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Although Lionel Scaloni had already confirmed the squad for the friendly matches against Panama and Curaçao, in which the world champions will celebrate the title, now he leaned towards a more last-minute call: John Simeon. The Napoli forward, leader of Serie A, was included in the list of summons for the double FIFA date that will be played at the end of March.
Although he was not called up to the World Cup in Qatar, Gio He was always considered by the coaching staff of the national team and in fact was included in the shortlist (although he was later cut). For many, he should have been the replacement for the injured Joaquín Correa, but in the end the Albiceleste coach opted for Ángel Correa.
To his credit, the greatest of the sons of the Cholo Simeone records a game as a substitute with Argentina for Qualifying and several minutes in five friendly duels (in the only one in which he started, against Guatemala in 2018, he scored a goal). By chance or not, his call was recorded hours after that of his was confirmed. Mateo Retegui, forward of Tigre, to the Italian national team (The same happened with the attacking midfielder from Belgrano de Córdoba Bruno Zapelli in the Sub 21 of the Azure).
At 27, the former River and Banfield player has a long history in Italian football: Genoa, Fiorentina, Cagliari, Hellas Verona and Napoli, where he has been a substitute for Nigerian Victor Osimhen, an undisputed figure in the league and top scorer with 19 goals. . The Argentine has recorded 8 cries so far this season, counting games for Serie A, the Champions League and the Italian Cup.
It is worth mentioning the absence of Joaquín Correa, who had been called to the World Cup in the first instance but was later released due to injury. The Inter attacker suffered a thigh strain that has kept him off the pitch for a month and DT chose to leave him out. Instead, there is Papu Gómez, who underwent ankle surgery and has not yet returned to activity. The difference? One played in the World Cup and the other was unable to travel to Qatar in the end. The coach also chose to add Emiliano Buendiaan outstanding footballer at Aston Villa who has been on the coaching staff’s radar for some time.
The first friendly will be against Panama on Thursday, March 23 at the Most Monumental Stadium and five days later, on Tuesday the 28th, the team will travel to Santiago del Estero to face Curaçao in the Unique Mother of Cities Stadium of that province.
THE 36 CALLED FOR THE FRIENDLY:
ARCHERS: Franco Armani (River), Geronimo Rulli (Ajax) and Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa).
DEFENDERS: Juan Foyth (Villarreal), Gonzalo Montiel (Sevilla), Nahuel Molina (Atletico Madrid), Nehuén Pérez (Udinese), Germán Pezzella (Betis), Cristian Romero (Tottenham), Nicolás Otamendi (Benfica), Lisandro Martínez (Manchester United) ), Nicolás Tagliafico (Olympique Lyon), Marcos Acuña (Sevilla) and Lautaro Blanco (Elche).
MIDFIELDERS: Leandro Paredes (Juventus), Guido Rodriguez (Betis), Enzo Fernandez (Chelsea), Maximilian Perrone (Manchester City), Exequiel Palacios (Bayern Leverkusen), Rodrigo De Paul (Atletico Madrid), Facundo Buonanotte (Brighton) and Thiago Almada Giovani Lo Celso (Villarreal), Alexis Mac Allister (Brighton), Angel Di Maria (Juventus), Angel Correa (Atletico Madrid), Emiliano Buendia (Aston Villa) and Valentin Carboni (Inter).
FRONTSLionel Messi (PSG), Paulo Dybala (Roma), Lautaro Martinez (Inter), Julian Alvarez (Manchester City), Alexander Garnacho (Manchester United), Nicolas Gonzalez (Fiorentina), Alejandro Gomez (Sevilla) and Giovanni Simeone (Napoli) . . . .
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