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“For the next match, the fair thing, and I think it will be, is that the boys who have not played these two matches play, because I need to see them and they deserve it“, Lionel Scaloni said in the press conference after the agonizing victory against Chile, in the duel corresponding to the second date of group A of the Copa América. Lautaro Martínez’s 1-0 in the 88th minute marked the second victory for the Argentine team and, in addition, qualified for the quarterfinals of the competition. The third match in the group zone will be against Peru this Saturday June 29 in it Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. The conditions of this duel allow the coach to think about an alternative formation, a rotation, the inclusion of players who need to play and the exclusion of those who need to rest.
The possibility that Lionel Messi repeating ownership in the last group game is meager. The guaranteed qualification, the discomfort he has in his adductor and the coach’s willingness to give minutes to those who have not yet had action in the tournament make up a solid argument to justify the absence of the Rosario star in a headquarters that will regret its absence: Argentina will play in the city that beats to the rhythm of Messi and his current club, Inter Miami.
The alarm had gone off in the first half, when the best player in the world showed signs of pain in his right adductor and when he took advantage of a stoppage in the game to require medical assistance after an infringement by Gabriel Suazo in the middle of the field. Messi finished the match and that represented a sign of tranquility. “I didn’t speak with Leo after the game. He ended up playing. He did the race with Ángel (Di María) and Lautaro (Martínez) for 50 meters and it is the last image I have. I can’t say more because I didn’t see them,” Scaloni said at a press conference.
The coaching staff, for its part, has already made the decision to preserve him so as not to rush his rehabilitation and for him to be physically ready for the quarterfinal match, which will be played on Thursday, July 4 in Houston if the National Team finishes. the first phase of the tournament in the first position of their group. If she finishes second, she will do so on Friday the 5th in Arlington, Texas. Thus, Messi will have nine or ten days for your right adductor discomfort to disappear.
Scaloni thinks of a formation without the 10 and with several changes. The arc is an uncertainty: the chance that Draw Martinez leave ownership are, in any case, scarce. The goalkeeper from Mar del Plata has a goal. “I keep setting goals. I want to play a hundred games in the National Team and have the greatest undefeated fence in history,” he said at the beginning of 2024 in TyC Sports. For now it adds up 30 undefeated hurdles in 41 games in the Albicelestefar from the 47 clean sheets he achieved Tiny Romero in 96 presentations with Argentina, although with a much higher average. However, it is still not clear if he will finally give up his place under the three sticks to add minutes. Geronimo Rulliwhen it already seems clear that Franco Armani He is considered the third goalkeeper.
There will be changes in defense. Christian Romero and Lisandro Martínez They played the 180 minutes of the cup at a very high level. Both would have rest: Otamendi would return to the title as the second central marker and his partner will emerge from the fight between two former River players: Germán Pezzella and Lucas Martínez Quarta. In relation to the sides, Scaloni repeated a method in the first two duels: exhausting the modifications near the end of the game with a double change of the wings. Against Canada, Gonzalo Montiel and Nicolás Tagliafico entered in the 88th minute to replace Nahuel Molina and Marcos Acuña, respectively. Against Chile, Montiel and Acuña entered in the 82nd minute for Molina and Tagliafico. Against Peru, the chances grow that Montiel will start and Acuña will return to his left side.
In the middle of the field, another renovation. Exequiel Palaciosfootballer for Bayer Leverkusen, a sensation team in Europe, could add his first minutes in the tournament to replace Rodrigo De Paul. Leandro Paredes, for his part, would return to the starting lineup to play in the central axis after having played against Canada and rested against Chile. The third factor of the midfield involves a struggle between Giovanni Lo Celso and Enzo Fernándezwho played the two matches of the tournament without influencing the development of the game.
And in attack, surprises. The inclusion of the tournament’s top scorer, Lautaro Martínez, to the detriment of Julián Álvarez, is almost a certainty, and that Alejandro Garnacho would debut in the Copa América. The doubt on offense is on the right of the attack: Scaloni thinks about whether to respect the ownership and captaincy of Angel Di Maria or if you prefer to film Valentin Carbonithe youngest footballer on the team – at 19 years and two months he is the fifth youngest in the Cup – and a bet from the coach.
The lineup of the Argentine team will be defined in the next training sessions. “We are satisfied because now we will be able to enjoy a few days and make the boys who also deserve it play,” the coach revealed after the 1-0 against Chile.
For now they are seven footballers who did not have action in this Copa América: the goalkeepers Armani and Rulli, the defender Pezzella, the midfielders Palacios and Guido Rodríguez, and the attackers Garnacho and Carboni. In the 2022 Qatar World Cup, Scaloni boasts of having used all the field players: the only ones who did not participate in a game were the substitute goalkeepers, Armani and Rulli.
