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Argentina is always one of the favorites at every football tournament they participate in and Lima 2019 will be no exception. Actually, the “Albiceleste” is the most awarded team with six gold medals (1951, 1955, 1959, 1971, 1995, and 2003), two silver medals (1963 and 2011), and three bronze medals (1975, 1979, and 1987).
In spite of the coach Fernando Batista’s attempt to include world cup players, administrative problems in the Argentine Football Association (AFA) were a big obstacle for doing that.
In an interview with Lima 2019, Batista acknowledges that the Pan American Games will help discover young promising platers. Therefore, they started training on Monday at the AFA Sports Center in Ezeiza.
How relevant do you think it is for Argentina having you as football coach for the Lima 2019 Pan American Games?
It is a major tournament, and we’re going for the goal. Every match is important for the Argentine football team because they put to test the Argentinian football prestige. Also, the competition will let us discover promising players.
Most of the selected layers come from the team you coached during the U-20 World Cup held in Poland. Is this what you mean by discovering promising players?
These type of competitions help test our players, but essentially these are high-demand matches for the AFA process for training divisions.
Your team started training for Lima 2019 on Monday. Have you considered adapting the artificial grass at the San Marcos University Stadium?
We planned to work on the artificial grass field located on the Argentine Football Association facilities. We’ll try to adapt to the surface as fast as possible. Argentine players are known for adjusting to any kind of conditions.
What can you say about your opponents?
These are three strong opponents, with a lot of experience. Ecuador, will be our opponent in the first match. Their minor divisions have been training hard for many years under the supervision of their coach Célico. Mexico has experience in U-23 categories, whilst Panama has improved their training process over the last years and even managed to qualify for the last World Cups. It will be a tough competition.
You wanted to include World Cup players in your team for Lima 2019. Have your plans changed?
We’ve top-level players in our team such as Matias “Monito” Vargas, who’s a star in Vélez Sarsfield. They’ll help us achieve our goal.
Argentina also considered calling players over 22-years-old such as Fabricio Coloccini (San Lorenzo), Maximiliano Rodríguez (Newell's Old Boys), Lucas Menossi (Tigre), Jonathan Calleri (Deportivo Alavés), and Javier Mascherano (Hebei Fortune, from China). But our official team is mostly made up of U-20 players who participated in the last World Cup held in Poland. On Friday 5, we’ll reveal the final list of 18 players.
Argentine’s Preliminary List for the 2019 Pan American Games is as follows:
Goalkeepers: Facundo Cambeses (Banfield) and Juan Pablo Cozzani (Lanús).
Defenders: Francisco Ortega (Vélez Sarsfield), Marcelo Herrera (San Lorenzo), Leonel Mosevich (Nacional de Portugal), Nicolás Demartini (Temperley), Joaquín Novillo (Belgrano), Facundo Medina (Talleres), and Aaron Barquett (Argentinos Juniors).
Midfielders: Nicolás Domínguez (Vélez Sarsfield), Fausto Vera (Argentinos Juniors), Santiago Colombatto (Cagliari-ITA), Aníbal Moreno (Newell's Old Boys), Lucas Necul (Arsenal), and Gonzalo Miceli (Nueva Chicago).
Forwards: Fernando Valenzuela (Barracas Central), Matías Vargas (Vélez Sarsfield), Agustín Urzi (Banfield), Nicolás González (Stuttgart-ALE), Adolfo Gaich (San Lorenzo), Ignacio Aliseda (Defensa y Justicia), and Sebastián Lomónaco (Godoy Cruz).
FOOTBALL AT LIMA 2019
The Lima 2019 men's football competitions will start on July 29 with Group A matches: Panama vs Mexico (10:00), and Ecuador vs Argentina (13:00). As for the second session, Group B will kick off its competitions with Jamaica vs Honduras (17:30) and it closes with Peru against the current Pan American champion, Uruguay (20:30).
The Pan American Games matches will be governed by the FIFA rules. During the first stage, three points will be awarded per victory and one point per tie. The top two teams of each group advance to semifinals. Ties will be settled with 30 minutes extra-times. If scores are still tied, a penalty shootout will be played.
