Giay joins Argentina, boosts hopes of Scaloni's 2026 World Cup squad | OneFootball

The player who came through at San Lorenzo will travel this Thursday along with José López, once Palmeiras wrap up their group-stage campaign in the Copa Libertadores against Junior of Colombia.

Giay’s call-up adds to that of other players who will take part in the upcoming friendlies against Honduras and Iceland, such as Tomás Aranda, Joaquín Freitas, Ignacio Ovando, Simón Escobar, Santiago Beltrán and Nicolás Capaldo. However, the full-back has one important detail that sets him apart from several of them: he has already made his debut for the national team.

The 22-year-old defender had previously been called up for the friendlies against Mauritania and Zambia, precisely when Gonzalo Montiel suffered a tear in his left hamstring. There, he logged his first minutes with the senior team when he came on in the second half to replace Nahuel Molina.

In addition, Giay arrives backed by consistency and performance. This season, he played in 15 of Palmeiras’ 17 matches in the Brasileirao and was also present in all five group-stage matches in the Libertadores, something the Argentine coaching staff especially value at this stage ahead of the World Cup.

His situation is also helped by the physical condition of the national team’s right-backs. Both Molina and Montiel have been dealing with knocks, and that opened an unexpected door for players who had been under observation from further back.

In fact, Scaloni himself spoke publicly about the chances of Giay and Nicolás Capaldo making the final squad.

“There are Giay and Capaldo, who can also contribute to us, and they are boys we think could be there, even in the squad of 26, why not,” said the World Cup-winning coach.

Although he later made it clear that part of these call-ups also serve as backup in case of any last-minute physical issue.

“Beyond them being young players and thinking about the future, everything we do is with the idea that they can contribute if something happens after the initial list is closed and before the first match, when we still have time to make changes,” he explained.

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