The seven players travelling with Argentina's squad in Kansas | OneFootball

Argentina’s World Cup dream is underway. With Lionel Messi’s late arrival, the 26 players called up by Lionel Scaloni to defend the title are already at the team base in Kansas, which will serve as the delegation’s home. However, among the rooms at the renovated facility decked out in sky blue and white are not only those who will take part in the World Cup, but also seven additional players rounding out the squad for the pre-tournament friendlies.

Who are they? There are five youth players, whose goal will be to gain experience and start becoming part of an established squad with an eye on the future, and two players who traveled as backups due to the injuries to Gonzalo Montiel and Nahuel Molina:

Santiago Beltrán (River) Joaquín Freitas (River) Tomás Aranda (Boca) Simón Escobar (Vélez) Ignacio Ovando (Rosario Central) Nicolás Capaldo (Hamburg SV) Agustín Giay (Palmeiras) With no restrictions for the matches against Honduras (Saturday 6/6) and Iceland (Tuesday 9/6), Scaloni’s idea is to have a slightly deeper delegation in case anything unexpected happens. What happened with Joaquín Correa and Nicolás González just days before Qatar 2022 served as a lesson in that regard.

Of the first six players mentioned, for the friendlies only, there are three (Freitas, Ovando, and Escobar) who have no chance of making the World Cup squad even if there is an injury, since they are not part of the 55-man preliminary list. Only those on that list are eligible to be selected by Scaloni.

In any case, it is worth clarifying that Capaldo and Giay are the main candidates to still hold even a slight World Cup hope. Everything will depend on how Montiel responds as he recovers from his muscle tear and, to a lesser extent, Molina, who is already practically fit again. Both are at the Compass Minerals National Performance Center in Kansas and will be part of the friendlies as a precaution.

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