The coach of the Argentine national team, Javier Mascherano, regrets at this time the confirmed absences of Alejandro Garnacho and Nicolás Paz, two footballers on whom the offensive spectrum of the Argentine national team could turn in the Sub-20 World Cup that will begin on May 20 in the country and for which the national representative will begin training on Monday 8.
The tour that the coach of the Argentine national team made through Europe last week did not reach the planned objectives, since he could not change the decisions made by Manchester United with Garnacho and Real Madrid with “Nico” Paz not to cede them for the World Cup that will take place. will play in just over three weeks in the four venues arranged by AFA and approved by FIFA: La Plata, Santiago del Estero, San Juan and Mendoza.
The third player in which the “Jefecito” had put all the energy to convince the English Brighton and Hove to authorize him is Facundo Buonanotte, but although there is still no resounding “no”, the concrete thing is that the situation is very complicated despite the fact that the team in which world champion Alexis Mac Allister plays did not reach the FA Cup final, being eliminated by Garnacho’s Manchester United, who in that instance will face Manchester City.
That final will be played on June 3, in the middle of the Under 20 World Cup that will last until Sunday the 11th of next month, and it is one of the reasons why Garnacho was not authorized, in addition to the fact that his team is fighting from fourth place in the Premier League qualifying for the Champions League 2023-2024.
And Brighton is eighth, two points behind Cristian “Cuti” Romero’s Tottenham Hotspur and Emiliano “Dibu” Martínez’s Aston Villa, who precede it in that order and are the last two teams that are reaching European Cups for next season (Europe League and Conference League, respectively).
Against this background, the good news goes through the approvals that Mascherano received on this European tour, and which are those of Matías Soulé (Juventus), Máximo Perrone (Manchester City), Valentín Carboni (Inter), Franco Carboni (Monza), Julián Aude (Los Angeles City), Mateo Tanlongo (Sporting Lisbon), Román Vega (Barcelona) and Luka Romero (Lazio).
So that Garnacho would not feel so frustrated about not coming to the World Cup, something that you really wanted to do, United immediately renewed his contract for five years, until 2028, and showed him in a photo with the Dutch coach Erik Ten Hag putting the signing, just one day after the coach told the press that the man born in Madrid “did not see him in the Sub 20 World Cup”.
And just after Real Madrid announced yesterday that it would not give up Nicolás Paz, the Italian coach Carlo Anceliotti praised him “especially” during a press conference, pointing him out as “the future” of the “merengue” team, perhaps also for offer him a “caress” after also frustrating that chance to which the native of Tenerife aspired as a revenge after having played the South American in Colombia in which Argentina could not qualify.
The justification for Paz not coming to play in the World Cup is because he is currently acting and is a fundamental part of Real Madrid’s Castilla subsidiary, which plays in the third division of Spain and is very close to ascending to the second division.
As for Buonanotte, this week he was included as a starter for Brighton for the first time and scored his first goal in the final 3-1 defeat as a visitor to Nottingham Forest, in the Premier League.
With this conquest, the former Rosario Central became the youngest Argentine footballer to score a goal in the Premier League at 18 years and 124 days, precisely displacing Garnacho, who had that mark at 18 years and 135 days.
With this scenario ahead, Mascherano will start training the local soccer players next Monday the 8th at the AFA grounds, in Ezeiza, with his mind set no longer on an original list of 37 members but of 35, hoping that it will not continue. reducing, beyond the fact that the final cut will only leave 23 of them playing in the World Cup.
Those 35 then, without the aforementioned Garnacho and Paz, are goalkeepers Federico Gomes Gerth (Tigre), Franco Herrera (Barracas Central), Nicolás Claa (Lanús) and Lucas Lavagnino (River Plate).
Defenders: Lautaro Di Lollo (Boca Juniors), Valentín Barco (Boca Juniors), Tiago Palacios (Talleres, from Córdoba), Brian Aguilar (Lanús), Agustín Giay (San Lorenzo), Valentín Gómez (Vélez Sarsfield),
Nahuel Arias (St. Lawrence), Ulises Ciccioli (Central Rosary), Felipe Sanchez (Gymnastics La Plata),
Renzo Malanca (Huachipato, Chile), Tomás Avilés (Racing Club), Román Vega (Barcelona, Spain), Franco Carboni (Monza, Italy), Julián Aude (Los Angeles Galaxy, USA) and Esteban Lucero (Defense and Justice).
Midfielders: Máximo Perrone (Manchester City), Ignacio Miramón (Gimnasia La Plata), Facundo Buonanotte (Brighton, England), Gino Infantino (Rosario Central), Mateo Tanlongo (Sporting Lisbon, Portugal), Federico Redondo (Argentinos Juniors) and Christian Ordóñez (Velez Sarsfield).
Forwards: Juan Gauto (Huracán), Matías Soulé (Juventus), Luka Romero (Lazio), Valentín Carboni (Inter), Lucas Besozzi (Central Córdoba, Santiago del Estero), Brian Aguirre (Newell’s), Alejo Véliz (Rosario Central), Benjamín Domínguez (Gymnastics La Plata) and Ignacio Maestro Puch (Atlético Tucumán).
The Diego Armando Maradona (La Plata), Único Madre de Ciudades (Santiago del Estero), Malvinas Argentinas (Mendoza) and Del Bicentenario (San Juan) stadiums will be the venues for this World Cup, which Argentina won six times and was not going to be a part if it were not for the fact that FIFA decided to drop the original organizer, Indonesia, for political reasons (their government did not accept the presence of Israel),
Then the president of AFA, Claudio Tapia, appeared, who in a quick effort managed to make Argentina the alternative venue, later confirmed as definitive by FIFA.
And when on May 20 the Argentine national team is making its debut against the Asian U20 champion, Uzbekistan, in Santiago del Estero, another albiceleste illusion will have been launched, just five months after the third senior world title won by Lionel Messi and company. in Qatar, surely waiting for those of Mascherano to get on that boost that can deposit them on top of another ecumenical podium.
