Possible formation of Argentina vs. Indonesia by friendly FIFA

The Argentine national team assumes one of his last trials prior to the start of the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers. Without Lionel Messi, Lionel Scaloni will seek to vary the eleven so that all the players called up have minutes played. Next, he knows the possible eleven of the reigning world champion.

La Albiceleste comes from beating Australia 2-0 in the first friendly of the tour, played in China, in a duel that had Messi as a figure and author of a goal, but the Argentine captain will not be against Indonesia after an agreement with the coaching staff of the selected team.

As happened on other occasions, Messi chose to play the first friendly of the tour, but the winner of seven Ballon d’Ors did not go to Indonesia and immediately began his vacation, after parting ways with French PSG and before starting his new stage at Inter Miami, of the MLS, starting next July.

Messi, who turns 36 next week, is expected to return to his hometown of Rosario in the coming days and then play tribute matches with former Argentina teammates Maxi Rodríguez and Juan Román Riquelme, both now retired.

Meanwhile, Lionel Scaloni, the coach of the Albiceleste, also gave rest to other world champions such as Ángel Di María and Nicolás Otamendi, and is willing in this match to give minutes of action to several players with little experience in the national team. among them the youthful Alejandro Garnacho.

Born in Madrid, but the son of an Argentinian woman living in Spain, Garnacho is 19 years old and is one of Manchester United’s main appearances in recent times, and in a short time he had the luxury of playing with his idol Cristiano Ronaldo in the Premier League, and with Messi a few minutes against Australia last Thursday.

In principle, Garnacho will occupy the place of extreme that Di María leaves, while Leonardo Balerdi (Oympique Marseille) and Facundo Medina (Lens) could occupy the center of the rear, while Scaloni could also renew the midfield with Exequiel Palacios (Leverkusen). ) and Lucas Ocampos (Seville).

Beyond the absence of some figures, Argentina starts as a strong favourite, from its status as world champion and number 1 in the FIFA ranking, while Indonesia appears 149 in the same classification, and beyond the fact that Messi will not be there, the 60,000 seats Available for the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in the capital, they sold out weeks ago.

Monday’s will be the first match at the level of senior teams between Argentina and Indonesia, and there is only one youth precedent, the one they played in the World Cup of that category in 1979, when the Albiceleste beat the Asians 5-0 in Japan, with two goals from Diego Maradona and three from Ramón Díaz, at the beginning of the road to the first celebration of the Pibe de Oro with Argentina.

Indonesia comes from drawing 0-0 with Palestine in a friendly disputed last Wednesday, while in the championship of Southeast Asian nations it was eliminated by Vietnam.

ARGENTINE TRAINING

• Martínez, Molina, Romero, Otamendi, Acuña, De Paul, Fernández, Mac Allister, Garnacho, Di María, Nico González. DT: Lionel Scaloni.