Striker Lionel Messi is on the preliminary list of 29 Argentine players preparing to defend their title at Copa America 2024.
Messi first played at the 2007 Copa America in Venezuela, scoring two goals in six matches, but Argentina lost 0-3 to Brazil in the final. Messi also lost with Argentina to Chile on penalties in the 2015 and 2016 finals. The star born in 1987 and Argentina lost to Uruguay in the 2011 Copa America quarterfinals and lost to Brazil in the 2019 semi-finals.
It was not until the last time he participated in the tournament – 2021, that Messi and Argentina won the Copa America, thereby winning their first title at the team level. He and his teammates defeated host Brazil 1-0 in the final, and also won three individual awards: Best Player, Top Scorer and Most Assisted Player.
In total, Messi has appeared 34 times at the Copa America, the best statistics and equal to Chile’s late goalkeeper Sergio Livingstone – who attended six Copa Americas in 1941, 1942, 1945, 1947, 1949, 1953. win this record if he plays at Copa America 2024.
Messi has scored 13 goals at Copa America, equal to Jair, Ademir (Brazil) and Gabriel Batistuta, José Manuel Moreno, Héctor Scarone (Argentina). He is only behind six players, including Eduardo Vargas (Chile), Paolo Guerrero (Peru) with 14 goals, Lolo Fernandez (Peru), Severino Varela (Uruguay) with 15 goals and Norberto Mendez (Argentina), Zizinho (Brazil) with record 17 goals. Messi will set a new milestone if he scores at least five goals at Copa America 2024.
Messi has 10 goals and nine assists in ten matches for Inter Miami in MLS this season, along with two goals and two assists in three appearances at the CONCACAF Champions Cup. The 36-year-old striker holds the record of scoring 106 goals in 180 matches for Argentina.
The list of 29 Argentine players announced by coach Lionel Scaloni on April 20 includes many stars playing in the Premier League, such as Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa), Gonzalo Montiel (Nottingham), Cristian Romero, Giovani Lo Celso (Tottenham). ), Alejandro Garnacho, Lisandro Martinez (Man Utd), Alexis Mac Allister (Liverpool), Enzo Fernandez (Chelsea) or Julian Alvarez (Man City). Meanwhile, only one domestic player is present, Franco Armani – the 37-year-old goalkeeper of River Plate.
This list lacks four members who won the 2022 World Cup, namely Juan Foyth (Villarreal), Thiago Almada (Atlanta United), Paulo Dybala (AS Roma) and Alejandro Gomez – midfielder banned from playing for 2 years for testing positive for doping. . Dybala’s absence is surprising because the Roma striker scored 16 goals in all competitions this season and won the best player of the month award three times in Serie A.
Argentina will play friendly matches with Ecuador on June 10, Guatemala on June 14 before starting the journey to defend the title at Copa America 2024, where they are in the same group as Peru, Chile and Canada. Scaloni will eliminate three names before announcing the official list of 26 players.
Preliminary list of Argentina squad for Copa America 2024:
Goalkeepers: Franco Armani (River Plate), Geronimo Rulli (Ajax), Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa).
Defenders: Gonzalo Montiel (Nottingham), Nahuel Molina (Atletico), Leonardo Balerdi (Marseille), Cristian Romero (Tottenham), German Pezzella (Real Betis), Lucas M. Quarta (Fiorentina), Nicolas Otamendi (Benfica), Lisandro Martinez (Man Utd), Marcos Acuna (Sevilla), Nicolas Tagliafico (Lyon), Valentin Barco (Brighton).
Midfielders: Guido Rodriguez (Real Betis), Leandro Paredes (Roma), Alexis Mac Allister (Liverpool), Rodrigo De Paul (Atletico), Exequiel Palacios (Bayer Leverkusen), Enzo Fernandez (Chelsea), Giovani Lo Celso (Tottenham).
Forwards: Angel Di Maria (Benfica), Valentin Carboni (Monza), Lionel Messi (Inter Miami), Angel Correa (Atletico Madrid), Alejandro Garnacho (Manchester United), Nicolas Gonzalez (Fiorentina), Lautaro Martinez (Inter), Julian Alvarez (Man City)
