José Pekerman spoke about Lionel Messi’s first youth match with the Argentina national team.

Pekerman won three FIFA U20 World Cup’s with the Argentina national team, a record which he holds. The Argentine went on to coach the senior Argentina national team and was the coach which gave Lionel Messi his first ever match with the senior team.

Lionel Messi would play his first match with the U20 national team in 2004 against Paraguay. Speaking in an interview at Olé Summit 2025, Pekerman spoke about how Lionel Messi first played with the youth team. Here is what he had to say:

“In Spain, we had heard about Lionel from an Under-17 tournament in Finland. The Spanish coaching staff told us that if they had had that ‘kid’, they would have won it.

“But since the paperwork was already in place for him to play in the Under-20 World Cup for Spain, which would have blocked him, we had to hurry. Tocalli told me he had the team ready for the South American Under-20 Championship, which was starting in a month.”

“I spoke to the president, told him about it, said he wanted to come, and that we had to send the call-up to Barcelona.

“I told Tocalli that I was impressed, that he was the player of the future. I couldn’t be wrong, he was the new star of Argentine football a blessing.

“I told him (Tocalli) that I didn’t want him to play if it wasn’t necessary, just to play a friendly match and sign the form to send to FIFA. And that was it, no more Spain.

“I spoke with Julio (Grondona) to ask him to give Messi his debut, but I set one condition: the opponent could be anyone, I didn’t care; the match had to be played at Argentinos’ stadium. If Diego had played there…”

AFA President Claudio Tapia has spoken about Argentina national team coach Lionel Scaloni, stating that he wants him to stay until 2030.

Claudio Tapia first hired Lionel Scaloni in 2018 when Scaloni first took over as interim coach of the Argentina national team. Scaloni would remain as coach and go on to win the 2022 World Cup, the 2022 Finalissima and back to back Copa America titles. Claudio Tapia spoke at the Olé Summit 2025 about Scaloni. Here is what he had to say:

“We think about sports projects: I want Scaloni to stay until 2030 with his entire coaching staff. If I thought about results, I wouldn’t have hired him. I thought about a national team project that we didn’t have.”

Matías Soulé has commented on the Argentina national team and not being called up.

Soulé was called-up to the Argentina national team for their 2-0 win against Angola, despite being in good form for AS Roma. The Argentine has three goals and two assists in 11 league matches. Speaking in an interview with Sportmediaset, here is what he had to say:

“I remain calm and hope it can arrive as a reward for all the good performances at Roma. I am a little disappointed, but not worried. The moment will arrive if I keep doing well with Roma. All I can do is keep working, try to be decisive in every match, until the call-up becomes a logical consequence.

“I can confirm that Italy is not an option for me. I am from Argentina, and I would like to represent my country.”