Lionel Scaloni lost two other soldiers for the clash with Venezuela: all the casualties for the double qualifying date

Lionel Scaloni continues to lose players ahead of the last double date of the Playoffs and this Monday the casualties of other players were confirmed. One of them starting, a key piece in the Pujato coach's scheme, who join other injured and suspended for the clashes against Venezuela in La Bombonera and Ecuador in Guayaquil.

The latest news reported on the national team's social networks indicate that “Lisandro Martínez, with a hamstring muscle injury of his left leg and Lautaro Martínez, positive for COVID-19, will be absent for this double date of the qualifiers”.

The most surprising thing was the case of the Toro, since the Inter attacker tested positive for coronavirus moments before he got on the plane that was going to transfer him from Italy to Spain, from where all the players' charter departed. In this way, the scorer of the Scaloni cycle will not be able to face Venezuela, in this Friday's match, and we will have to wait to see if he has a negative result for next week and the coach can add him to the match against Ecuador.

In the case of Lisandro, this Sunday he played as a starter in the victory in his team's classic, Ajax against Feyenoord (3-2). At the end of the match, the defender had to be replaced when he manifested physical discomfort, after locking inside the area to get the ball and the moment he wanted to continue running, he fell to the grass and grabbed his left hamstring.

The loss of former defender Newell's and Defensa adds in the position to that of Cristian Romero, who is sanctioned by FIFA for the scandal of the truncated match against Brazil in São Paulo, also because of the qualifiers. Now the variants that Scaloni is studying to replace Cuti are Nicolás Otamendi, Germán Pezzella, Lucas Martínez Quarta and, perhaps, Juan Foyth, who recently played right-back, but started as a defender.

In recent weeks there were two other confirmed absences, both players from Sevilla: one of them was also a starter like Marcos Acuña, who has a muscular discomfort, and then a relay that usually shows off in every presentation, Alejandro “Papu” Gómez, who did not recover from the muscle injury suffered in the Andalusian classic match against Betis.

It should be recalled that, like Cuti Romero, they are also sanctioned by FIFA, Emiliano Buendía, Emiliano Martínez and Giovani Lo Celso, who in the preview of the classic against the Scratch for the Qualifiers, were the ones targeted by the Brazilian National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa), because they allegedly lied in the affidavit they signed when they entered the country from the city of Caracas, omitting that they had been in England (the country in which they resided) not less than 14 days ago, they finally received a penalty and must pay two dates of suspension. They join Nahuel Molina Lucero, suspended due to accumulation of cards for the first match.

With the presence of Lionel Messi confirmed, the DT bet on a call in which he will continue to test players and give chances to juveniles who on the day of tomorrow could be the base of Albiceleste as the five who called for this instance and who play in European clubs.

This Friday 25th the National Team will host Venezuela in La Bombonera and on the 29th will end its visiting participation against Ecuador, in Guayaquil. Although the Argentine team has already qualified for the World Cup since the end of 2021, for the technical director each meeting is very important because they are part of the preparation for the big event that will take place from November 21 to December 18 in Qatar.

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