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Argentina’s U20 coach Lionel Scaloni has announced a 23-man squad for the upcoming COTIF tournament, also known as L'Alcúdia International Under-20 Football Tournament, later this month. The tournament will see La Albicileste crossing swords with the India U-20 National Team, Venezuela U-20, and Mauritania U-20 in Group A.
22 of the players in the squad play in Argentina while striker Facundo Colidio is the only one playing abroad at Inter. Boca Juniors, Rosario Central and San Lorenzo make up most of the team with all of the three clubs having four players each.
Pablo Aimar, who was idolised by both Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi, will be travelling with the team as the technical director.
Here is the full squad (in brackets are the clubs they play for):
Goalkeepers: Lautaro Morales (Lanus), Tomas Durso (Gimnasia)
Defenders: Leonardo Balerdi (Boca Juniors), Gaston Avila (Rosario Central), Elias Pereyra (San Lorenzo), Federico Gattoni (San Lorenzo), Facundo Mura (Estudiantes de la Plata), Nazareno Colombo (Estudiantes de la Plata), Francisco Alvarez (San Martin de San Juan), Francisco Alvarez (San Martin de San Juan)
Midfielders: Fausto Vera (Argentinos), Agustin Almendra (Boca Juniors), Gonzalo Maroni (Boca Juniors), Gonzalo Maroni (Boca Juniors), Matias Rosales (Boca Juniors), Enzo Barrenechea (Newell’s Old Boys), Anibal Moreno (Newell’s Old Boys), Francesco Lo Celso (Rosario Central), Matias Palacios (San Lorenzo), Andres Ayala (Estudiantes de la Plata)
Forwards: Alan Marinelli (Rosario Central), Rodrigo Pasquini (Rosario Central), Adolfo Gaich (San Lorenzo), Alvaro Barreal (Velez Sarsfield), Facundo Colidio (Inter, Italy)
The squad has some glaring exclusions in the form of Ezequiel Barco (Atlanta United), Maxi Romero (PSV Eindhoven) and Maxi Lovera (Rosario Central) -- who have reportedly not been released by their clubs. Thiago Almada of Velez, who was in Russia to train with the senior squad, has not been named either.
Nevertheless, last edition's runners-up have quite a strong team with the likes of Inter's Colidio and 16-year-old Matias Palacios leading the attack. The latter, who was the star of the Argentina U-15 team which won the South American tournament last year by beating Brazil in the final, is one of the players to look out for during the tournament.
Ahead of the tournament, the team has been training in Ezeiza, Buenos Aires. They will be playing a friendly match against Argentine Juniors Reservation as part of their preparation on July 20 which will be followed by another friendly against Independent Reserve on July 24. The tournament to be held in Spain will start on July 29 and Argentina will take on India on August 5.
