Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni on the team, Copa America, young players

By
Roy Nemer
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Argentina national team coach Lionel Scaloni spoke about the team, the Copa America and the young players.

The Argentina national team played their second of two matches in March, a 3-1 win against Costa Rica on Tuesday and the coach spoke after the team. Lionel Scaloni commented on the two matches at a press conference. Here is what he had to say:

“We are satisfied with the tour, for how the matches went. In the end, it showed that there are no easy opponents. The second match served us a lot, I saw a mature team.”

Lionel Scaloni also spoke about the Copa America:

“Only Messi and Di María have their places guaranteed for the Copa America.”

Alejandro Garnacho started a match for the first time with Argentina and Walter Benítez and Valentín Carboni played their first match with Argentina. Here is what Scaloni had to say:

“Walter Benítez had a good game, the same for Garnacho and Carboni. It is not easy to play with this shirt.”

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61 Comments

  1. I think Arg still problems in L WING. So Nico gonzalez is a key plyr for Arg on left.Scaloni depending bcz he is an alround player .cutrently arg lacks tht kind of plyer in tht position

  2. JUST IN: Everything what is happening behind the scenes about Copa America 2024 list.

    16-17 players have guaranteed place.

    • Messi, Di María, Emi, Armani, Molina, Romero, Otamendi, Tagliafico, De Paul, Paredes, Lo Celso, Mac Allister, Enzo, Julián, Lautaro and Nico González. (And Lisandro Martínez too if he is healthy)

    – There are 6 places for 10 players .

    • One goalkeeper – Walter Benítez with an advantage.

    • Two defenders have to be chosen out of these 4 – Montiel, Pezzella, Acuña, Nehuen Perez

    • One midfielder from these three – Palacios with an advantage against Guido Rodriguez and Buonanotte

    • And one place in the attack – Paulo Dybala and Alejandro Garnacho. (Nico González looks to have an advantage over them) @hernanclaus @SergioMaffei

    • This looks plausible to me. Some of Montiel, Pezzella and Acuña will likely be called to play in Copa unless they are injured or never play. I would have loved to see Barco as Tagliafico’s back-up. I hope Perez has a decent chance because he can play in more than one position.

      Palacios better stay fit because otherwise it’s Guido or Buonanotte, and neither would add much.

      In attack, Nico Gonzalez over Dybala and Garnacho would likely frustrate most fans…

      Let’s start freaking out now haha, because we should not be surprised in June…

      • At the moment deffenetly prepare Barco over Acuna as any of Montiel & Pezzella are not good enough anymore as i would deffenetly also opt for Perez or LMQ as Foyth looks like never recovering in time and truly hope that won’t be the case with LICHA!🇦🇷as Garnacho should be selected and i would also TaKe Carboni too in terms of some young blood needed as i think other nations will bring more of mix younger &nolder players etc…, though ARG🇦🇷 does not need do as others, because the core has been set for quite some time, but some freshness might not be, that bad idea in the end+ Garnacho, Barco and Carboni look ready to at least come in as subs, but as expected most certainly there will be not that many changes and as GIO and Nico both missed the WC they would propably get called, though i wonder where is A.Correa as is he injured or why was he not called, because last time i saw him play UCL against Inter he was brilliant….

    • No need for a third GK.

      Question – if Garnacho/Bounanotte/Barco/Carboni can’t go to Copa, can they join Mascherano’s Olympic squad?

      • In theory yes but only IF their clubs release them which they don’t have to because it’s not a FIFA tournament and if Mascherano wants them and also keeping in mind the limit of players allowed. Not sure if it’s also 23.

  3. ETH seems to be a great coach for developing young talents , no wonder he did great job in Ajax. Garnacho is lucky to have someone like ETH as his coach. If it was any other coach there is no way he would trust Garnacho and make him a starter. Garnacho has grown a lot this season. Up until last year his first touch was poor or average but this season not only his first touch has improved he has started to take on defenders and has started to beat them into the box easily which Brazilian Antony fails most of the time. Garnacho’s positioning is also sublime like Enzo and gets into dangerous position multiple times in a match. He is only 19 and if he can even convert 40-50% of the chances he gets , he can easily score 20 goals and make 10-15 assist a season.

  4. Garnacho is raw and still not there yet but very exciting talent. If he can finish his chances he could be a winger more like Cannigia. I dont see anyone else I can compare him to our past players. Can you guys tell if there was anyone else. ? Is this breed rare in Albiceleste History? Can you name another? I think Garnacho will do better with Messi in the field. Maradona-Caniggia esque? If Garnacho gets better in finishing ofcourse.

    • These days we don’t have too many prolific wingers who are so direct. After Caniggia, I can think of Claudio el piojo Lopez, Kily Gonzalez and Maxi Rodriguez but maybe they were forwards capable of playing on the wing…not pure wingers per se. Ocampos in his promising, early days too I guess…

      • You are close Enganche. Maybe Ocampos could have. But never hapened. What a player Caniggia was. We dont see them anymore. I almost forgot about Claudio El piojo Lopez.

      • Perotti was more direct and triumphant on one on one cases. It was not strange to waste a potential like him especially in the last 02 decades, when the NT was struggling to maintain a stable coaching staff. Many talents who blossomed in Bielesa, Maradona, & during second tenure of Basile era were criminally underutilized.

        • Yeah, we did not see much of Perotti, good call but he had his great days at Roma.

          In terms of young talent, I also remembered our U20 winger Juan Gauto, formerly at Huracan and now at Basel.

          Also, Prestianni and Zeballos are maybe of that winger type, not sure….

      • Yes not that many names to include from the past as Kily and El Piojo + Maxi and Perotti, but even all were great or had their good days none came close CANI🇦🇷🙌

          • We had so many talented wingers but Caniggia was unique. Most direct and One of the fastest I ve seen. I really dont see anyone like him. Hopefully Garnacho can become a great winger for us. He has the speed. But also need to score goals and make assists.

      • @Enganche I can think of a couple other very good wingers. Di Maria, a great, speedy winger with far more skill than Garnacho. Also Messi not as fast but much quicker and very direct. Prior to Cannigia we has Daniel Bertoni who I thought was our best player in 1978.

  5. No one’s talking about that Nico gonzalez blunder of a miss near end of match. If that was done during a game that meant something and/or a score line that meant something then we would be asking for his crucifixion.
    I think everyone did well, I feel that young garnacho will be a great menace on the left side, he just needs to calm his nerves. Maybe more support for him on that side too.
    I liked how at the end paredes was playing in an ultra defensive role. He can play in many parts of the field and he’s a mean guy, plus we need help to balance this team especially defensively.

    • I expressed my concern about that here right after the match that he was too unprofessional and it will be a hit in football fun videos,
      Hence he proved again that he is not a starting material we have better youngsters than him now

    • Yes and spot on SorinXCrespO !

      as that was a really strange one from him just not to continue his run as he had allready beat the defender and Navas as well with good pace too, but completly stopped🙈 like it looked allmost as he did not want the ball go in😂, though i know that is not the case as he decided by his own that he is there alone and no one will TaKe that goal away from him so i call this kind play as selfish and very stupid ( sorry to say ) too specially when u are playing for LA SELECCION🇦🇷u just don’t play for headlines about great goal u scored as every goal counts and are more than important!

      Also him by thinking of headlines or what so ever does not benefit him at all as completly viceversus, though he did not expect for anyone to save that goal, but u can’t expect anything while the match is on and specially when u are on the field no matter against who and scoreline too and again specially when u are playing for ALBICELESTE🇦🇷LA SELECCION🇦🇷

      BTW surprise, surprise that it was FIDEO’s🫶🇦🇷🫶wicked free kick that got ARG a level again, though even i not saw the first half it was more than a clear watching the highlights, that they missed way too many chances, though credits to Navas as well ( not my favorite at all😂) so i was very happy to woke up just as the second half started🙌🇦🇷🙌and thanx also for the earlier reply about where the game was played and at what time ( local ) etc!

      Keep on posting and hopefully Pablo will wake up from his grave👍 to prevent in the future such a threat’s that had been made against FIDEO as very sad to hear about stories as theese and wish him and all his family all the best in life and safe future as wel🫶🇦🇷🫶

    • Already wrote about it below. Anyway, already some sites are reporting it as miss of the century. I assume he would have been more alert in a “non 3-1” scenario. The saving grace is that he did not start celebrating.

  6. Today MacAllister is the number one best Argentine midfielder without any dout.
    But once upon a time here….. i’m the one who defend MacAllister from very first day..
    El principe i hope u enjoy Mac nowadays 😊

    • Yes u are more than right about MACA as also i have to admit, that i never could had imagine how good will he end up as i think now that he will just get better from allready a world talent indeed as his form been truly amazing and he has beén also able to maintain that amazing form for a country🇦🇷 and club too….

      As at the moment ENZO’s form changes a bit like Pochettino’s way of play ( if he has that many🤔not fully sure about that ) or maybe it is just Pochettino’s constant bad luck, that keep’s on changing😂🤔but some how it kind of reflects to ENZO at the moment in way or another as i think ENZO will benefit more playing with different coach, but don’t know who will it be🤔

      As if MACA, ENZO and Palacios all would play for under Xabi Alonso, that would be great for the future of ARG🇦🇷, but obviouly that won’t happen at least for Enzo as i would not be surprised to see Xabi Alonso in LFC one day, maybe or allredy this summer if he wishes so…and if he does hopefully he would bring Palacios with him, though not sure if Palacios will be able to cope with physical side from EPL and for Enzo a quick Solution will be for Chelsea to get an Argentine Comrade to play with maybe someone a bit younger, but who could potenttialy make impact as Soule, Paz, Romero, Carboni, though i think for all of theese names Serie A and La Liga are way better platforms to develop and mature their skills to the real top level, hopefully so🇦🇷🙏🇦🇷

  7. Otamendi’s loss of pace and decsion making was the biggest concern of last night’s match. Yes, he might be able to get the job done against most of the opponents but not against Brazil or Uruguay in COPA. He again tried the stupid tackle that lead to last sec attempt on goal in the Final agasint France yesterday. He is always known for making one head-scrather blunder every match but now with significant loss of pace, he is just a liability against big teams.

    Another thing to work on is the overlaps, Garnacho was making good runs into the box but nobody made any overlaps. Garnacho is still far from a good finisher and needs a lot of work to improve in the final third and he is getting better every day but right now his strenth his pace and positioning and if you are not making those overlaps runs then he wont’ be much useful. I am suprised , even Julian Alvarez who makes a great overlap runs in City didn’t connect much with Garnacho.

    Enzo’s shooting is degrading and degrading fast! He was a good finisher before he moved to Chelsea and now he can’t even hit the target. His shots are always either high , wide or too soft and straight to the keeper! Its better MacAllister plays closer to the goal, Enzo should be playing deeper.

    • Otamendi is responsible for 4/5 of the last goals we have given up:

      1. Costa Rica
      2. Uruguay
      3. Uruguay
      4. France
      5. France

      Only not to be blamed for the last French goal.

      He is by far our biggest weakness. Scaloni needs to fix this ASAP.

  8. Lautaro breaking his goalless curse was a big positive. It was crazy spell of 20 games across 1.5years where he didnt have a NT goal (outside the Netherlands penalty kick). Even more crazy was the fact that he is doing brilliantly at club. The other positive for me was Garnacho making a strong case for a pacy wide sub who can take on tiring defenders.
    The one miss was Scaloni not giving time for one of our younger CBs. Transition plan for Otamendi does not seem a priority & this player loyalty can hurt us in Copa.

    • Yes, Lautaro scoring was the best thing in the match.

      Top performers
      . Di Maria – doesn’t dribble as much but still excellent
      . Romero – this guy is so consistent
      . RDP

      Weak performers
      . Otamendi – we need to replace him ASAP.
      . Julian – never did anything good with the ball, fluffed his chances. I think he’s been confused with Pep constantly moving him about and is lacking confidence.
      . Benitez – should have done better on the initial stop in the goal and poor distribution.

      Rest of the team was kind of average.

    • YA i wish to see him as CF actually in one match bcz of his pace everyone wants him to play wide wide hence its effecting his shooting and finishing touch unlike dimarria and messi he lacks that slow dribble skills inside the opposition box to cut in

  9. 1. Lisandro Martinez is irreplaceable for Copa, because Otamendi is too slow and sloppy. Although he is short, we won’t face too many tall strikers in Copa. I hope he stays fit at Man Utd for this remaining season.

    2. Lo Shitso and Nico Goaless are frauds. I would even select Thiago Almada over these two clowns.

    • You Blind fool. Don’t you ever disrespect Lo Celso again. He is practically our creative outlet who had a goal last game, had an involvement that led to Enzo scoring and had a nice shot the goalie saved against Costa Rica.

  10. ❗️Spain wanted to have a friendly match against Argentina in March, but the AFA asked for an unacceptable amount of money, so they decided to go for another opponent (Brazil). @el_pais 🇪🇸🇦🇷

  11. Why Nicolas valentini is not playing in Europe? He has all potential to play there. I watched so many videos. He is tremendous. He can be a replacement for Otamendi when he will retire.

    • Inter, Lazio and Girona in Spain were linked to him in the past. I think there’s a decent chance he might move in the summer, Serie A looks likely. He probably also holds Italian/EU passport too…

  12. I don’t think Carboni will be included in the copa 23 but he impressed me more in his shorter cameo than Buonanotte who as I noted earlier does not seem anything special at this point.

    Otamendi’s lack of pace will be a problem against teams that counter quick against us. However, I don’t see any signs that Scaloni is going to drop him. Evidently for our coaching staff, his pros outweigh his cons.

    Our midfield has a lot of depth but I am not sure Mac Allister as the DM is the best use of his skills and talent. We seem more balanced when Paredes was controlling the tempo, dropping deep between the CBs at times and coming up at too, a true regista. I am almost tempted to go with Paredes, Mac Allister, De Paul midfield, but dropping Enzo would be too harsh. A good problem to have I suppose.

    Lo Celso played the last two games with a chip on his shoulder it seems, like he’s trying too hard. Perhaps he realizes that because he is not starting for Spurs and gets injured so often, and because other midfielders are so good, his place for Copa is not guaranteed. Still, Scaloni seems to like him and gives him chances.

    Garnacho did reasonably well, he needs more opps to start.

    • Nehuen Perez played brilliantly in first match. I think Scaloni will include him. Among new players Garnacho and Perez will be selected for Copa.

      • In the absence of RB options, I think Perez has the best chance of all the new players to make it to the final 23 for Copa. He’s a new Foyth type, a utility defender but better…

    • I don’t rule out either Carboni going to copa for two things one Dybala been injured as always second scaloni may opted to take nico gonzalez as left back back up option and leaves acuna out which will open extra spot for forward player . I attend to agree with you about otamendi I don’t see scaloni and co dropping him for one reason only which is aerial dual but at this point I will take pezzella over otamendi

      I also agree with you about paredes
      It’s seems to me our midfielder clicks when paredes controlling the tempo of the game .

    • I agree with you regarding midfield. Scaloni wants Mac Allister, Enzo, and RDP all on the pitch so one of them has to pay as #5. Mac Allister is best suited for that role even if it’s not his best position. I thought he did fine there with a lot of smart tactical fouls. He wasn’t at fault for any of Costa Rica’s attacks. But it is kind of a waste of his talents.

  13. My 23 players for Copa.
    Emi Martinez, benitez, armani
    Molina, montiel, Romero, otamendi, licha, taglafico,acuna
    DePaul, Enzo, MacAllister, locelso, Parades,palacious
    Messi, dimaria, lautaro, Alvarez, dybala, garnacho, nico Gonzalez.

      • Nehuen perez will be there. Mark my word because he can play both RB and CB. Previously scaloni tried LMQ. Scaloni is searching for a CB who can fit in RB.

          • Foyth is taking forever to recover from injury, who knows if Scaloni would still consider him. LMQ impressed me as a makeshift RB a bit more than Perez in the same role, although Perez did OK there too. I feel like, of all 3, Perez is a much better central defender though and the tallest of them too…

    • I’m going to predict that Lisandro Martinez and Dybala won’t make the team. I would really like to see Nico Gonzalez dropped. I don’t think Lisandro has enough time to recover and getting picked regularly for United to be considered. Dybala is always injured and even when he’s not Scaloni barely gives him game time so why pick him? I guess the only other reason to pick him is to possibly give him a chance to win a Copa since he missed out on the first one.

      • Hopefully your prediction about Licha will not happen for ARG🇦🇷🙏🇦🇷though i clearly understand the point as less than 100 days is not that much, but let say if he will be 80-90% i think Scaloni will pick him, but not sure if that will be an good decission or not as isille completly leave that one for Scaloni & Co etc. And therefore would had been good try another CB a younger (as i’m not a fan of Pezzella for mainly due to his pace ) one in theese friendlies as specially against El Salvador and why not even against Costa Rica too, but obviously that is very easy from me to say now😂

    • I agree with Enganche. Scaloni hasn’t been fair with LMQ. He deserves a place in this Copa ahead of Perez. If Lisandro isn’t fit and good to go then LMQ should definitely be given a chance.

    • Dybala, Montiel, Acuna might be dropped due to fitness or performance issue. Selecting Armani and Pezella will be complete wastage of valuable spots. New Players I would prefer to be considered are Valentin barco, Valentini, Nuheun Perez, Alan Varela and Carboni.

    • Nico proved that he is an overconfident fool. He should have chased the ball till it crossed the goal line. There is no point in making a face with OMG written all over it after the defender cleared from the goal line. He looked very silly at that moment.

      • Yes really strange from him just not continue his run as he beat the defender and Navas as well with good pace too, but completly stopped🙈 like it looked allmost as he did not want the ball go in😂, though i know that is not the case as he decided by his own that he is there alone and no one will TaKe that goal away from him so i call this kind play as selfish specially when u are playing for LA SELECCION🇦🇷

      • 😂😂 I couldn’t believe that shit myself. All he had to do was follow the ball and smash it in. He wasn’t even aware that a defender was close to him. Smh.

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