Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni announced his latest squad on Thursday, ahead of two friendlies which act as warm ups for the Copa América in Brazil in a few months’ time. The headline news is that Lionel Messi’s break from international football is coming to an end: some outlets had reported earlier in the week that the Barcelona legend would play against Venezuela (on the 22nd of this month in Madrid) before taking a rest for the Morocco game on the 26th in Tangier), but on Thursday Scaloni told the press that he would be the one to decide on that.
There’s a first call up for goalkeeper Juan Musso of Udinese, while River Plate’s Gonzalo Montiel and Matías Suárez, Defensa y Justicia’s Lisandro Martínez and Domingo Blanco, América de México’s Guido Rodríguez all have their first summonses to the national team. Atlanta United’s Gonzalo Martínez becomes, I believe, the first player to be called up for Argentina while playing in Major League Soccer.
The full list is in the image above, but in case it’s not loaded properly on your device, I’ve also typed it out here. You can hear some of our thoughts on the squad (before it was confirmed, but as it happens the names we mentioned all got in) on the latest episode of Hand Of Pod. And if you’re wondering who the ten Argentina-based players are, you can catch them each week thanks to HOP‘s sponsors, Fanatiz – and you can get 20% off your first three months of their excellent streaming service. Head over to this page, and use the discount code hopfz.
Goalkeepers
Agustín Marchesín (América de México)
Juan Musso (Udinese)
Esteban Andrada (Boca Juniors)
Franco Armani (River Plate)
Defenders
Germán Pezzella (Fiorentina)
Gabriel Mercado (Sevilla)
Juan Foyth (Tottenham Hotspur)
Nicolás Otamendi (Manchester City)
Walter Kannemann (Grêmio)
Nicolás Tagliafico (Ajax)
Marcos Acuña (Sporting Clube de Portugal)
Gonzalo Montiel (River)
Renzo Saravia (Racing Club)
Lisandro Martínez (Defensa y Justicia)
Midfielders
Leandro Paredes (Paris Saint-Germain)
Guido Rodríguez (América)
Giovani Lo Celso (Real Betis)
Manuel Lanzini (West Ham United)
Roberto Pereyra (Watford)
Ángel Di María (Paris Saint-Germain)
Matías Zaracho (Racing)
Iván Marcone (Boca)
Domingo Blanco (Defensa y Justicia)
Rodrigo De Paul (Udinese)
Forwards
Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
Gonzalo Martínez (Atlanta United)
Paulo Dybala (Juventus)
Ángel Correa (Atlético de Madrid)
Lautaro Martínez (Internazionale)
Darío Benedetto (Boca)
Matías Suárez (River)
Hasta El Gol Siempre 