The list of the Argentine team for the World Cup: Scaloni's base, those who fight for their place and those who have almost no chance

The Argentine national team put an end to a stage. Although there is still a technically unfinished match against Brazil for which there is still no date to be disputed, Lionel Scaloni closed his qualifying road against Ecuador and stepped forward to the World Cup in Qatar with a question that will be held all year round: how will you draw up the list to go for the dream of the title?

The total proportion between those who were part of the process and those who will eventually go to the World Cup will range from 25 to 30 percent. That is, of the 92 surnames that Scaloni called in three and a half years of the cycle, between 23 and 28 players will travel to Qatar, depending on FIFA's determination to enlarge the list of those mentioned or not, a resolution that will be known hours before the World Cup draw.

The DT has already warned: there will be no room for any surprise and those who once passed through the hands of the current management will represent the country in the 18th World Cup participation in its history. “If there was a cover I would have brought it, am I going to wait until the last minute to bring it? There is no cover. In principle it is difficult, because if after quoting 90 you have to come one who never came... I don't think. We already have trouble getting 23, I see it difficult that it is one of those who is not usually there,” he warned.

236 days after the initial whistle of the most anticipated contest, the questions about who will travel with the albiceleste are few, beyond the fact that the passage of the months until the final publication of the list will allow to sow conjectures and be aware of the injuries that from this moment on can leave a player without the ticket.

To start the purge among the more than 90 players mentioned, we must start with surnames that were called up as part of the future, such as what happened recently with the young Luka Romero, Alejandro Garnacho or the Boca Juniors attacker Exequiel Zeballos. While his sporting present blossoms, the coach's gaze is to start laying the foundations for the future. Of course, the outstanding performance of some of them during the pre-World Cup stage could make it take the leap in order to strike the new generation, but today that sounds distant.

As for the space for the archers, and with Emiliano Martínez as the owner of the three suits, the question mark will remain on the other two places: Franco Armani walks with the advantage to be the backrest of the Dibu and the vacant seat seemed to have the name of Juan Musso, but the recent good level of Geronimo Rulli put him in the race. Meanwhile, Esteban Andrada and Agustín Rossi are waiting. And Agustín Marchesín? He was one of the archers with the most presences in the cycle, but a whole season as a substitute at Porto took him off the radar.

On the baseline, we will have to wait how many names Scaloni decides to call, but the battle for some time now has two players per place with Nahuel Molina and Gonzalo Montiel bidding for the right back and Nicolás Tagliafico and Marcos Acuña playing for the left. In the center of the defense, Nicolás Otamendi and Cristian Cuti Romero come out of memory, most commonly supported by Germán Pezzella.

The coach's favorite names throughout his process in the central area as alternatives are those of Juan Foyth, Lucas Martínez Quarta and Lisandro Martínez. In addition, both the Villarreal defender and the Ajax man bring him variants in other positions, since they were used as a winger and central midfielder, respectively. The evolution of the season's performance will provide greater precision when it comes to knowing whether the three will have space on the payroll or another name appears that stands out and gets into the race, such as those of Nehuén Pérez or Facundo Medina, two young people who have been in the DT's orbit since day one, but they hardly had a chance.

Half the court will be a battleground for quotas. While waiting to know how long FIFA will extend the list (it sounds stronger that there are 26 than 28), the fixed names are those of Leandro Paredes, Giovani Lo Celso, Rodrigo De Paul and Ángel Di María. He is also one of the favorites Guido Rodríguez, who always appears as ace up his sleeve to cover different gaps.

With this fixed base, the question marks will be distributed among multiple names such as those of Alejandro Papu Gomez, Exequiel Palacios and Alexis Mac Allister, among others. The former Boca, who works for Brighton & Hove Albion, is one of the surnames that the DT always tried to insert into the team but due to different situations he was able to shoot him at the level against Venezuela and Ecuador. “I think he is a player who has made a leap in quality and now he is fine,” Scaloni praised him before the double knockout date.

The (few) friendlies that so far appear on the horizon of the scaloneta will be a litmus test for other surnames that dream of winning a ticket to Qatar: Emiliano Buendía, Manuel Lanzini, Lucas Ocampos, Roberto Pereyra and Nicolás Domínguez are some of those who have among their objectives to sneak into the final call.

The attack will undoubtedly be a puzzle for the coach. The historical line of calls put multitasking Nicolás González inside beyond the immovable Lautaro Martínez and captain Lionel Messi.

The temporary portal that will open from now until the citation deadline will leave Julián Álvarez, Joaquín Correa and Ángel Correa hanging around, surnames that became habitual but were not yet able to formally reserve their seats.

And Paulo Dybala? Juventus is a regular cited by the DT since the first hour of management but his performance with albiceleste did not finish meeting expectations and to top it all comes from missing the last citation due to an injury while living with a conflict in his club. “We technically didn't discuss Paulo at all. We need him to be well, to be in full condition when he comes. He knows it and he understands it. It's missing for the World Cup. It is valued by the coaching staff and colleagues. He has the opportunity to be there, but we need him to be well,” he warned of the Jewel.

In a third place, there is a Lucas Alario who lost too much space — in Argentina and his club — and also Lucas Boyé, whose merit is his regularity in Elche that pushed him to be perhaps the biggest surprise for the last double date of the qualifiers, regardless of the large group of young talents that the DT called.

What became clear, at least in this final stretch, is that Giovanni Simeone is not a tempting option for the coaching staff despite his 15 goals for Hellas Verona that have him as the third highest gunner of Serie A. The C holito was in the pre-list, but was disaffected in the final call. Increasingly far from Qatar...

While the battle to be Lautaro's alternative in the center of the area does not have a clear candidate and is currently the biggest sporting question, we must not miss the present of Mauro Icardi, who missed his scant chances at PSG and to top it off added a media scandal months ago that took him even further away from his opportunity.

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