Argentina national team coach Lionel Scaloni has included 12 players from the local league in the preliminary list of 55 players for the World Cup.
Lionel Scaloni has announced his preliminary list of 55 players for the World Cup and that includes 12 players that play in Argentina, four of them are World Cup champions. Scaloni has included Facundo Cambeses and Gabriel Rojas of Racing.
Six River Plate players are included as Santiago Beltrán, Gonzalo Montiel, Lucas Martínez Quarta, Germán Pezzella, Marcos Acuña and Aníbal Moreno are part of the team. From Boca Juniors, Lautaro Di Lollo, Leandro Paredes, Milton Delgado and Tomás Aranda are in the preliminary team.
Should scaloni proceed and select likes of pezella, Guido Rodriguez, Martinez Quarta and Acuna I will simply give up.
More than half of the list of 55 will be cut. Scaloni already has the team in mind. Two players for every position and 3 goalkeepers.
GK – Dibu / Musso / Rulli
RB – Molina / Montiel
CB – Licha / Balerdi
CB – Romero / Otamendi
LB – Tagliafico / Medina
RB – De Paul / Simeone
DM – Mac Allister / Paredes
AM – Enzo / Palacios
LM – Gonzalez / Barco
AT – Messi / Paz
AT – Alvarez / Lautaro
That is 23 players if everybody is fit and healthy.
3 spots left.
I guess an extra defender and attacker, Senesi and Lopez.
One place left. Wild guess, the surprise in the squad: Tomas Aranda. More likely given his current form: Buendia.
This is largely correct, but I would clarify a few things:
DM – Enzo, Paredes. Also, Perrone is a strong candidate as the third DM or pivot. I think he has a very good chance.
Mac Allister, De Paul and Palacios will be used as central box-to-box midfielders.
Nico Paz, will be used either as an attacking 8/10 hybrid or RWF.
Almada is not on your list, but I think because he already started for us in a few games as a LWF, he is definitely going to the World Cup.
I think the wild card player slot is between Soule, Mastantuono or Buendia, but only if there are spots left. Between Barco, Perrone and Lopez, if all 3 are included, there might not be any more left
Enzo’s offensive game is too good to be a defensive mid. He will be pushing forward along with MacAllister as both are quite good finishers and create many chances. They can also hold the ball longer and control the temo of the game. Paredes, Palacios and Barco most likely will be playing deep.
Perrone,Barco and Buendia will go
I hope so
Those 3 will go
Don’t want to get too excited about seeing Soule and Giay on the list because Zaid Romero of Getafe (never heard of him), Pezzella and Guido are on the list too, it’s just a massive list of a larger orbit. Mateo Pellegrino of Parma, makes an appearance for the very first time, he has never been in discussion before. But his teammate, Mariano Trolio, is not, I am surprised it is not the other way around. We also don’t see Castellanos, but Santi Castro is there. Valentin Gomez of Betis is not on the list either.
The notable absentees are:
Paulo Dybala (Roma)
Lautaro Rivero (River)
Mariano Troilo (Parma)
Julio Soler (Bournemouth)
Tomás Palacios (Estudiantes)
Enzo Barrenechea (Benfica)
Kevin Lomónaco (Independiente)
Taty Castellanos (West Ham)