Argentina vs. Venezuela in World Cup qualifier, possible eleven, kick off times

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Argentina play against Venezuela in the World Cup qualifiers at La Bombonera with Lionel Messi set to start.

Lionel Messi returns to La Bombonera, the home of Boca Juniors as Argentina play their final home match of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers. Messi is set to start with Alexis Mac Allister of Brighton also in the rumored eleven.

Coach Lionel Scaloni will be without four players who are suspended. Those four being Emiliano “Dibu” Martínez, Cristian Romero, Emiliano Buendía and Gio Lo Celso. All four are suspended for this match and the next qualifier against Ecuador for having broken Brazilian COVID protocols.

Scaloni has already stated that Franco Armani will be the goalkeeper for the match. With no Lisandro Martínez who is injured, Germán Pezzella is rumored to start alongside Nicolás Otamendi. Marcos Acuña injured means Nicolás Tagliafico starts and Gonzalo Montiel is suspended for this match as Molina gets the start.

Leandro Paredes and Rodrigo De Paul keep their places in midfield and with the suspended Lo Celso unable to play, rumors out of Argentina have Alexis Mac Allister starting. Up front, Ángel Di María is unfit and Lautaro Martínez tested positive for COVID, with rumors stating that Nicolás González and Joaquín Correa will start alongside Lionel Messi. Here is the rumored eleven:

Armani; Molina, Pezzella, Otamendi, Tagliafico; De Paul, Paredes, Alexis Mac Allister; Messi, Joaquín Correa and Nicolás González

Here are the players who are available for the World Cup qualifier:

Goalkeepers:
Franco Armani (River Plate)
Juan Musso (Atalanta)
Geronimo Rulli (Villarreal)

Defenders:
Juan Foyth (Villarreal)
Nahuel Molina (Udinese)
Germán Pezzella (Real Betis)
Lucas Martínez Quarta (Fiorentina)
Nicolás Otamendi (Benfica)
Nicolás Tagliafico (Ajax)

Midfielders:
Franco Carboni (Inter)
Leandro Paredes (Paris Saint-Germain)
Guido Rodríguez (Real Betis)
Rodrigo De Paul (Atletico Madrid)
Exequiel Palacios (Bayer Leverkusen)
Luka Romero (Lazio)
Alexis Mac Allister (Brighton)
Valentin Carboni (Inter)
Alejandro Garnacho (Manchester United)
Nicolás Paz (Real Madrid)
Tiago Geralnik (Villarreal)
Manuel Lanzini (West Ham United)

Forwards:
Ángel Correa (Atletico Madrid)
Matias Soulé (Juventus)
Lucas Ocampos (Sevilla)
Nicolás González (Fiorentina)
Joaquin Correa (Inter)
Lionel Messi (Paris Saint-Germain)
Lucas Boyé (Elche)
Julián Álvarez (River Plate)

Unavailable:
Emiliano “Dibu” Martínez (Aston Villa) – Suspended
Emiliano Buendía (Aston Villa) – Suspended
Cristian “Cuti” Romero (Tottenham Hotspur) – Suspended
Gio Lo Celso (Villarreal) – Suspended
Lisandro Martínez (Ajax) – Injured
Gonzalo Montiel (Sevilla) – Suspended
Marcos Acuña (Sevilla) – Injured
Alejandro Papu Gómez (Sevilla) – Injured
Lautaro Martínez (Inter) – COVID
Ángel Di Maria (Paris Saint-Germain) – Injured, not expected to start

As we reported, some of the younger players on the team have a chance to make the bench for the match. Alejandro Garnacho of Manchester United has a chance to make the bench. Here are the kick off times:

23 Comments

  1. i believe Venezuela is far better team than North macedonia. Portugal will qualify. they will enter pitch more suspicious after what happened with Italy.

    anyway. today finally we will see our beloved team play again. i miss it so much.

  2. Except Armani, everything is well & good!
    Anyway..VAMOS! Can’t wait to see our beloved team to play after many days….
    But no live telecast in Bangladesh may b..🙄🙄
    ❤🇦🇷🇧🇩💪

  3. Cannot wait for the final eleven!

    Also it is true teams like ours cannot wait for opponents to open up.. many weaker teams never do.. like North Macedonia….Best we can do is get the ball into the box as much as possible and hope to connect..or get a penalty because weaker teams also have technical issues in defense and can make mistakes. Only problem is we don’t have forwards that are also good in the air..we basically pass the ball into the net most of the time..while it is beautiful to watch it is also ineffective against teams that park the bus and pray….we need to practice converting high-crosses.

    Vamos Argentina!

  4. The game Italy vs Macedonia is scary. It shows that a small, much weaker team still has a chance to beat a giant country by parking the bus and hope for some luck. It can happen against anyone. Argentina have to be careful in the World Cup when facing a very discipline European team. If we can’t score early against them, then it is dangerous.

    • North Macedonia has become one of my favorite teams. They qualified for the Euros against all odds and also beat Germany this year. It is pretty insane how Italy have fallen out, especially considering they were the Euros winners

    • That is nothing new to Argentina. We always had this amazing attack and would get 20 + shots on net and have 60% + possession yet win 1-0, tie or lose to 1 counter attack. Teams can’t play like that against us anymore because now we are the team that are compact and hit them on the counter attack. Scaloni started building us from the back and it shows with how the team plays, We don’t get scored on too easily, We have been compact and now the attacking chemistry has started to show. If we score first which we usually do we force the other team to open up and put pressure on us and when they do we nail them on the counter with goal number 2.

    • I have a free link I discovered that I always use for national team matches. Not sure if it is what you are referring to but I can post it before the match. The only catch is I don’t know if it works on computers, I use it on my Ipad or Iphone and it works brilliantly. I connect it to the TV with an adapter through HDMI. It is also in Spanish. I hope it works for some people though, maybe just on mobile devices. Otherwise it is so expensive to get SA qualifiers where I live in the US. I am sure other members here know what I mean

  5. News coming out…Chimy Avila… applied to play for Spain…!
    I wished, he would play for Argentina…but we have more than enough strikers..so we can afford this lose.

  6. There are few things to understand, as we are getting ready for the world cup

    1. Superstars don’t win tournaments anymore. Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar, Mbappe, Kane whoever you consider a major differentiating player. They can have a moment of magic or even one game, but not 7 games in a month. Teams do. I think Scaloni have done well here. We have a team.

    2. The reason team success is mainly because of two factors – tactics powered by data and unbelieveable physical fitness. Teams can close down spaces on players like Messi etc. for 5 hours, forget 90 mins. Teams are physically strong, supremely fit with great stamina and agility. Not great here. This is where I have issues with Armani. He is just not in a physical condition to play games at this level.

    3. Luck. You need luck to win a tournament. Scaloni can company have had some share of fortune. Not saying ref decisions etc. or any other unfair advantage. But you can agree Otamendi could have got a red card in the copa final.

    4. Scoring goals. We don’t score a lot. 1-0 is a risky plan. That too scoring in first 15-20 mins and then holding for 70-80 mins won’t happen always. We don’t have too many players who are top or prolific goal scorers, other than Messi and Lautaro. Scaloni have not done very well here.

    5. Overll we have a good team and structure. Depending on various factors, our run could be good or bad. Some of these factors are in our hands.

    • 4. I believe Scaloni did not use his potential in scoring goals. Just remember Germany game..when it matters, he changed the formation and we scored 2 to make a comeback from 2-0. So he can do that. May be it won’t work always..but he has plan. He has offensive and defensive plan…but play a balanced style most of the time.

    • Agreed with your points. I would just add that this Argentina team like no other in my memory is very strong in terms of team spirit, chemistry even brotherhood. I think the continuity across generation that is there helps a lot as well: Scaloni, Samuel, Ayala, Aimar and now Kun with Masherano at U20 level plus the current roster of players in addition to promising youth. They all crave being together, the unity is unprecedented. I think this is a tremendous factor.

  7. Tq Roy Nemer because you also mention my country Malaysia kick off time..i’m Argentina fans since 2002..although i’m not frequent comment here but i always follow n read others comments especially i’m awaiting comments from Argentina born fans such Gonzalo..Cox..Olive..

    • you became Argentina fan 2002 in the period of biggest humiliation in our football history.
      well you earn my respect that s for sure.
      happy you be here with us in Albiceleste family.
      welcome.

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