Buenos Aires.- Lionel Messi and Franco Mastantuono They head the Argentine National Team list for the last two dates of the South American qualification to the 2026 Worldrevealed this Thursday, in which the coach Lionel Scaloni He added two new names for world champions.
The Argentine leader, already classified to the World Cup that will be held in Canada, the United States and Mexico next year, will face Venezuela (7th) at the Monumental Stadium of Buenos Aires and five days later will visit Ecuador (2nd) in Guayaquil.
Messi will arrive in this series after overcoming a muscular discomfort that diminished his presence this month in the Inter Miamibrand new finalist of the CUP Leagues, a competition that disputes teams from the Mexican League and the MLS.
The 38 -year -old star could play against Venezuela its last official match in Buenos Aires, which puts a special seasoning to the last two dates of the qualifier, in which Argentina has secured the tip.
The 10 has not confirmed whether the 2026 World Cup will play, although it has been clear that its time with the Albiceleste is approaching its end and it is assumed that these will be its last classifying matches.
“It will be a very special match for me because he is the last one of Qualifiers. I do not know if later there will be a friendly or more games. Then I do not know what will happen, but we are going with that intention,” said the Argentine captain, after the victory of Inter with two goals his against Orlando City on Wednesday in the semifinal of the CUP Leagues.
New faces
In addition, it was also called Franco Mastantuono, who with 18 years old already played his first minutes as Real Madrid player in the Spanish League.
For these two meetings, Scaloni set out to summon a couple of new faces, including midfielder Alan Varela, from Porto de Portugal, instead of Enzo Fernández (Chelsea), which must meet two suspension dates for having been expelled before Colombia.
Another novelty is the summons of the striker José Manuel “El Flaco” López, of good campaign in the Palmeiras of Brazil, and that arrives instead of Alejandro Garnacho, with little activity in Manchester United and just added to the English Chelsea.
In the defense, Scaloni called again Julio Soler, defender of the Bournemouth, and did not take into account Valentín Barco (Racing de Strasbourg, Fra) or Facundo Medina (Olympique de Marseille, Fra).
The list of 29 summoned
Archers: Emiliano Martínez (Aston Villa, Eng), Walter Benítez (Crystal Palace, Eng) and Gerónimo Rulli (Olympique de Marseille, Fra).
Defensores: Cristian Romero (Tottenham Hotspur, Eng), Nicolás Otamendi (Benfica, by), Nahuel Molina (Atlético de Madrid, ESP), Gonzalo Montiel (River Plate), Leonardo Balerdi (Olympique de Marseille, Fra), Juan Foyth (Villarreal, ESP), Nicolás Tagliafico (Olympique de Lyon Fra), Marcos Acuña (River Plate), Julio Soler (Bournemouth, ENG).
Flyers: Alexis Mac Allister (Liverpool, ENG), Exequiel Palacios (Bayer Leverkusen, Ger), Alan Varela (FC Porto, by), Leandro Paredes (Boca Juniors), Thiago Almada (Atlético de Madrid, Esp), Nicolás Paz (such as 1907, Ita Betis, ESP), Claudio Echeverri (Bayer Leverkusen, Ger), Franco Mastantuono (Real Madrid, Esp), Valentín Carboni (Genoa, Ita).
Front: Giuliano Simeone (Atlético de Madrid. ESP), Julián Álvarez (Atlético de Madrid, ESP), Nicolás González (Juventus, Ita), Lionel Messi (Inter Miami, USA), Lautaro Martínez (Inter Milan, Ita), José Manuel López (Palmeiras, Bra).
