Enzo and the look of Scaloni’s CT: “He has one more gear”

It appears in practice and all flashes go with it. No, it’s not Lionel Messi. Neither, the other Lionel, Scaloni. Not even Dibu Martínez, despite the fact that the starting goalkeeper also trains in the morning after the release at the University of Qatar. The Selection, gentlemen, has a new figure. A player who got into the last, with just 61 minutes in friendlies.

One that He debuted in the World Cup without having played with the light blue and white for even a second because of the points. One that entered two hot games, with the experience of a 30-year-old player and not with the youth of a 21-year-old kid. Yes, Enzo Fernandez leads the group of those who played little or did not play. And for the first time, the entire press divides its interest in another player that is not Leo.

It is not accidental. Enzo is, today, the other small revulsive of this Selection. The fact that For many, he joined the team so as not to leave. The one that accompanies his new nickname, which also came from the other Enzo, with whom Scaloni confused him a few days ago at a press conference. In short, EnzoPe and EnzoFe have several similarities, despite having played precisely in River and Benfica. Faith is what this boy has that changed the face of the Argentine midfield the two times he entered. And the one who, with the great goal against Mexico, showed that he is also ready to be a world revelation. Not just Argentine. World.

For this reason, he is no longer the one behind the pack, as if he had just started. In the hot Qatari morning, Enzo Fernández is ahead of everyone. He moves with Julián Álvarez and with exequiel palacios, with whom he shared history in River. The link between him and the other steering wheel is from a movie. They’ve known each other since they were kids, one covered the other’s place in Gallardo’s team and was even there to get him a ticket on the 26-man list (with Lo Celso healthy, Palacios could have been left out because of his friend). However, in the match against Mexico they met again to shape a midfield that, with De Paul, could well have solved Scaloni’s problems in that area. Above all, not finding the third flyer.

Enzo and Exequiel even released De Paul against Mexico. That is to say, they ran him from the environment and from exposure to error to this imprecise De Paul, without the best version of him, but just as necessary. So, with Enzo taking over the middle, his friend as a side, the 7 can be released and better associate with Messi. Scaloni has not yet defined what he will do against Poland. Until now, the middle was the area that changed the most, even removing one of his lieutenants: Paredes (he wasn’t even the first replacement option with the Mexicans). But it is clear that he considers it as an option to play against Poland from the start. Not just him, but that tridentbecause he understands that the youth and good physical moment of Fernández and Palacios give the team that freshness of young people in a World Cup with so much preponderance in dynamics. “They are with one more gear”They say about the replacement. A sign?

It is very evident that Enzo has to be there. Even from Messi’s praise, a kind of welcome, a blessing can be read. “Enzo, it doesn’t surprise me. I know him, I see him train, I faced him in the Champions League… He deserves it because he’s a spectacular boy, an important player, I’m very happy for him,” said 10. And, it is known, where the captain bets a chip, a full can come out. Because it is also the coach’s mission that he feels comfortable and supported by his surroundings.

When Scaloni began this cycle as Argentine DT, Enzo Fernández was just 17 years old and played in the lower divisions of River. Today he may be the unexpected ace up his sleeve in this World Cup, although it is also true that for a reason he brought him to Qatar, with just so few minutes with the National Team. If DT appreciated something, he barely got into those games with Honduras and Jamaica, it is that he did not weigh the light blue and white. “He played as if he had been with us from the beginning.” And that moved him to Qatar. His personality is, ultimately, his most precious asset. And hand in hand with that, his game, his personal and professional evolution: he became the owner of the Benfica media as soon as he arrived in Europe. He became the owner of the middle of the Selection in a World Cup.

His ability to adapt to circumstances and the elite game is also another issue that is highly valued on the grounds of the University of Qatar. Above all, for that combination so difficult to achieve that is temperance. And with only 21 years. That is why he is no longer one more in the National Team group even though he has just arrived. Enzo may be the key. The key to a new midfield. The key to a new team. The key that refreshes a formation that in the first minutes of this World Cup seemed to have lost its intensity, that played with its damaged gearbox, that seemed tied up. Faith returned with Enzo. And it is no longer a simple play on words…