look news india
Buenos Aires, May 21 (HS). Argentina on Monday announced its provisional squad for the Copa America 2024, which will be led by Lionel Messi.
Argentina, who enter the Copa America as defending champions, will play friendlies against Ecuador and Guatemala on June 9 and 14 respectively before the tournament. The 29-man squad will eventually be reduced to 26 after these matches, with tournament organizing body the South American Football Confederation increasing the squad size from 23 to 26 this month.
In the previous edition of the tournament, Messi won his first international trophy with the Albiceleste after defeating arch-rivals Brazil 1–0 in the final. Angel Di Maria, the goalscorer in that game, has also made a place in the team despite now being 36 years old.
The team includes three league winners, Julián Álvarez, Lautaro Martínez and Exquiel Palacios, who have won the top division in three different countries, England (Manchester City), Italy (Inter Milan) and Germany (Bayer Leverkusen) respectively.
Messi, who will lead Argentina to the FIFA World Cup in 2022, was struggling with a hamstring problem until last month, but had indicated that he would like to continue playing for his country in the continental tournament.
Argentina have been drawn in Group A with Peru, Chile and Canada. The Argentine team will begin its campaign against Canada on June 20 at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Georgia.
Argentina's team is as follows-
Goalkeepers: Franco Armani, Geronimo Rulli, Emiliano Martínez.
Defenders: Gonzalo Montiel, Nahuel Molina, Leonardo Balerdi, Cristian Romero, German Pezzella, Lucas Martínez, Nicolas Otamendi, Lisandro Martínez, Marcos Acuña, Nicolas Tagliafico, Valentin Barco.
Midfielders: Guido Rodriguez, Leandro Paredes, Alexis McAllister, Rodrigo De Paul, Exquiel Palacios, Enzo Fernandez, Giovani Lo Celso.
Forwards: Angel Di Maria, Valentin Carboni, Lionel Messi, Angel Correa, Alejandro Garnacho, Nicolas Gonzalez, Lautaro Martínez, Julian Alvarez.