The Argentine National Team faces Peru, in a new day of the South American Qualifiers, from 9:00 p.m. The duel will be in La Bombonera, where the national team will seek to quickly turn the page, after the fall in Asunción at the hands of Paraguay, to take a new step towards qualifying for the 2026 World Cup that will take place in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
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To do this, Lionel Scaloni will have the presence of Lionel Messi, although he will have several absences due to injuries that will affect the formation of a squad that needs to smile again before its people: Cristian Romero, Nahuel Molina, Germán Pezzella, Lisandro Martínez and Nicolás González.
The string of injuries within the National Team continued to add names after the game in Asunción, with Molina and Romero as the last affected. The right back suffered discomfort in the back of his right thigh, while Cuti was sidelined due to a persistent problem since his last game at Tottenham, when against Aston Villa he received a strong blow to his right foot, which meant he had to play infiltrated against Paraguay. Given the risk of worsening his situation, the coaching staff decided to replace him at halftime and allow him to return to Europe to continue his recovery.
Likewise, other players also faced physical problems: Nico Tagliafico suffered discomfort in one of his shoulders after contesting a ball, but managed to work alongside the group in training on Monday afternoon. Due to these setbacks, the coach urgently summoned Giuliano Simeone. However, it is worth noting that the injury curse had begun before, with Nico González, who had a problem with the rectus femoris of his right thigh; with Lisandro Martínez, who was injured in a match against Leicester; and with Pezzella, who is also still affected by a problem in his right calf and has not managed to recover.
The two-time champions of America and world champions, despite being defeated 2 to 1 by Paraguay in Asunción in their recent Qualifiers presentation, continue to be leaders of the standings with 22 points and are very close to securing their place in the next World Cup, where they will seek to defend their champion title.
With a complicated panorama, the technical director analyzes the variants for the clash against Peru. The candidate to enter the right back instead of Molina is Gonzalo Montiel, while Leonardo Balerdi would replace Romero: he already did it at halftime in the duel with Paraguay. The rest could be the same ones that started in Defensores del Chaco, although it remains to be seen if Scaloni decides on some tactical variant.
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So, Emiliano Martínez continues to be the main goalkeeper, but a new defense would appear that could be made up of Montiel, Nicolás Otamendi, Balerdi and Tagliafico. In the middle, Rodrigo De Paul, Enzo Fernández and Alexis Mac Allister have a guaranteed place, as does Lionel Messi up front. In attack, Scaloni could accompany the star with two more forwards and repeat the trident that he played in Asunción, with Julián Álvarez and Lautaro Martínez.
Peru, after drawing 0-0 with Chile on Friday at the close of the eleventh round of the Qualifiers, is in penultimate place in the table with only seven points. In 11 matches, the team has won only once, drawn four and lost six, so they urgently need to score points to stay in the competition for a place in the next World Cup.
Among the players called up by Uruguayan coach Jorge Fossati, names such as goalkeeper Pedro Gallese, Luis Advíncula, Carlos Zambrano, Miguel Trauco, Gianluca Lapadula and Paolo Guerrero stand out, some of whom will probably start against Argentina.
Probable Formations
Argentina: Emiliano Martínez; Gonzalo Montiel, Nicolás Otamendi, Leonardo Balerdi, Nicolás Tagliafico; Rodrigo De Paul, Alexis Mac Allister, Enzo Fernández; Lionel Messi, Julián Álvarez and Lautaro Martínez. DT: Lionel Scaloni.
Peru: Pedro Gallese; Carlos Zambrano or Aldo Cardozo, Miguel Araujo, Alexander Callens; Andy Polo, Oliver Sonne, Sergio Peña, Luis Advíncula, Jesús Castillo or Horacio Calcaterra; Paolo Guerrero and Alex Valera or Bryan Reyna. DT: Jorge Fossati.
Time: 21.00
TV: TyC Sports
Referee: Wilmar Roldán
VAR: Yadir Acuña
AVAR: Heider Castro
Stadium: La Bombonera, La Boca
