\n<\/p>\n
Messi Returns to Argentina Squad for World Cup Qualifiers<\/strong><\/p>\n Lionel Messi has been selected for Argentina’s preliminary squad ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Chile and Colombia, as announced by the Argentine Football Association on Thursday.<\/p>\n The 37-year-old star missed the March matches due to an adductor injury but is ready to return to international play. Despite his absence, Argentina secured their spot in the World Cup with impressive wins over Uruguay and Brazil.<\/p>\n Argentina will battle Chile away on June 5, followed by a home game against Colombia in Buenos Aires on June 10. After these qualifiers, Messi is expected to play for Inter Miami in the FIFA Club World Cup, facing off against the Egyptian team Al Ahly on June 14 in Miami.<\/p>\n Manchester United’s Alejandro Garnacho has also been called up to the 28-man squad after missing recent games for tactical reasons. Coach Lionel Scaloni seems to be balancing youth and experience in his selections.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, Scaloni will be without key players such as defender Nicol\u00e1s Otamendi and midfielders Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez and Leandro Paredes, who are suspended but can return for the Colombia match. Meanwhile, Paulo Dybala and Gonzalo Montiel are sidelined due to injuries, and defenders Marcos Acu\u00f1a and Germ\u00e1n Pezzella were not included.<\/p>\n With their World Cup place already secure, Argentina aims to refine their strategy ahead of the upcoming Copa America and their title defense in North America.<\/p>\n Argentina Preliminary Squad<\/strong><\/p>\n Goalkeepers:<\/strong> Emiliano Mart\u00ednez (Aston Villa), Ger\u00f3nimo Rulli (Olympique de Marseille), Walter Ben\u00edtez (PSV).<\/p>\n Defenders:<\/strong> Nahuel Molina (Atl\u00e9tico de Madrid), Juan Foyth (Villarreal), Cristian Romero (Tottenham), Leonardo Balerdi (Olympique de Marseille), Nicol\u00e1s Otamendi (Benfica), Facundo Medina (Lens), Nicol\u00e1s Tagliafico (Lyon), Valent\u00edn Barco (Strasbourg).<\/p>\n Midfielders:<\/strong> Alexis Mac Allister (Liverpool), Leandro Paredes (Roma), Nicol\u00e1s Dom\u00ednguez (Nottingham Forest), Exequiel Palacios (Bayer Leverkusen), Rodrigo de Paul (Atl\u00e9tico de Madrid), Thiago Almada (Olympique de Lyon), Giovani Lo Celso (Betis), Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez (Chelsea), Nicol\u00e1s Paz (Como).<\/p>\n Forwards:<\/strong> Lionel Messi (Inter Miami), Juli\u00e1n \u00c1lvarez (Atl\u00e9tico de Madrid), Lautaro Mart\u00ednez (Inter), Valent\u00edn Castellanos (Lazio), Alejandro Garnacho (Manchester United), Nicol\u00e1s Gonz\u00e1lez (Fiorentina), Giuliano Simeone (Atl\u00e9tico de Madrid), \u00c1ngel Correa (Atl\u00e9tico de Madrid).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Messi Returns to Argentina Squad for World Cup Qualifiers Lionel Messi has been selected for Argentina’s preliminary squad ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Chile and Colombia, as announced by the Argentine Football Association on Thursday. The 37-year-old star missed the March matches due to an adductor injury but is ready to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11435,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[13427,6168,13426,13429,13430,13428,13432,2092,13431,13433],"class_list":["post-11434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-2026-world-cup-qualifiers","tag-alejandro-garnacho","tag-argentina-squad","tag-argentina-vs-chile","tag-argentina-vs-colombia","tag-fifa-world-cup-2026","tag-inter-miami","tag-lionel-messi","tag-lionel-scaloni","tag-messi-club-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}