Cristian Romero has suffered a thigh strain in his left leg after having been substituted off for Argentina vs. Colombia.
Romero was replaced in the second half of Argentina’s 2-2 World Cup qualifying draw vs. Colombia as tests were done on him on Wednesday. The Argentina Twitter account tweeted out that he suffers from a thigh strain.
This could be seen as good news as Romero is not injured. However, he might miss Argentina’s opening World Cup qualifying match vs. Chile on Monday.
The Argentina national team have landed back in the country and are in Ezeiza.
Following the 2-2 draw vs. Colombia, the team flew back to Argentina where Wednesday will be seen as a day of rest. As we reported earlier, tests will be done on Cristian Romero while Emiliano Martinez has recovered from the knock from Tuesday’s match.
Lucas Alario is already out of the Copa America due to injury. At the moment, the others who are likely to be dropped from the Copa America squad are Jose Palomino, Emiliano Buendia and Nahuel Molina. This per ESPN. And in addition, one of the four goalkeepers in the team.
Franco Armani will not be with the team until he tests negative. He missed both of Argentina’s World Cup qualifying matches as his PCR tests were still positive. As mentioned, one of Armani, Emiliano Buendia, Agustin Marchesin and Juan Musso will likely be dropped from the final Copa squad on Thursday.
Argentina are going to have five training sessions prior to the start of the Copa America on Monday.
Tests will be conducted on Cristian Romero on Monday to determine the severity of his injury.
Cristian Romero, who scored Argentina’s opening goal in their 2-2 draw vs. Colombia, was substituted off in the second half. A muscle injury saw the Serie A defender of the season replaced by German Pezzella.
Per a report by ESPN, tests will be done on Romero on Monday. In addition, should Romero not be fully fit, Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni is expected to still call him up for the Copa America. The final squad is expected to be announced on Thursday.
Argentina national team coach Lionel Scaloni spoke at a press conference following Argentina’s 2-2 draw vs. Colombia.
Scaloni commented on the team’s overall game and Juan Foyth’s error which proved to be decisive. Speaking to the press, here’s what Scaloni had to say:
“When you think it’s all done, no, it’s not. Sadly, we’re leaving with one point when we deserved all three. Argentina deserved to win. Up until the 94th minute, what we were doing was really good and the last play gave them a point; it wasn’t deserved.
“We deserved the three points. I have to congratulate the players because they played a good match in the heat, on a difficult pitch and against a good opponent.”
In regards to the Juan Foyth’s mistake which led to Colombia’s second goal:
“It’s individual errors, not defensive. The defensive play of the team was perfect up until that play. It was a specific error and nothing more.”
Argentina always dominated the play and did so in the six matches. Sometimes more vertical. We were always superior to our opponents, we deserved to win in all of them but being deserving doesn’t count.
“It’s the last play and it changes the entire match. The rest of the 94 minutes and a half were perfect.”
Lionel Scaloni also commented on putting the team together:
“We had a lot of difficulty putting the team together and the substitutes. There were players who surely weren’t going to finish the match because they had just came back from injury. Let’s hope now that they fully recover.”
The next game for Argentina is on Monday, June 14 vs. Chile in their opening match of the Copa America.
Emiliano Martinez had to be substituted off for Argentina in their 2-2 draw vs. Colombia but the goalkeeper is already doing better.
Martinez was having a strong game for Argentina, coming out catching and clearing every ball crossed into the Argentina penalty area. However, on one cross, he was knocked down and his head hit the pitch. Martinez had to be stretchered off and substituted for Agustin Marchesin.
The goalkeeper spoke after the match with a quote on the Argentina Twitter page. Here’s what Martinez had to say:
“I’m better, it was a strong hit but the doctors did their job. Obviously I wanted to continue playing, the anger of being taken out and I found out that they drew at the end. It’s a bitter taste but I’m fine.
“They took me out because I lost consciousness a little, I hit the back of my neck hard but the crying and the anger was because it was my second match with the Argentina national team and I didn’t want to be substituted. But the doctors did their job.”
The official Argentina Twitter page also tweeted out that Martinez is fine and will be returning to Buenos Aires with the rest of the squad.
