By Darwin Largo
After many years of trying, Lionel Messi and Angel Di Maria became legends of the Argentine National Team. Both have won every possible title and that is why the fans of the South American country love them. In 2005 Leo was U-20 world champion in the Netherlands, and Angelito achieved the same two years later in Canada. Since then the two have been together in all of Argentina's titles: the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 2021 Copa America in Brazil, the 2022 Finalissima at Wembley against Italy and the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
At 36 and 35, Messi and Di Maria know they are nearing the end of their professional careers. But they still have a desire to compete at the highest level and perhaps have a common goal for next year: the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The teams competing there will have to field teams made up of players aged 23 or younger, but can have up to three older players. That is why many people in Argentina are hopeful that the players born in Rosario can be part of the squad and compete for their second medal.
However, many things have yet to be resolved. First, Argentina has not yet qualified for the Olympic Games. For that they will have to play the pre-Olympic tournament in January 2024 in Venezuela and win one of the two places.
Javier Mascherano will be Argentina's manager in the pre-Olympic tournament. The former Barcelona midfielder was teammate of Messi and Di María in the National Team and was also in Beijing 2008. In an interview with Telam, he was asked about the possibility of the stars being in Paris 2024 and said: "In the event of a possible qualification, when the time comes, I will talk to Leo and Ángel, with whom I have a direct relationship. I know that they will have a tight schedule with the Copa America and the qualifiers and at a certain age it is not easy. For the moment, I haven't spoken to them about that possibility. It's a pointless way of anticipating".
15/07/2024
14/07/2024
13/07/2024
13/07/2024
12/07/2024
12/07/2024
12/07/2024
12/07/2024
12/07/2024
11/07/2024
11/07/2024
11/07/2024
11/07/2024
11/07/2024
10/07/2024
10/07/2024
10/07/2024
10/07/2024