World Cup dream over! Yet HSV star Capaldo plays for Argentina | OneFootball

For Nicolas Capaldo, joy and disappointment have been very close together these days. After the HSV professional was able to hope for a World Cup nomination for a long time, there is now clarity. The 27-year-old has missed out on Argentina’s final World Cup squad.

Capaldo was part of the defending champions’ 55-man preliminary squad and was widely seen by observers as a genuine candidate for a place in the final roster. All the more so because things could hardly have gone better for the HSV player on the sporting side recently. ESPN journalist Diego Monroig even said the defensive utility man had “concrete chances” of securing a ticket to the USA.

On Wednesday, the next piece of positive news followed: Capaldo’s market value was raised to eight million euros. A day later, national team coach Lionel Scaloni also called up the Hamburg player for the two upcoming friendlies against Honduras and Israel. The matches will take place on June 7 and 10 in Miami and Dallas and are Argentina’s final internationals before the start of the World Cup. In total, Scaloni selected 35 players for them in order to be able to react to possible injury absences.

Photo: Getty Images

HSV star Capaldo as a late call-up for the World Cup?

Late on Thursday evening, however, came the setback for the HSV star: Capaldo’s name is missing from Argentina’s final 26-man squad for the tournament in North and Central America. For now, the dream of taking part in the World Cup has been dashed.

But the national team chapter is far from over. Capaldo remains part of the squad for the upcoming internationals and will travel to the USA with La Albiceleste. There, he could even make his debut in the shirt of the world champions. And who knows: perhaps the Rothosen vice-captain will benefit from possible absences among his teammates and board the World Cup train as a replacement.

Either way, the call-up for the friendlies is a clear signal: Capaldo has long been on national coach Scaloni’s radar. That is something he can build on at the latest in the upcoming HSV season.

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