The post mortem has been well underway ever since the final whistle blew on Argentina’s thrilling 4-3 last 16 World Cup exit at the hands of a ruthless French outfit on Saturday afternoon.
While the primary issues left to be resolved surround the international futures of coach Jorge Sampaoli and star player Lionel Messi, La Albiceleste has to look ahead to the young or overlooked talents who may occupy key spots in the 23-man squad that heads to Qatar four years from now in search of ending what would by then be a near three decade wait for a major trophy - providing that the Copa America isn’t won in Brazil next year, that is.
As mentioned elsewhere on this site, midfield pairing Lucas Biglia and Javier Mascherano announced their retirement immediately after Saturday’s result was confirmed while Argentina’s current three goalkeepers in Sergio Romero, Willy Caballero and Franco Armani are all well into their thirties and therefore unlikely to feature in Qatar. Overlooked due to having a bad season in Spain with Real Sociedad, Geronimo Rulli, 26, is tipped to feature between the sticks providing no-one else emerges to challenge him in the near future.
In defence, Nico Tagliafico is likely to soldier on while also aged just 26 at the moment and could be joined by Fabricio Bustos and Emmanuel Mammana, who only lost his chance to head to Russia due to a serious muscle tear.
In midfield, young guns such as Giovani Lo Celso, Maxi Meza and Cristian Pavon will compete for places with the older Paulo Dybala, who should be hitting his peak by then, and also Marcos Acuna and Eduardo Salvio now aged 27 and 26 respectively.
Up front, Mauro Icardi should finally get his chance to represent his country at a major tournament alongside new Inter teammate Lautaro Martinez, who has already been earmarked as the possible future saviour of Argentine football. Now, the question remains as to whether the war-weary likes of Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Gonzalo Higuain and Angel Di Maria will be joining them on the plane to the Middle East or will have either officially stepped down or found themselves surplus to requirements as the AFA adopts the old adage of out with the old, in with the new.
