1:04
The coach of the Argentine national team, Lionel Scaloni, will have the difficult task of defining the list of 26 players to face the Copa América in the United States and, although there will be three players who will be cut, doubts double the number. Plus, there could be a surprise.
The work in the United States began with 27 of the 29 players, since this Tuesday Franco Armani and Gonzalo Montiel joined to finish completing the roster that will have almost two weeks of training and two preparatory friendlies, which will be against Ecuador on Sunday the 9th and Guatemala on Friday the 14th.
These days on North American soil will help the coach to clear up the doubts that led him to call up three more players than the official list, although these will remain as a reserve in the event of an eventual injury to those competing in the continental tournament.
The truth is that Scaloni has already defined 23 of the 26 possible. The remaining six names are made up of doubts of two players per position.
Marcos Acuña or Valentín Barco will be the one who occupies the position as the second option at left back, since currently, the title belongs to Nicolás Tagliafico.
The coach needs someone to fight for the position of the defender of Lyon from France, and although Acuña is usually a fixture in the calls, he was even world champion in Qatar 2022, at 32 years old the former Racing and Ferro is just recovering from a injury and his physical condition is the big question.
In the event that the Seville footballer from Spain does not convince the coach, the one who would take the place is Valentín Barco. The 19-year-old youth player made his debut in the Senior National Team in March, but did not add much experience to Brighton and Hove in the Premier League.
The other doubt is in the center backs, since Leonardo Balerdi and Lucas Martínez Quarta fight for the place. With the four main defenders defined (Nicolás Otamendi, Cristian “Cuti” Romero, Germán Pezzella and Lisandro Martínez), both will fight for fifth place.
That quota was used by Juan Foyth in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, but by being left off this list, the chance will go to the former Boca and River.
Although the spotlight points to Martínez Quarta to be part of the final list due to his experience in the national team, since he was called up by Scaloni quite frequently in the cycle, the reality indicates that in the last two years he added only one call-up.
His great football presence in Fiorentina opened the doors to the national team again, but he will have to win the fight against Balerdi, who plays for Olympique de Marseille and his level made him be taken into account, since he added some minutes on a tour of friendlies in 2019, and had a call-up on last year’s June tour, where he was on the bench against Australia and Indonesia.
Both defenders had a positive season: they added a lot of minutes of play, since they were frequent starters and accounted for a total of 42 games played, although Martínez Quarta stood out by scoring eight goals.
Finally, Ángel Correa or Valentín Carboni will occupy the offensive position, which would leave Alejandro Garnacho on the final list to play his first international competition with Argentina, after being part of several friendlies and some qualifying matches for the United States World Cup. United States, Mexico and Canada 2026.
Unlike the other places, this is located in the team’s attack after Paulo Dybala was left out. With Lionel Messi, Ángel Di María, Julián Álvarez, Lautaro Martínez and Nicolás González as regulars, the one who runs the risk of being left at the gates of the competition is Correa.
The 29-year-old forward who plays for Atlético Madrid, was always taken into account by Scaloni, he was even part of the delegations that won the 2021 Copa América and the 2022 World Cup, however, in the latter he had been left out and managed to be later called due to the injury of one of his teammates.
For his part, 19-year-old Carboni is another of the latest national appearances that began the renewal cycle. He was called up for the first time in the double date in March, he debuted and played his first game against Costa Rica, where he entered the last minutes.
The footballer belongs to Inter Milan, but this season he was on loan at Monza in Italy, where he worked, playing 32 games, in which he started 10 times.
Scaloni has time until June 5
Under the orders of Lionel Scaloni, the team began its work at the Inter Miami facility thinking, first, of the friendly against Ecuador; and then in the final cut. Looking ahead to these two friendlies, the coach called up 29 players, three of whom will be left out of the final list for the continental competition.
But… until when can the list be delivered in good faith for the Copa América 2024? The deadline to submit the provisional list, which may have more players, is June 5. From there, he will have a week to think about the final cut, since on June 12 he will have to give the official list of the players who will defend the continental title.
Scaloni’s 29
Archers: Draw Martínez, Franco Armani, Gerónimo Rulli.
Defenders: Nahuel Molina, Gonzalo Montiel, Cuti Romero, Nicolás Otamendi, Germán Pezzella, Nicolás Tagliafico, Marcos Acuña, Lisandro Martínez, Leandro Balerdi, Lucas Martínez Quarta, Valentín Barco.
Midfielders: Rodrigo De Paul, Leandro Paredes, Giovani Lo Celso, Alexis Mac Allister, Enzo Fernández, Ezequiel Palacios, Valentín Carboni, Guido Rodríguez.
Fronts: Julián Álvarez, Lautaro Martínez, Nicolás González, Ángel Di María, Lionel Messi, Alejandro Garnacho, Ángel Correa.
