BUENOS AIRES.- Argentina needs all the players called up to the national team to “play” for their teams, the coach of the world champion warned on Monday, Lionel Scaloniin the prelude to a “difficult” clash against Peru for the South American qualifiers.
Scaloni acknowledged that he is not yet facing a deep renewal in the team and said: “we need them to play. These six games (for the qualifiers) were very close after the Copa América. We very much opted to continue with the base, there was not as much time to bring other players.”
“But from now on we need everyone to play and from there we will decide according to the football level of each one (…) If they play two or three times a month, that would be enough, another thing is that they don’t play practically at all” added the coach of the world champion.
The DT also described Lionel Messi as a “quite different case.” The albiceleste figure played less than 40 games that year; However, the coach considered that his star “has played a lot, with a Copa América in the middle. It is difficult for him to be 100% and not have had problems.”
Furthermore, the coach commented that “we arrive at tomorrow’s game with the feeling that we have been together a lot and before the feeling was that we saw little of each other,” regarding the accumulation of national team matches this season.
The duelazo of monarchs in doubt
Scaloni also said that it is unlikely that the Finalíssima against European champions Spain will be played next year. “It’s complicated. Because of the current calendar, I don’t see it as possible. It’s a topic that’s talked about a lot. Since June we’ve played a lot.”
Regarding his next rival, the helmsman warned that he expects “a difficult match (…) The level is even, Peru is in need of points, they need to score and that makes the match more difficult. We have to continue along the same line, trying, correcting things.”
Argentina, the two-time reigning American champion, leads the qualifiers with 22 points. Peru is penultimate with seven units.
