With its full squad after the arrival of captain Lionel Messi and goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez, with his hand in a cast, the current world champion Argentina began preparation for the World Cup in Kansas City on Monday with its full squad, focused on recovering a large group of injured people.
The bulk of the soccer players had arrived at noon at the Origin boutique hotel, located near the center of the city of the state of Missouri, while Messi and another group arrived separately late at night.
Behind closed doors, the Albiceleste squad will formally begin training at the Compass Minerals National Performance Center, located about 20 minutes from the hotel.
In the 10 days left until the kickoff of the World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada, the coaching staff led by Lionel Scaloni will be focused on recovering almost a dozen injured players, including Messi and the starting goalkeeper.
Captain Messi suffers from an overload associated with muscle fatigue in the left hamstring and the challenge is for him to arrive in good condition for the debut against Algeria on June 16 in Group J, which includes Austria and Jordan.
The other focus of concern is Martínez, who arrived at the training camp from London with his left hand in a cast as a result of a fracture of the ring finger on his left hand while saving for Aston Villa in the Europa League final.
For his part, defender Cristian Romero has been out of action for two months due to a sprain to the collateral ligament in his right knee that he suffered in mid-April playing for Tottenham. The full-backs Nahuel Molina and Gonzalo Montiel – author of the decisive penalty in the definition in that way against France in 2002 – and the midfielder Leandro Paredes have muscle injuries of varying degrees.
Nicolás Paz, Italian Como forward, will also be evaluated for a blow to his left knee that forced him to miss the last league game. And the winger Nicolás González, from Atlético Madrid, has recovered from a tear, but arrives with little shooting.
Most of the players mentioned are unlikely to play in the friendlies against Honduras and Iceland on June 6 and 9, respectively.
To avoid risks, Scaloni summoned six extra players for the practice matches: goalkeeper Santiago Beltrán and winger Joaquín Freitas (River Plate), midfielders Tomás Aranda (Boca Juniors) and Simón Escobar (Vélez Sarsfield); the defender Ignacio Ovando (Rosario Central) and the winger Nicolás Capaldo (Hamburg).
The coach already experienced a similar situation in the run-up to Qatar 2022 when, with the squad defined, he dropped Joaquín Correa and Nicolás González due to injuries and had to call up Ángel Correa and Thiago Almada a few days before the World Cup debut.
Scaloni has until the World Cup debut to make changes to the roster of 26 players mentioned.
