Argentina faces Chile today without coach and Lionel Messi
Argentina national football team coach Lionel Scaloni will miss his Chilean host site today in the South American qualifiers for the World Cup in Qatar at the end of this year, due to infection with the Corona virus.
Scaloni said during a press conference that he and his assistant, "Pablo Aymar, will not be able to be in the mission. Pablo has been in his house for days because he had contact with an infected person. I finished the quarantine, but my result is still positive, and to enter Chile you have to submit a negative test."
Argentina, which qualified for the finals, will also be absent for the same reason, Alexis McAllister and Emiliano Buendia, the English players of Brighton and Aston Villa, respectively.
The team will be supervised by Walter Samuel and Roberto Ayala, who are members of the technical staff.
Among the most prominent absentees, the star of the team, Lionel Messi, who decided to give the coach a break from playing the current qualifiers, especially after he had recently recovered from infection with the Corona virus.
Argentina, along with the leaders Brazil, are guaranteed to reach the finals in Qatar, which will be held between November and December, with five matches remaining for them.
As for Chile, they are among the seven teams that are still battling to snatch the last two qualifying spots directly.
It occupies sixth place, one point behind fifth-placed Peru, which entitles its owner to a qualifying play-off, and two points from fourth-placed Colombia.
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