Buenos Aires (AFP)

The Argentine selection will play its first two days of South American qualifying for the 2022 World Cup with its Barcelona star Lionel Messi, but without its attackers Angel Di Maria and Sergio Agüero, the federation announced on Friday.

Argentina will start against Ecuador on October 8 in the Bombonera de Buenos Aires, home of Boca Juniors.

The other match will be played 5 days later in the Andean heights of La Paz, at more than 3,500 m above sea level, on October 13 against Bolivia.

Messi, after his eventful episode in the summer and his desire to leave Barcelona, ​​will have the opportunity to change his mind with the selection.

He, who was under a suspension match for his expulsion in the match for third place in the Copa America Brazil-2019 against Chile, had his sentence canceled for prescription more than a year after the fact.

Package with Manchester City for the club's resumption on Monday in the Premier League, Sergio Agüero, who missed the end of last season for a knee injury and did not return to collective training, was logically not selected .

The non-selection of Parisian Angel Di Maria, who played Wednesday with Paris SG remains, for the time being, without explanation.

In addition to Messi, the Argentine attack will still look great with the summons of the "Italians" of Juve, Paulo Dybala, and Inter, Lautaro Martinez.

Even without Di Maria, the L1 will be represented by Parisian regular Leandro Paredes (24 caps).

No trace, however, of the other Argentinian Mauro Icardi, who has just resumed at the forefront of the Parisian attack against Metz.

The new and very young Argentinian coach, Lionel Scaloni, seems to want to breathe a breath of youth into his defense with the calls of the Marseillais Leo Balerdi (21 years old, 2 caps) and the Lensois Facundo Medina, 21 years old, summoned for the first time in first team.

These summons come after the announcement of the list of Brazilian players and the day after the authorization by the South American Confederation (Conmebol) for South American players playing in European clubs to join their selections for these first two matches.

This Argentinian selection is not final and will be completed with the invitations of players playing in the national championship.

The holding of the first two days of South American qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup had long remained in abeyance, due to the pandemic which continues to wreak havoc in South America and is beginning to come back in force in some European countries.

Goalkeepers: Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa / ENG), Juan Musso (Udinese / ITA), Agustin Marchesin (Porto / POR)

Defenders: Juan Foyth (Tottenham / ENG), Renzo Saravia (Inter de Porto Alegre / BRA), German Pezzella (Fiorentina / ITA), Leo Balerdi (Olympique de Marseille / FRA), Nicolas Otamendi (Manchester City / ENG), Nehuen Pérez (Atlético Madrid / ESP), Walter Kannemann (Gremio / BRA), Nicolás Tagliafico (Ajax Amsterdam / NED), Marcos Acuña (Seville FC / ESP), Facundo Medina (Lens / FRA)

Midfielders: Leandro Paredes (PSG / FRA), Guido Rodriguez (Betis Seville / ESP), Rodrigo De Paul (Udinese / ITA), Exequiel Palacios (Bayer Leverkusen / ALL), Giovani Lo Celso (Tottenham / ENG), Nicolás Dominguez (Bologna / ITA)

Forwards: Lionel Messi (Barcelona / ESP), Paulo Dybala (Juventus / ITA), Lucas Ocampos (Seville FC / ESP), Nicolás González (Stuttgart / ALL), Alexis Mac Allister (Brighton / ENG), Alejandro Gomez (Atalanta / ITA ), Joaquin Correa (Lazio Rome / ITA), Lucas Alario (Bayer Leverkusen / ALL), Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan / Ita), Giovanni Simeone (Cagliari / ITA), Cristian Pavon (Los Angeles Galaxy / USA)

© 2020 AFP