Diego Maradona called up in excess of 100 players during his relatively short time in charge of Argentina but the numbers were slightly skewed by a series of friendlies in which domestic squads were selected. Jorge Sampaoli, it would appear, sees a similar advantage in doing that and is shortly expected to announce a squad for a friendly against Bolivia on either July 19th or 20th.
Argentina face a crucial World Cup qualifier against Uruguay on August 31st and while there may be some crossover, Sampaoli will take the opportunity to look more closely at some of the top players currently in Argentina’s Primera División.
The likes of Lucas Alario, Marcos Acuña, Iván Marcone, Nacho Fernández, Nicolás Tagliafico, Javier Pinola and Jonatan Maidana have all been involved in recent Argentina squads and are expected to be named for the forthcoming ‘domestic’ friendly but there are plenty of new additions too.
Veterans Enzo Pérez and Gonzalo Rodriguez have recently returned to the country with River Plate and San Lorenzo respectively, and there is also room for the experienced Fernando Belluschi, Pablo Pérez and Lautaro Acosta.
However, the call-ups that are likely to excite most supporters will be the Primera’s leading scorer Darío Benedetto and the group of talented younger players – Emiliano Rigoni, Alex Barboza, Fabricio Bustos and Juan Cascini.
Another list had been released suggested players from Liga MX would also be included but that now appears to be false; the friendly and Sampaoli’s squad should be announced shortly.
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