Most of its footballers are of Dutch descent. In his last call, his coach, Remko Bicentini, summoned just seven footballers born in the national territory. The remaining 16 are “imported”. The majority, from the Netherlands, adopted nationality after being discarded by the Clockwork Orange. The Caribbean team, which competes in Concacaf, comes from losing 2-0 on Saturday at home to Canada in the Nations League of that confederation. Furthermore, Curaçao never dreamed of facing the reigning world champions. Not even with facing Lionel Messi, Argentine captain and maximum idol of many of the players that he will have on the other side of the field and to take a souvenir or a memory of an unforgettable night the federation asked the AFA for 23 Messi shirts to take back home.
The Madre de Ciudades Stadium was specially refurbished for this match between the Argentine national team and Curaçao, since it had the capacity to receive 30,000 spectators and tonight there will be 42,000 fans on the pitch. The determination they made to make this expansion was to remove seats from the North, upper and lower sectors, South, also upper and lower, and in the East sector, upper stalls, as confirmed by Julio Marchant, former soccer player and director of the stadium.
Although Lionel Scaloni has not yet confirmed the formation for tonight’s match, from 8:30 p.m., against Curaçao, it is estimated that the Argentine team could form with: Emiliano Martínez; Gonzalo Montiel, Cristian Romero or Lisandro Martínez, Nicolás Otamendi and Marcos Acuña; Rodrigo De Paul, Leandro Paredes and Alexis Mac Allister or Giovani Lo Celso; Lionel Messi, Lautaro Martinez and Angel Di Maria.
The fans received the team this Monday night in Santiago del Estero and from the landing at the Hilton Garden hotel thousands of them waited for a greeting from the world champions. On arrival the situation spilled over because everyone wanted to see Lionel Messi, now everything is calmer and the fans hope that the captain will come out to greet them.
Hannibal Greco – The Nation
The organization provided the world champions with two ways to get from the Hilton Garden hotel, in the city center, to the Mother of Cities stadium: a traditional bus and an open-top bus. The idea is that the team can go to the field in that roofless vehicle and go through the Fan Zone that was set up for all those who could not buy tickets, so they can greet the fans. It has not yet been confirmed that this alternative can be carried out for security reasons.
With Messi as the starter, the Argentine team will face Curaçao in a match that could become historic, since if the national team wins, it will rise to the top of the FIFA Ranking, displacing Brazil. In addition, if the Argentine captain scores, he will reach goal 100 with the national team’s jersey.
Once again, Sergio Goycochea will host the show during the preview, just as he did at the Monumental. The DJs that will provide music for the day will be Magda Darchuk, Leo Lencina, Daniel Lazarte and Meme Bouquet. In addition, Los Totoras, Banda XXI, La T y la M, La Mosca and Q’ Lokura will sing live. The Argentine anthem will be interpreted by Los Manseros Santiagueños. Finally, it is expected that after the match the families of the players celebrate with them on the field of play. The stadium gates will open at 3:30 p.m.
The national team will play this Tuesday and continue to party in Santiago del Estero. Lionel Scaloni’s team will face Curaçao from 8:30 p.m. at the Madre de Ciudades stadium, in Santiago del Estero. The world champions will live another day of celebrations in a province revolutionized by the presence of Lionel Messi. The match will be televised by TyC Sports, Public TV and DSports.