Lionel Scaloni spoke at a conference and explained in detail the circumstances of the La Paz derby for tomorrow’s match against Bolivia. In addition, he confirmed that Messi has traveled and is ready to play.
Tomorrow, the second date for the South American qualifiers will start towards the World Cup Mexico, the United States and Canada 2026, and the Argentine national team will face Bolivia at an altitude of no less than 3,625 stifling meters. For this reason, coach Lionel Scaloni held, yesterday, in preparation for tomorrow’s match at the Hernando Siles stadium, a press conference at the AFC stadium, in which he confirmed the presence of Lionel Messi on the plateau, and also gave indications of the team that he will plant on the field. Tomorrow’s field of play.
At the start, the DT World Champion was asked about Rosario’s captain and he removed all kinds of doubts: “Messi will travel. Today he trained differently but he is ready to travel. We still have two days before the match and we will make the decision tomorrow or on Tuesday itself”. Minutes later, he added on the same topic: “That trip is a positive feeling.” So, if you travel it’s for play, for sure. As a coach, I would have told him to sit back and relax and be at his club. He added: “We know that he always wants to play, so we will see on Tuesday what decision we will make.”
In another ranking of the situations, the Albicelesti coach also indicated which formation will seek three points from the heights: “I have a team in my head more or less, that will be similar to the one that played the other day (against Ecuador), as long as there are no complications”. In response to a question about the possibility of making some adjustments, he indicated: “If nothing happens, the idea is to repeat or make some changes, which could be the income of these boys (Angel Di Maria and Julian Alvarez). They have a chance to play, but we will not make the decision until the morning. the match”.
In addition to being “on alert” for the Bolivian team, Scaloni touched on another important issue, such as the stifling altitude of 3,625 meters in La Paz: “There is no exact science to combat altitude. A lot of things have been tried and we already know how difficult it is for the teams.” That goes there. I don’t want to talk too much about it because it’s something that won’t change. Obviously there is an additional difficulty, but we will not complain under any circumstances. Everyone will play there. Nothing can be done. Other aspects are being worked on But if you’re not on the field you won’t realize it.
