With the surprising absence of Guido Rodríguez, who tested positive for coronavirus and did not get on the plane in Madrid, the technical director of the Argentine national team, Lionel Scaloni, had all the players summoned to start yesterday the preparation for the matches against Chile and Colombia for the Qualifiers South American for the World Cup in Qatar 2022.
The group of soccer players who play in Europe arrived at the AFA venue around 2:00 p.m. after landing in the VIP sector of the Ministro Pistarini airport aboard the charter that left from Spain. Rodríguez, a Real Betis player, tested positive in the test prior to boarding the plane, so he did not travel, according to what was reported by the AFA.
Previously, goalkeeper Esteban Andrada and midfielder Maximiliano Meza, both from Mexico, were the first who joined the concentration in Ezeiza. The Rayados de Monterrey soccer players arrived in the morning from Mexico and after the immigration procedures they went to the AFA site. Then it was the turn of the River footballers, Franco Armani and Julián Álvarez, the only representatives of the local medial in the summoned list.
With the forced absence of Guido Rodríguez and the consensual absence of captain Lionel Messi, who stayed in Paris to continue his set-up after recovering from coronavirus and doing good work with the French club, the coaching staff already has the full squad available with a view to the matches against Chile, on January 27 in Calama, and Colombia, on February 1 in Córdoba. It will be necessary to see if in the next few hours there is any new summons to fill the vacancy left by the former River and Defense and Justice midfielder, who had just scored a goal in Friday’s triumph of the surprising Betis (third in the Spanish LaLiga) over Espanyol, 4-1.
After the evening rest, the team’s first practice began at 6:00 p.m., with work in the gym and subsequent activity on the playing field, behind closed doors. The same routine will be repeated this Tuesday, while on Wednesday there will be a morning training session with the first 15 minutes open to the press. After practice, Scaloni will speak in a press videoconference and after 6:00 p.m. the flight will leave for Chile.
The albiceleste delegation will arrive in Chile around 8:45 p.m. and, for the moment, it does not plan to carry out a reconnaissance of the playing field of the Zorros del Desierto stadium, usually used by Cobreloa.
The 26 summoned by Scaloni
The Argentine squad for the double date of the Qualifiers will be composed as follows:
* Archers: Emiliano Martínez (Aston Villa), Juan Musso (Atalanta), Franco Armani (River) and Esteban Andrada (Monterrey).
* Defenders: Nahuel Molina (Udinese), Gonzalo Montiel (Seville), Lucas Martínez Quarta (Fiorentina), Germán Pezzella (Betis), Nicolás Otamendi (Benfica), Lisandro Martínez (Ajax), Nicolás Tagliafico (Ajax) and Marcos Acuña (Seville).
* Midfielders: Nicolás González (Fiorentina), Lucas Ocampos (Sevilla), Leandro Paredes (PSG), Rodrigo De Paul (Atlético de Madrid), Giovani Lo Celso (Tottenham), Alejandro Gómez (Sevilla), Alexis Mac Allister (Brighton and Hove), Maxi Meza (Monterrey) and Emiliano Buendía (Aston Villa).
* Forwards: Ángel Di María (PSG), Ángel Correa (Atlético de Madrid), Lautaro Martínez (Inter), Paulo Dybala (Juventus) and Julián Álvarez (River).
.
