Javier Mascherano’s Olympic Dreams for Argentine National Team

2024-04-06 04:17:00
Javier Mascherano, coach of the Argentine National Team that will play in the Olympic Games. (Photo by Alex Avila/Jam Media/Getty Images)

Javier Mascherano’s great wish is for Lionel Messi to go to the Olympic Games. The coach of the Argentine U-23 team wants to go with his friend for another gold medal like the one they won on the field in Beijing 2008, the second gold medal in history following the one obtained in Athens 2004. Messi loves it. He would like to play in the Olympic Games, but Inter Miami asked him to please return to the team following the Copa América in the United States and that is what will surely happen.

The regulations allow the presence of three footballers over 23 years of age in the Games and Mascherano knows that it is not a simple mission because the clubs that own the players’ passes are not obliged to give them up as it is not a competition regulated by the FIFA but by the International Olympic Committee.

In this framework, Mascherano’s priorities are to reinforce the U-23 team with a goalkeeper, a central marker and a forward older than that age.

And he would also like to have several U-23s that make up the Senior National Team such as Enzo Fernández, Alejandro Garnacho, Facundo Buonanotte and Lucas Beltrán, among others. It is a wish that is difficult to achieve, but at the AFA they are working towards it.

At this time, the coach is planning a trip to Europe to try to complete the fine work that several members of the Major League are doing to convince their clubs to release them to go to the Olympic Games.

Today, the three footballers with the best chance of reinforcing the U-23 in France are Emiliano “Dibu” Martínez, Nicolás Otamendi and Julián Alvarez.

“Dibu” and Otamendi are even willing to tighten the rope with the authorities of Aston Villa and Benfica, respectively, to obtain permission. Both have enough back in their clubs to even enter into a conflict, as happened with Messi with Barcelona in 2008. The man from Rosario ended up going to the Beijing Olympic Games and in the Spanish club it took several months for the wound to heal. . Happy in life with winning the gold medal, Messi cared little regarding that.

In this case, “Dibu” and Otamendi, absolute leaders in their clubs, are willing to follow the same path as the captain of the National Team.

In the case of Julián Alvarez, those in the AFA orbit believe that his possible presence in the Olympic Games will encounter fewer obstacles from Manchester City.

If the presence of “Dibu”, Otamendi and Alvarez are confirmed, Mascherano will be in a position to put together a very seductive team.

The headliners might be: “Dibu” Martinez; John Ignatius Nardoni, Gonzalo Lujan, Otamendi, Valentine Ship; Christian Medina, Alan Varela, Ezekiel Fernandez; Thiago Almada; Julian Alvarez and Matthias Soulé.

Argentina will debut on Wednesday, July 23 once morest Morocco, in Saint-Ettiene; On Saturday the 27th they will clash in Lyon once morest the winner of the Asian Pre-Olympic that will be played in Qatar from the 15th of this month to May 3; and on Tuesday the 30th the initial round will close once morest Ukraine, also in Lyon.

The first two teams from each of the four groups will qualify for the quarterfinals, which will be played on Friday, August 2.

The semi-finals will take place on Monday, August 5 and the final will be on Friday, August 9 in Paris, while the match for third place will be played the day before in Nantes.

In Group A there will be France, the United States, a rival to qualify and New Zealand, while Group C will be made up of a team to qualify, Spain, Egypt and the Dominican Republic.

In zone D, meanwhile, a team to be confirmed will compete, Paraguay, Mali and Israel.

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