Argentina won’t have Lionel Messi at the Linc, but it will have plenty of other stars
The reigning World Cup champs have brought Lautaro Martínez, Ángel Di María, and many other big names to town for Friday's game. Just not the biggest name of all.
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Argentina’s men’s national team is full of players from the world’s biggest clubs: Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Atlético Madrid, and more.
The fan base is world-renowned as one of the biggest and most passionate on the planet, filling stadiums at every World Cup, Copa América, and countless friendlies.
It’s remarkable, then, that Lionel Messi’s presence is so big that he overshadows everything else associated with the reigning World Cup champions. And when he isn’t around, as is the case this week because of a hamstring injury, that also overshadows everything.
Soccer fans in Philadelphia and around the world watch Julián Álvarez, Alexis Mac Allister, and Alejandro Garnacho in England’s Premier League every weekend. They also watch Lautaro Martínez, Rodrigo De Paul, and Ángel Di María in the UEFA Champions League, the biggest club stage of all.
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Those six stars and 20 others will be at Lincoln Financial Field on Friday when Argentina faces El Salvador in a friendly game that will help the Albiceleste prepare for this summer’s Copa América (8 p.m., CBS Sports’ free Golazo Network streaming platform and Fox Deportes). But in part because Messi won’t play, only 30,000 tickets had been sold as of Thursday afternoon.
“We prefer he was here, obviously, just like any other game,” Argentina’s manager Lionel Scaloni said at a news conference Thursday afternoon. The manager hasn’t often had to build a lineup without Messi in it, but he will do so for Friday’s game and next Tuesday’s Argentina-Nigeria friendly in Los Angeles.
“Replacing a player like that, of course, is impossible,” Scaloni added. “You play differently, obviously, you line up differently when he’s not here.”
It’s also no surprise that the mood is different beyond the field.
“We are quiet, without security, without thousands of fans at the door,” veteran Argentine journalist Gastón Edul of the TyC Sports TV network told The Inquirer. “It’s a totally different experience. It seems like not an Argentina national team that won the World Cup … It’s incredible what Leo makes in people.”
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It matters to highlight Argentina’s overall firepower though, and not just for the box office. The 2022 World Cup was Messi’s fifth, and his crowning achievement as an all-time legend. But he won it as much because of his teammates, and the way that squad was built, in addition to his own great feats.
Many of those players are on the current roster, and look set to be mainstays. Mac Allister is 25, Álvarez is 24, and Chelsea’s Enzo Fernández is 23. Martínez is 26, right at the start of his prime, and is firing Inter toward a second Italian Serie A title in four years.
The entire team, not just Messi, is why Argentina is the favorite to win the Copa. On Friday, they’ll have a chance to show it.
“We don’t replace him with one player, we replace him with a team,” Scaloni said. “I’d be lying again if I said I could replace a Lionel Messi. Of course, we’ll play a different lineup, and everyone will play their part in this.”