Word has it that, also in town to check up on the progress of Sergio Agüero, who is currently receiving treatment for a knee injury in the Catalan capital, Argentina coach Jorge Sampaoli held court with Lionel Messi in Barcelona on Monday as the two went over the national team’s 35-man preliminary squad for Russia 2018, which must be finalised by May 14.
The contents of the list have naturally been of great intrigue to the Argentine public while various outlets across the country’s media claim to know who features or not. In the meantime, some corners - such as the leading daily La Nación that has been informed by a source in La Albiceleste’s technical team - insist that 20 players already have their place guaranteed with a further three spots up for grabs as Sampaoli and other international managers must all whittle down their choices to 23 by June 4.
In more detail, those who apparently have their tickets to Russia booked are the following:
Goalkeepers: Sergio Romero and Nahuel Guzmán.
Defenders: Gabriel Mercado, Federico Fazio, Nicolás Otamendi, Nicolás Tagliafico, Marcos Rojo and Marcos Acuña.
Midfielders: Manuel Lanzini, Eduardo Salvio, Lucas Biglia, Javier Mascherano, Giovani Lo Celso, Éver Banega and Ángel Di María.
Forwards: Cristian Pavón, Paulo Dybala, Lionel Messi, Sergio Agüero and Gonzalo Higuaín.
Notable here is the inclusion of Dybala, despite widespread doubts on his compatibility with Messi, and the exclusion of Mauro Icardi – though the Inter talisman may still have a chance should Agüero fail to recuperate in time.
After a third goalkeeper has been decided, between Chelsea’s Willy Caballero and Franco Armani of River Plate, there are consequently just two spaces left to fill that leave Samapoli with three alternatives.
The first sees him adding a central defensive midfielder, which would consist of one of Armani’s in form teammate Enzo Perez, Zenit Saint Petersburg pairing Matías Kranevitter and Leandro Paredes or Boca Juniors’ Pablo Pérez.
In the second, an offensive-minded midfielder would become involved – giving hope to Erik Lamela, with whom Sampaoli will meet in London, while rivals in the mix include Maximiliano Meza of Independiente, Roma’s Diego Perotti and perhaps even Papu Gomez at Atalanta.
Thirdly, then, Sampaoli is reportedly toying with the prospect of taking another central defender – even though Javier Mascherano, as seen for many a year at Barcelona, could be called upon in case of emergency. With Everton’s Ramiro Funes Mori making his own way back from injury and viewed as unreliable, only Germain Pezzella, the current Fiorentina captain after inheriting the armband from the recently passed Davide Astori, should consider himself considered for inclusion in this scenario.
In less than three weeks, more will of course be known on the matter. As Sampaoli still has under two weeks to run on his European tour, though, the chance to impress for those on the fringes of representing an expectant, football-loving nation remains.
