Alejandro Garnacho and Lionel Messi will be in Scaloni’s squad for Argentina | Photo IG Alejandro Garnacho
Seven of the 26 world champions in Qatar 2022 were left out of the list of 27 players raised today by the technical director of the Argentine national team, Lionel Scaloni, for the friendlies of the next FIFA window in June.
The goalkeeper Franco Armani (River Plate); defenders Lisandro Martínez -injured- (Manchester United) and Juan Foyth (Villarreal); midfielder Alejandro “Papu” Gómez (Sevilla) and strikers Ángel Correa (Atlético de Madrid), Lautaro Martínez (Inter) and Paulo Dybala (Roma) are not on the squad.
The biggest novelties in the squad, which includes captain Lionel Messi, are goalkeeper Walter Benítez, from PSV Eindhoven of the Netherlands, and center-back Leonardo Balerdi, from French Olympique de Marseille.
Benítez, 30, with a past in Quilmes in Argentine soccer (2012-2016), received his first call for the major, after registering a participation in the 2013 South American U-20.
The goalkeeper joined the Dutch club this season after an outstanding six-year performance at Nice in France.
Balerdi (24), on the other hand, has already been called up twice by Scaloni in 2019 for two friendly tours. His debut from the substitute bench came in the 4-0 win over Mexico in San Antonio, United States, and the second match was played against Ecuador (6-1) in Elche, Spain.
As novelties compared to Qatar 2022, the Argentine National Team will feature the returns of Facundo Medina, Giovani Lo Celso, Lucas Ocampos, Giovanni Simeone, Alejandro Garnacho and Nicolás González.
The complete list of summoned is the following:
#SelecciónMayor Footballers called up by @lioscaloni for the Asian tour in June.
Always, always, let’s go Selection!!! 😁💙🤍💙 pic.twitter.com/0MlZAdZv0H
— 🇦🇷 Argentina National Team ⭐⭐⭐ (@Argentina) May 27, 2023
Argentina will face a tour of Asia in June that includes a friendly with Australia in China, on Thursday the 15th, and another against Indonesia in that country, on Monday the 19th.
Those matches will be the last before the start of the South American Qualifiers for the next World Cup, in September. In the first double date, the world champions will be local against Ecuador and then they will travel to La Paz to face Bolivia.
