The dream of every soccer player is to be called up by his country's national team and wear his nation's jersey. But very few can achieve it. International competitions only allow each national team to carry up to 24 players.
In this context, before the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, two national teams will compete for a title. Argentina and Italy will face each other at the Finalissima. The match will be played at Wembley Stadium on Wednesday, June 1, 2022.
The Final shall be played by the Albilceste and the Nazionale as winners of the Copa America 2021 and Euro 2020, respectively. "The organizing of this match is part of the expansion of the cooperation between UEFA and CONMEBOL, which notably includes women's football, futsal and youth categories, the exchange of referees, as well as technical training schemes," UEFA said. And a very curious fact has connected the two national teams.
Argentina and Italy called up the same player for the same match
The Argentine National Team published the list of the 35 players pre-selected to play against Italy. Among the players called up is Marcos Senesi. The 25-year-old defender had never been called up by the national team before, he has only played for Argentina's U-20 and U-23 national teams.
The curious thing is that the Feyenoord player was also called up to the Italy national team by coach Roberto Mancini. The Argentinean has Italian nationality through his ancestors and could play for Italy, as he has never played for the first team of the Argentinean national team.
Senesi has become the first soccer player to be called up by two different national teams for the same game. As once he chooses a country, he will not be able to change.
The 25-year-old finally chose to play for Argentina, the country where he was born. "When I received the calls, I sat down with my family and listened to them, but the fact is that I have always since I was a kid, dreamed of playing with the Argentina National Team, I have been going to bed thinking about having my chance for a year. And then, every time I thought about what to do, the first thing that came to my mind was Argentina, so I had no doubts. At all times it was more important the feeling of wanting to play for my country", he said.
