{"id":210767,"date":"2026-03-18T17:57:41","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T17:57:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/lionel-scaloni-reveals-final-argentina-national-team-roster-ahead-of-2026-world-cup-featuring-several-surprises\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T17:57:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T17:57:43","slug":"lionel-scaloni-reveals-final-argentina-national-team-roster-ahead-of-2026-world-cup-featuring-several-surprises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/lionel-scaloni-reveals-final-argentina-national-team-roster-ahead-of-2026-world-cup-featuring-several-surprises\/","title":{"rendered":"Lionel Scaloni Reveals Final Argentina National Team Roster Ahead of 2026 World Cup Featuring Several Surprises"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div>\n<div class=\"visual__image image-initial-width\"><picture><source  media=\"(min-width: 1000px)\"\/><source  media=\"(min-width: 768px)\"\/><source  media=\"(min-width: 580px)\"\/><source  media=\"(min-width: 350px)\"\/><source  media=\"(min-width: 80px)\"\/><\/picture><figcaption class=\"article-figcaption-img\">Lionel Scaloni announced the last list before the 2026 World Cup (Photo: Reuters\/Pablo Morano<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<h2>Latest Announcement from Lionel Scaloni<\/h2>\n<p>The <strong>Argentine national team<\/strong> is firmly gearing up for the <strong>2026 World Cup<\/strong>, and head coach <strong>Lionel Scaloni<\/strong> has unveiled his latest squad, which will lay the groundwork for defending their title in this prestigious tournament. The list includes remarkable surprises and some unexpected absences, setting the stage for an exciting few months leading up to the World Cup.<\/p>\n<h2>Surprising Selections<\/h2>\n<p>Scaloni&#8217;s latest squad features notable new faces:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Tom\u00e1s Palacios<\/strong>: The Inter Milan defender, currently on loan to <strong>Estudiantes de La Plata<\/strong>, is one of the standout surprises.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Gabriel Rojas<\/strong>: A left-back from <strong>Racing Club<\/strong>, Rojas has also made his way into the spotlight.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Additional players previously overlooked but now included are <strong>Valent\u00edn Barco<\/strong> (Racing Strasbourg), <strong>M\u00e1ximo Perrone<\/strong> (Como, Italy), <strong>Gianluca Prestianni<\/strong> (Benfica, Portugal), and <strong>Jos\u00e9 L\u00f3pez<\/strong> (Palmeiras, Brazil).<\/p>\n<h3>Analyzing Key Absences<\/h3>\n<p>While the list holds some surprises, it also raises questions regarding several omissions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Joaqu\u00edn Panichelli<\/strong>, one of the top scorers in Ligue 1, failed to make the cut along with Real Madrid midfielder <strong>Franco Mastantuono<\/strong> and Chelsea winger <strong>Alejandro Garnacho<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Notable injuries have ruled out stars like <strong>Lautaro Mart\u00ednez<\/strong> (Inter Milan) and <strong>Lisandro Mart\u00ednez<\/strong> (Manchester United), though it\u2019s important to note these players are not expected to miss the World Cup entirely. Similarly, <strong>Giovani Lo Celso<\/strong> (Real Betis) and <strong>Paulo Dybala<\/strong> (AS Roma) are recovering from injuries.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Upcoming Friendly Matches<\/h2>\n<p>The Argentine team\u2019s training camp begins with a friendly match against Guatemala on <strong>Tuesday, March 31<\/strong>, to sharpen their skills ahead of the World Cup. Originally, Argentina was set to play in a final against Spain in Qatar, but geopolitical issues led to the cancellation of these plans.<\/p>\n<h3>Preparing for the World Cup<\/h3>\n<p>With the World Cup approaching, Scaloni aims to utilize this March FIFA Date to fine-tune his squad&#8217;s dynamics. The tournament will be co-hosted by Mexico, the United States, and Canada. Argentina\u2019s initial match is slated against Algeria on <strong>June 16 at 10:00 p.m.<\/strong> (Argentina time) in Kansas City, followed by games against Austria on June 22 and Jordan on June 27 at the Dallas Stadium.<\/p>\n<h2>Final Roster Projections<\/h2>\n<p>Looking ahead, Scaloni will need to finalize his squad of <strong>26 players<\/strong> by <strong>June 1<\/strong>, following a potential pre-list of up to <strong>35<\/strong> players due by <strong>May 11<\/strong>. This timeline is crucial for assessing player fitness and forming a cohesive strategy for the World Cup.<\/p>\n<h3>Preliminary Squad Breakdown<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Goalkeepers<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Emiliano Mart\u00ednez (Aston Villa, England)<\/li>\n<li>Ger\u00f3nimo Rulli (Olympique de Marseille, France)<\/li>\n<li>Juan Musso (Atl\u00e9tico Madrid, Spain)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Defenders<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Nahuel Molina (Atl\u00e9tico Madrid, Spain)<\/li>\n<li>Cristian Romero (Tottenham, England)<\/li>\n<li>Nicol\u00e1s Otamendi (Benfica, Portugal)<\/li>\n<li>Tom\u00e1s Palacios (Estudiantes de La Plata)<\/li>\n<li>Gabriel Rojas (Racing Club)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Midfielders<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Leandro Paredes (Boca Juniors, Argentina)<\/li>\n<li>M\u00e1ximo Perrone (Como, Italy)<\/li>\n<li>Alexis Mac Allister (Liverpool, England)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Forwards<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Lionel Messi (Inter Miami, United States)<\/li>\n<li>Nicol\u00e1s Paz (Como, Italy)<\/li>\n<li>Juli\u00e1n \u00c1lvarez (Atl\u00e9tico Madrid, Spain)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>With the squad announced and a series of preparatory matches planned, expectations are high for the Argentine national team. As they navigate these selections and injuries, all eyes will be on Scaloni to see how he molds his roster into a formidable force for the upcoming World Cup. The journey ahead promises to be thrilling for both players and fans alike.<\/p>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/category\/general\/\" rel=\"dofollow\">General News &#8211; 2<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lionel Scaloni announced the last list before the 2026 World Cup (Photo: Reuters\/Pablo Morano Latest Announcement from Lionel Scaloni The Argentine national team is firmly gearing up for the 2026 World Cup, and head coach Lionel Scaloni has unveiled his latest squad, which will lay the groundwork for defending their title in this prestigious tournament. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":210768,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[7380,9699,1470,1147,24549,466,10703,252,562,25480,41672,9951,21,3810,253,110],"class_list":["post-210767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mazagine","tag-ahead","tag-argentina","tag-cup","tag-europe","tag-featuring","tag-final","tag-lionel","tag-national","tag-reveals","tag-roster","tag-scaloni","tag-soccer","tag-sport","tag-surprises","tag-team","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210767"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210767\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":210769,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210767\/revisions\/210769"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}