The Argentine National Team held its first training session ahead of the upcoming friendly matches. According to the Argentine News Agency (NA), the national team had its first practice session this afternoon at the Lionel Andrés Messi facility, owned by the Argentine Football Association (AFA) in Ezeiza, a day after the players arrived for the training camp. One of the few players who did not arrive in the country on Monday was Messi, who landed at Ezeiza Airport at 6:45 AM this Tuesday, after reaching a new milestone in his career by scoring his 900th goal last week. The squad trained with some new additions: defenders Lucas Martínez Quarta and Agustín Giay, midfielder Franco Mastantuono, and forward Joaquín Panichelli joined the call-up in the last few hours. Facing a double-header of friendly matches that had to be organized at the last minute due to the suspension of the Finalissima, which would have pitted the Argentine team against their Spanish counterparts on Friday, March 27, the Argentine team will now face two African rivals with no history in the World Cup: Mauritania and Zambia. As he prepares the team to face the mentioned opponents, coach Lionel Scaloni led the Argentine National Team's training session, also aiming to finalize the squad to complete the preliminary list of up to 35 players, which must be confirmed by May 11. Furthermore, the original list of convocados, officially announced on March 18, had to undergo some modifications. After the promising Franco Mastantuono, a Real Madrid midfielder, and Joaquín Panichelli, a Racing Strasbourg striker and top scorer in the French league, were added, two new incorporations were made: full-back Agustín Giay and center-back Lucas Martínez Quarta, to cover for the injuries to Gonzalo Montiel and Leonardo Balerdi in their respective positions. The National Team will continue with practice sessions in the afternoon until Thursday, March 26, before facing Mauritania on Friday, 27, at the Alberto J. Armando stadium, popularly known as 'La Bombonera,' at 8:15 PM.
