With Scaloni suspended, who will be the coach of the National Team against Peru? :: Olé

Lionel Scaloni was suspended by Conmebol and will not be able to play in the match this Saturday at 9pm between the National Team and Peru, in the final date of Group A of the Copa América. Faced with this situation, the coach will be replaced by one of his assistants: Pablo Aimar, Waltar Samuel or Roberto Ayala.

The world champion coach in Qatar 2022 was sanctioned because The team entered the field late in the matches against Canada and Chile. He will have to watch the game from a box at Hard Rock Stadium and will not be able to speak at a press conference, either before or after the game.

Throughout Scaloni’s entire cycle as coach of the National Team, Only once could he not be on the substitutes’ bench. It was in January 2022, in the framework of the Qualifiers for Qatar, in an away match against Chile in Calama. On that occasion, the Pujato-born player could not travel to the neighboring country with the Albiceleste delegation because had tested positive for covid in a PCR test, like Pablo Aimar.

Scaloni’s replacement in the aforementioned match against Chile was Walter Samuel. Although Ayala and Diego Placente were also sitting on the bench, the person in charge of standing up to give instructions was the former Boca defender, who also appeared at the press conference after the match.

And everything indicates that, on Saturday against Peru, Samuel will once again be designated as head coach: for now, He was chosen to speak at the pre-match conference this Fridaytogether with German Pezzella.

Curiously, Lionel Messi was also not in the game against Chile in 2022. The captain of the National Team had just suffered a fairly bad case of covid and Scaloni decided not to call him up (the National Team had already qualified for the World Cup) so that he could finish recovering. This Saturday the 10th he will be absent again, although this time the reason is different: he ended up injured against Chile and it will be to preserve him physically, thinking about the quarterfinals.

Despite not having Messi (the number 10 went to Ángel Correa) and Scaloni, the National Team won that match against Chile. It was a 2-1 victory for Argentina, with goals from Ángel Di María and Lautaro Martínez. One more example of character that this Selection has accustomed us to.