Copa America will start in Brazil next week, and of course Argentina will be there. In the night from Friday to Saturday, Lionel Messi and their associates in San Juan, Argentina, play their goodbye game against football dwarf Nicaragua, which is preparing for the approaching Gold Cup.
Argentina:
With Argentina, of course, everything revolves around Lionel Messi, who recently, after a long period without international football, decided to defend the colors of his home country. Earlier this week, however, the superstar raised the necessary eyebrows by stating that the Argentines are not candidates for the final victory in the upcoming Copa America. “The reality is that we are in the middle of a rejuvenation process,” said Messi for TyC Sports cameras. “Of course we will do our best to win the tournament, but unlike previous editions, we are definitely not among the favorites.”
Messi has a point, because with Sergio Agüero, Angel Di Maria, Nicolas Otamendi and himself there are only four players in the selection with more than fifty international matches behind their name. No fewer than ten of the 23 players are even on fewer than five caps, so national coach Lionel Scaloni takes a big risk. The selection leader clearly shows with his selection that he would rather opt for the young guard, who is still really hungry for prizes. With so many relatively new faces for the national team, the battle for a place in the starting eleven has started again. Nicaragua home is the first and also the last practice international before the real work starts next week with the first group match in the Copa America against Colombia. This goodbye competition for their own audience is therefore the last chance for the players to convince Scaloni.
Nicaragua:
Of course we do not expect miracles from Nicaragua. The Central Americans currently occupy 129th place in the FIFA world ranking, between Malawi (128) and Sudan (129). Then you know it.
The selection consists mainly of players who are still active in their own country. Four players earn a living in the slightly stronger competition from Costa Rica. In addition, three ‘Europeans’ were invited, but you can wonder to what extent players from meaningless clubs such as Irodotos (Greece), UD Algaida (Spain) and Nybergsund (Norway) will be able to withstand Messi and associates. For the players this is primarily a great adventure. “Playing against a top country like Argentina, you experience something like that only once in your life,” said attacker Byron Bonilla. National coach Henry Duarte has called on his players to behave professionally: ‘I want my players to focus fully on the game. You can make selfies after the race. ‘
PREDICTION: Over 3,5 goals @ 1,45
