Scaloni picks Argentina squad: Echeverri in, Medina out | OneFootball

Lionel Scaloni confirmed the list of call-ups for the last double round of South American Qualifiers, in which Argentina will host Venezuela next Thursday, September 4 at 8:30 p.m. and will visit Ecuador on Tuesday the 9th at 8:00 p.m. Compared to the preliminary list published last week, Facundo Medina and Ángel Correa are out, while Claudio Echeverri, Alan Varela, and José Manuel López remain. Meet the 29 called-up players.

The coach from Pujato surprised with some names included in the preliminary list, such as “el Flaco” López, who is having a great season at Palmeiras. In 2025, he has scored 17 goals in 46 matches and won the spot over Valentín Castellanos, Lazio’s striker. Even though there was speculation he might be left out, the coach confirmed him. “The truth is, I didn’t expect it, but I always believed this call-up would happen. Deep down, I always believed it. I didn’t know it would be this year, I didn’t imagine it would be so soon, but well… As I always say, the only thing I ask God and what I try to do is to be prepared for the opportunities that come my way,” he commented after the victory against Sport Recife in the Brasileirao.

Others who made the cut were Varela and Echeverri. The Boca youth product, who is doing well at Porto, takes the place of Enzo Fernández, who was sent off against Colombia and received a two-match suspension. “El Diablito,” recently arrived at Bayer Leverkusen, is one of the many attacking midfielders Scaloni included in this list and hopes to make his debut for the senior team in this double round.

The downside of the cut is that two players were left out, both regulars in the national team call-ups. One of them is Facundo Medina, who started in the last match against Colombia, and his absence may be felt considering that Lisandro Martínez is still recovering from his torn cruciate ligament and there are no other left-footed center backs. At left back, Nicolás Tagliafico, Marcos Acuña, and the young Julio Soler won the battle over the River Plate youth product.

Ángel Correa, for his part, left Atlético de Madrid after ten seasons and started his stint in Mexican football on the right foot: he scored six goals in eight matches for Tigres. Despite his good form, Scaloni opted for other attacking options, leaving out the World Cup and Copa América champion with the Albiceleste.

The rest of the absentees from the Argentina National Team list

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.