End of the tour: Scaloni to release Argentina players after Angola friendly | OneFootball

The Argentine National Team is facing an unusual tour at the close of 2025. A friendly match in Angola required the players to get vaccinated, there were last-minute absences—such as Julián Álvarez, Thiago Almada, Giuliano Simeone, and Enzo Fernández—new faces like Joaquín Panichelli, Gianluca Prestianni, and Kevin Mac Allister, and now a decisive move by Lionel Scaloni that completely changes the logistics in Spain.

The initial plan was for the called-up players to train in Alicante, Spain, until Thursday (with a morning practice), at which point they would travel to Luanda to finalize the last details ahead of Friday’s match, starting at 1 p.m.

After the final whistle at Estádio 11 de Novembro, some key players would be released, such as Lionel Messi, and the rest of the delegation would return to Spanish soil to train until the middle of the following week.

However, everything changed at the last minute: the national coaching staff will not continue with training after the friendly against their African opponent, and all the players have already been cleared to rejoin their respective clubs over the weekend. It will be an early end to the tour.

Although some players will be closely evaluated in the coming days—especially the aforementioned Panichelli, Prestianni, and Mac Allister, as well as Valentín Barco, Máximo Perrone, and José Manuel López, who dream of earning a spot on the 2026 World Cup roster—there won’t be much time to adjust things on the field during this FIFA international window, which will serve more as a year-end farewell than a testing ground for the National Team.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.