The torrential rains did not stop throughout the week in tropical Miami. The Argentine National Team He spent several training sessions underwater at the Inter facility in Fort Lauderdale. But the intensity of the storms was such that the last practices had to be limited to some gym movements at the hotel. This is how the albiceleste team arrived in Washington yesterday, escaping the inclement weather of Florida, but with a certainty that makes even the rising sun smile on the shirt that has been sporting three stars since December 18, 2022: Lionel Messi will start this Friday against Guatemalathe last friendly before the Copa América, from 9 p.m. at Commanders Field.
Chicago was left wanting to see a little more of the best player in the world. Leo played just 35 minutes in the 1-0 against Ecuador last Sunday. Everything was planned. The captain manages the loads to arrive without problems to the appointment on Thursday the 20th, in Atlanta with Canada. That day the defense of the first of the three crowns won in Lionel Scaloni’s cycle will begin. Everyone wants to be there.
It will be the seventh Copa América for Messi, who hopes to be able to take another Olympic tour with the flag of his country. It will be important for the ’10’ to measure himself physically since it has been a first semester of ups and downs in the MLS product of some blows and a muscle injury that has deprived him of having the desired continuity. Of course, just because he starts as a starter does not ensure that Messi will play the full 90 minutes. That will depend on how he feels in the same meeting. It’s also not worth risking too much less than a week before the premiere.
A couple of blocks from the White House, Argentina is waiting in its hotel for this second preparatory friendly. Nahuel Molina, Nicolás Otamendi, Nicolás Tagliafico, Alexis Mac Allister and Enzo Fernández are other names that could reappear in Scaloni’s eleven with respect to the previous duel.
It is the last test before giving the final list of 26 players. The coach will have to cut three players, something he will do after the match in the American capital. From Valentín Barco, Germán Pezzella, Leonardo Balerdi, Lucas Martínez Quarta, Valentín Carboni, Angel Correa and Guido Rodríguez, the trio will emerge that will not pass the final filter.
