Pablo Maffeo spoke about being called up to the Argentina national team.
Maffeo is born in Spain to an Argentine mother and has been called up to the Argentina national team for the November World Cup qualifying matches. Lionel Scaloni has included the 26 year old left back for the two games. Speaking with his club Mallorca, here is what Maffeo had to say:
“Today, it’s the best national team in the world, it’s pure excitement.
“I got to the car and it was all happiness. The first thing I did was call my mother, obviously. She didn’t believe it at first. She thought I was playing one of my jokes on her.
In regards to when Scaloni called him:
“He asked me and obviously I told him yes, that I would be proud of it. And for my family.”
About sharing a locker room with Lionel Messi:
“I think it’s unimaginable. To be able to share trainings, a locker room, a training camp with the best football player in history is great.
Regarding the two matches being at the Bombonera and the Maracaná:
“They are two top stadiums in the world. Emblems. And to be able to go there, obviously it gives you goosebumps, surely.”
De Paul on his way to Juve in January. He can kick start his career back and hopefully his best version will be in 2026.
Speaking of Maffeo, Barcelona are tracking him.
Gianluca Prestianni will move to MLS in January.
You have just ruined it by mentioning about prestianni. I thought he had agreement with Benfica. Wtf is going on?
MLS? He is already a Benfica player
In Scaloni’s team only Messi is an automatic selection, everyone else has to earn their place. After he took over the team in 2018, he had Dimaria out of the team for a very long time. And now he has dropped G.Simeone, A.Correa and Garnacho! They are not in form and are struggling to get into starting xi. Next one to be dropped is Montiel, he had one good performance for Forest but now he is out of their bench too after his injury. I am glad that he also sees that both Acuna and Tagliafico will be in their late 30s next world cup, Acuna and Tagliafico are almost of equal age and having two 36 years old in 2026, means we will be vulnerable to teams that play fast attacking futbal. The selection of two new fullbacks makes total sense!
Regarding Armani, he is not going to start any match for us. He might go to COPA 2024 as a 3rd keeper but he will not play. As long as Emi is around nobody is playing over him, yes it is good to have a proper backup but we already have Musso , Rulli and Benitez! I am also glad that he picked Dybala. He will be more than useful if he is able to stay fit during the next COPA. Lo-celso also looked quite good yesterday against Wolves and he is our most creative midfielder. Our Midfield is quite stacked and only player that might get the boot is Paredes, but he made a smart move to Roma and is starting every match. I am really looking forward to seeing how our defense holds up against Brazil and Uruguay.
That is just objectively incorrect. Many players are automatic selections, even when they do not deserve it. Paredes, Nico Gonzalez, Armani, Pezzella and others all have been repeatedly selected ahead of more deserving players both in squad and in playing XI in Scaloni era, even when they were out of form or warming the bench in their clubs.
I agree with you except case of Nico Gonzalez. He deserves to be selected.
At this point, yes. He has proven himself in Fiorentina.
But that was far from the case during Copa America. He failed continuously but continued to be selected.
Some good points made in the comments below. Why select unfit players or some that haven’t played much this season (e.g. Lo Celso) and ignore talents that are doing very well at the moment?
Garnacho has lost momentum. Why call him and not Soule?
Because form is temporary, class is permanent. Lo Celso, Dybala, etc are integral parts of the NT. Unless they break their legs, they will be summoned to the NT until the Copa.
Is anyone watch r. Madrid last night? How was nico paz?
He only played 10 minutes…he was good earlier in a CL game…emerging talent for sure
Some have been suggesting not so long ago that Scaloni should call Benjamin Cremaschi, lol….with so much talent in midfield already…
I think Scaloni is focussing more in COPA 24.. His current selection of players hints us a prepartion of best unit before COPa..
Some of y’all need to chill about Scaloni criticism. A decent case can be made for most players that have been called up (except Armani), even for Pezzella, let alone Acuna and Montiel. Scaloni has earned our trust as far as I am concerned, winning both Copa and World Cup, we have to give him a benefit of a doubt for a while. Besides, Scaloni has called up more youngsters and promising players that any other coach prior to him. When the time is right he will call some. We have two important games coming up against strong rivals, Uruguay and Brazil, no time to experiment. You need team chemistry and cohesion more than anything.
Agreed about the need to chill out a but i dont think it’s unreasonable to question. The games are important but the players that everyone’s up in arms about kinda fall outside the “no time to experiment” problem since they aren’t starters or even 1st subs. No need for 4th keeper. 1 keeper -> Garnacho, Ocampos -> Soule. i only see upside including those 2 including any impact to chem and cohesion.
That’s a fair point and that’s why the only semi-major problem I have is the continued presence of Armani. Possible explanation is that Benitez is too good to omit, Musso same, so both get in either way but Armani is a token rep of the local league, at least one player gets represented. Hence you end up with 4 goalies.
As for the wingers, perhaps Scaloni felt safer with Ocampos and Nico Gonzalez whom he knows well and who have been in good form lately, plus Di Maria and Dybala are back. Soule has been excellent but Garnacho and his whole team somewhat stagnant. I am pretty sure both youngster are firmly on the radar of the coaching staff though and will likely be called up in the new year.
Bro, you have made fair points , probably that comes to my mind that those two matchs are against special rivals winning against them will particularly make Argentina qualified for 2026 World cub but still it’s beyond me why we need 4 goalkeepers and six full backs knowing that both montiel and Acuna not fully fit and probably won’t feature those matches plus why not medina place of pezzella Who isn’t fully fit either, having said that I have no doubt scaloni will integrate some youth players from 2024 onwards
Perhaps they need 4 GKs for the training sessions to be efficient when testing different formations in smaller groups. In that case, 3 GKs would not be optimal.
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