding.
It is estimated that Scaloni will choose 3 goalkeepers, 9 defenders, 7 midfielders and 7 forwards to go to Qatar, in an announcement that will take place in November, although first (in mid-October) he could deliver a larger preliminary list and then make the corresponding cut. .
Source: Clarin
