The Argentine National Team trained in Miami for the Copa América final with Messi and one absence

The The Argentine national team settled in Miami and this Thursday carried out the first practice for the final of the Copa América which will be played this Sunday (from 9 p.m., Argentine time) at the Hard Rock Stadium against Colombia, in search of its fourth title in a row after winning the 2021 Copa América, the 2022 Finalissima and the Qatar World Cup.

The one who was smiling was Lionel Messi. The Argentine captain no longer has traces of the injury that sidelined him from the victory against Peru on the last day of the group stage and that prevented him from playing normally in the quarterfinals against Ecuador. “I felt psychological fear”, he had declared. He looked better in the semis against Canada and arrives at the decisive match with Colombia fully physically.

The driving team Lionel Scaloni moved through the humid, rainy and not-so-hot Miami afternoon on one of Florida International University’s auxiliary fields and the coach allowed the press to observe a portion of the rehearsal. There was work with the ball in small spaces and for now there is no indication of the team that will take the field to defend the title obtained at the Maracaná.

Nor did he give any signs of how he will counteract the powerful aerial game shown by the team that leads Nestor Lorenzo. Colombia reaches the final after scoring five headed goals, one of them against Uruguay, which earned them qualification for Sunday’s final.

He distributed some shirts to divide the group and carry out different tactical tasks in a small space, which could be seen in the distance from one side of the playing field, where there were a handful of Albiceleste fans (Argentinians and foreigners) who had fun shouting at the players. , who responded by greeting kindly.

Meanwhile, Scaloni had an almost complete squad. Huevo Marcos Acuña rejoined, but there was a big absentee who was Gonzalo Montiel, starter against the Canadians. The former River has a muscle overload in the rectus femoris of one of his legs and worked in kinesiology. According to him he could know Clarionthis Friday he will be able to train with his teammates, taking into account that it will be the strongest practice before the decisive match.

In the middle of the practice he added Valentin Carboni He also felt discomfort and went to work with the kinesiologist as a precaution and to avoid a major injury.