Captain Lionel Messi is ambitious to win the championship, but believes that Argentina will face many difficulties on the journey to defend the title at Copa America 2024.
“We will continue to do our best to achieve success,” Messi said after the friendly match against Guatemala 4-1 on June 14. “Things will get more and more difficult, nothing is easy for us. But we will continue to race for the championship. The whole team still maintains desire and intensity in every practice session and match.” .
Argentine striker Lionel Messi (10) passes the ball past two Guatemalan defenders in a friendly match on June 14, 2024 at Landover Stadium, Maryland, USA. Photo: AP
Defending champion Argentina had a perfect run for Copa America by crushing Guatemala – the team currently ranked 108th in the world, behind Thailand. Argentina finished 19 times and scored four goals thanks to a double from captain Messi and striker Lautaro Martinez.
After the match, coach Lionel Scaloni finalized the list of 26 players participating in the 2024 Copa America, removing the names of midfielder Leonardo Balerdi (Marseille), left back Valentin Barco (Brighton) and striker Angel Correa (Atletico Madrid). Of these three names, Barco and Balerdi did not play a minute in two friendly matches earlier this month, while Correa came on as a substitute against Ecuador.
Meanwhile, 19-year-old players Alejandro Garnacho and Valentin Carboni are the two youngest players on the roster this time and will have their first international tournament with Argentina. Garnacho is a famous player at Man Utd, while Carboni is an attacking midfielder on the payroll of Inter Milan. In the 2023-2024 season, Carboni plays for Monza on a loan contract, has two goals and four assists in 32 matches in all competitions.
“Carboni has a great future,” Messi praised his junior. “Carboni is Argentina’s present and future, and we have to take advantage of him. I watched Carboni play in the U20s and he is now very mature, a completely different player, more well-trained very much with outstanding quality”.
List of 26 Argentine players participating in Copa America 2024. Photo: AFA
At the 2024 Copa America , Scaloni made five changes from the 2022 World Cup squad, as Valentin Carboni, Alejandro Garnacho, Giovani Lo Celso, Lucas Martinez Quarta and Nicolas Gonzalez replaced Papu Gomez, Juan Foyth, Paulo Dybala, Angel Correa and Thiago Almada. Scaloni also confirmed that Messi will play all of Argentina’s matches if he is in the best condition.
At Copa America 2024, Argentina is in Group A and will meet Canada on June 21, Chile on June 26 and Peru on June 30.