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

The player who came through at San Lorenzo will travel this Thursday alongside José López, once Palmeiras finish their Copa Libertadores group-stage campaign against Junior of Colombia.

Giay’s call-up adds to that of other footballers who will take part in the pre-friendly matches against Honduras and Iceland, such as Tomás Aranda, Joaquín Freitas, Ignacio Ovando, Simón Escobar, Santiago Beltrán and Nicolás Capaldo. However, the full-back has an 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 strain in his left hamstring. There, he got his first minutes with the senior national 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 Brasileirão and was also present in all five Libertadores group-stage games, something the Argentine coaching staff especially value at this stage leading up to the World Cup.

His situation is also helped by the physical condition of the national team’s right-backs. Both Molina and Montiel are 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 champion coach.

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

“Beyond them being young boys and us thinking about the future, everything we do is with the idea that they can contribute if something happens after the first list is closed and up until 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.