Angel Correa was the final player to be excluded from Argentina’s 26-man squad for Copa America 2024. The other two players cut from the list are defenders Leonardo Balerdi and Valentín Barco.
After the complete list was announced, it was very surprising that Correa was not on the list because he had been playing for the national team for a long time, and had even played in the last Copa America and the Qatar 2022 World Cup, where Argentina won both tournaments.
“It was strange at first, I was very sad because I had the illusion of going from the beginning. I was coming from being in the Copa America 2021, in the whole process, and to be left there was a very hard blow,” Correa explained in an interview with Atletico de Madrid.
Who will be Angel Correa’s replacement for Copa America 2024?
It was possible that Angel Correa wouldn’t be called since he hadn’t played any minutes in the friendlies against Ecuador and Guatemala. The Argentinian coach Lionel Scaloni decided not to count with the Atletico Madrid player for several reasons.
One of these is that Argentina has a very strong forward line with important names such as Lionel Messi, Lautaro Martinez, Julian Alvarez and Angel Di Maria among other players.
Another reason is the surprise call-up of Valentin Carboni, an Italian Monza player on loan from Inter Milan. The 19-year-old is favored by the coach and played in both friendly matches prior to the start of Copa America 2024.
Valentín Carboni of Argentina dribbles the ball in the first half during an International Friendly between Guatemala and Argentina. Patrick Smith/Getty Images
