The coach of the Argentine National Team, Lionel Scaloni, already has in Caracas the majority of the squad he cited for the triple round of the Qualifiers heading to the Qatar 2022 World Cup. From the team’s social networks, the AFA confirmed that the charter flight from from Madrid with 25 players who act in Europe have already arrived in the Venezuelan capital, waiting for Lionel Messi, Leandro Paredes and Ángel Di María to do so later or tomorrow, who played on Sunday night for Paris Saint Germain.
Unlike what happens with most of the selectors for this occasion, Scaloni will be able to count on all the players he nominated, given the commitment shown by the players, who traveled despite the fact that the Premier League, the Spanish League and the Italian Serie A spoke out against giving up those selected for the triple round of Qualifying. However, based on a ruling of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and with the endorsement of FIFA, the champions of America decided to travel the same, although it will be necessary to see if they finally play all the games or they return to Europe earlier to avoid conflicts with their clubs.
In that sense, a statement from Aston Villa, the club where Emiliano Martínez and Emiliano Buendía are active, generated controversy since the Premier League team assured that the two footballers agreed to play against Venezuela and Brazil and return to England without playing against Bolivia, pear from AFA denied that information.
The English entity said through a statement published on its website that it is waiting for the two players after Sunday’s match against Brazil. “Aston Villa confirms that Emiliano Martínez and Emiliano Buendía traveled to join the Argentine National Team with the club’s permission in accordance with FIFA’s international match calling rules,” the club explained. “Both players agreed to be available for the first two matches against Venezuela and Brazil, but they will not participate in the third international match against Bolivia.” added the brief. In this way, both players could comply with the mandatory quarantine required by the British Government to return to the country and they would only miss one game, the following weekend against Chelsea.
Nevertheless, from the Argentine Football Association they denied the version of the English club and they assured TyC Sports that no footballer will return before time by an agreement with their respective club, and that all will be available for the three games. It will be necessary to see how the situation decays and if finally the players stay for the three games. Likewise, regardless of the outcome of the novel, The attitude of the AFA and the Argentine footballers is very different from that of several of their rivals, who chose not to conflict with their clubs and will not play for their national teams in these three days.
For instance, Brazil will dispense with all those mentioned by coach Tité who play in the Premier: Alisson, Ederson, Thiago Silva, Fabinho, Fred, Raphinha, Gabriel Jesus, Richarlison and Firmino, who were also injured at Liverpool-Chelsea. For that reason, the coach urgently called nine players who were not originally cited: Everson, Santos, Miranda, Edenilson, Gerson, Hulk, Malcom, Vinicius Jr and Matheus Nunes.
Uruguay, meanwhile, left Manchester United striker Edinson Cavani off the list on Sunday night Through a statement published by the Uruguayan Association, and it will not count on Luis Suárez, to whom an injury in Atlético de Madrid’s draw against Villarreal saved him from the obligation to decide between his club and the celestial team.
Scaloni was in Venezuela along with River footballers Franco Armani and Julián Álvarez waiting for the charter from Madrid with 25 of the 30 summoned. He already has them and now only Messi, Di María and Paredes remain.
The national team will visit Venezuela next Thursday at the Olympic Stadium of the UCV in the city of Caracas at 9:00 p.m., while Sunday, September 5 will play at the Cicero Pompeu Stadium in Toledo in the city of San Pablo in front of to Brazil for the sixth day and on Thursday 9 he will receive Bolivia at the Monumental stadium for the tenth date.
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