Argentina national team coach Lionel Scaloni has stated that he will make “seven or eight changes” vs. Indonesia.
Lionel Scaloni will be without the veteran trio of Lionel Messi, Ángel Di María and Nicolás Otamend for the match vs. Indonesia on Monday. The World Cup winning coach spoke at a press conference on Sunday about the possible eleven for Monday’s match. Here is what he had to say:
“Seven or eight changes”.
“The level of the national team will not change with these changes. Let’s hope we can live up to the match against Indonesia and what it represents to play with this shirt.”
Scaloni was also asked about Messi, Di María and Otamendi resting:
“Messi is resting. I have decided that he should rest. As much him as Di María and Otamendi, they need to rest. It was already thought about before.
“They played a match with the Argentina national team, which is the most important. Argentina is far above any player. In this case, Leo si not here but the others are there and I hope people enjoy it.”
He was also asked about who will replace Lionel Messi in the eleven:
“Who will replace him tomorrow? No one. No one can play like Messi but we will try to make the team play the same way, knowing that he is a player who is impossible to replace. But yes, the team is capable of playing just as well and with other skills. That is what we will try to do.”
Here are the players that are available for Scaloni:
Goalkeepers:
Emiliano Martínez (Aston Villa)
Gerónimo Rulli (Ajax)
Walter Benítez (PSV)
Defenders:
Nahuel Molina (Atletico Madrid)
Gonzalo Montiel (Sevilla)
Germán Pezzella (Real Betis)
Cristian Romero (Tottenham Hotspur)
Leonardo Balerdi (Olympique Marseille)
Facundo Medina (RC Lens)
Nicolás Tagliafico (Lyon)
Marcos Acuña (Sevilla)
Midfielders:
Leandro Paredes (Juventus)
Enzo Fernández (Chelsea)
Guido Rodríguez (Real Betis)
Rodrigo De Paul (Atletico Madrid)
Exequiel Palacios (Bayer Leverkusen)
Alexis Mac Allister (Brighton)
Thiago Almada (Atlanta United)
Giovani Lo Celso (Villarreal)
Facundo Buonanotte (Brighton)
Forwards:
Lucas Ocampos (Sevilla)
Julián Álvarez (Manchester City)
Giovanni Simeone (Napoli)
Alejandro Garnacho (Manchester United)
Nicolás González (Fiorentina)
