Argentina continued their preparations following the 2-1 win over Mauritania with a training session on Saturday morning at Ezeiza, where players who saw limited action in that match took part in a friendly against the U-20 team led by Diego Placente.
The senior side won 1-0, with José Manuel López scoring the only goal of the match as he continues to strengthen his case for a spot in the final World Cup squad. Meanwhile, the players who featured against Mauritania focused on recovery work and gym sessions.
It is also worth noting that Argentina’s U-20 team came into this match after a recent 3-0 defeat against the United States U-20 side
Lionel Scaloni’s team for the friendly included Gerónimo Rulli in goal, with a back line of Agustín Giay, Lucas Martínez Quarta, Nicolás Otamendi and Nicolás Tagliafico. In midfield were Exequiel Palacios, Leandro Paredes and Valentín Barco, while Gianluca Prestianni, López and Nicolás Paz led the attack. Several players were rotated in during the match, including Juan Musso, Gabriel Rojas, Tomás Palacios, Máximo Perrone, Franco Mastantuono and Giuliano Simeone.
The squad has now been given Sunday off and will return on Monday morning, when they are scheduled to regroup for lunch before resuming training. From there, the focus will shift fully to Tuesday’s friendly against Zambia at La Bombonera, which will be Argentina’s final match on home soil before traveling to the United States for their pre-World Cup camp.
Scaloni faces key decisions in the coming weeks. The preliminary squad list, which can include between 35 and 55 players, must be submitted by May 11. The final 26-man squad deadline is May 30, although the list is expected to be announced earlier, as Argentina plans to travel to Kansas on May 28 to begin its final preparations for the World Cup.
I’ll say it again, the game changed in the second half. When you bring in washed up players like Messi and DePaul, you can’t play effectively when it’s 9 on 11. For goodness sake, people need to get it through their thick head; aside from the one or two occasional moments that Messi might create the team suffers when he plays. He is great for a pass here or there, and a free kick. That’s it. Nothing more. The guy is playing in the MLS and is 38 freaking years old. Give it a rest. He is good for 10 minutes a game at international level. He knows this, Scaloni knows this, anybody that is not being emotional about him knows this. As for the other stiff DePaul, we are leaving Soule and Barranchea out of the club for some f*ing guy that hung up his cleats for the Miami lifestyle and to be closer to Tini. This guy is not serious about football. He quit the moment he went to Miami. He wants to party, hang with Tini, and have us bow to his glory years. Screw that. He has no business being anywhere near the NT any longer. We are wasting an opportunity for this shit show. Unbelievable.