Dibu Martínez, Gerónimo Rulli and Valentín Carboni arrived early in the morning, while Taty Castellanos did the same shortly after. In practice, 17 players worked out. Between tonight and Tuesday morning, the 11 who were missing will arrive.

In view of what will be the match against Chile for the South American Qualifiers, the players of the Argentine National Team continue to arrive in Buenos Aires to put themselves under the orders of Lionel Scaloni. Without the presence of Lionel Messi - he was not called up due to injury - or Ángel Di María - retired -, Emiliano Martínez, Gerónimo Rulli, Valentín Carboni and Lisandro Martínez were the last to join the squad that is already forming in Ezeiza, where they trained in the afternoon with the presence of 17 players.

Although they did not speak to the press in an extended manner, Dibu allowed themselves to describe as "exciting" what will be the tribute to Fideo Di María, who will be bid farewell by the Argentine public before the match. He also said that he did not speak with Franco Armani, who after River's match against Independiente confirmed that his time with the Albiceleste is a "complete cycle."

About half an hour after their arrivals, Valentín Castellanos landed, who arrived from Italy and gave the press his feelings after being called up to the Argentine National Team: "Samuel called me and it was expected news that I enjoyed very much. I have not spoken with Scaloni yet, surely now I will be with him to chat for a while. It is a dream to be able to enjoy this call-up, always with the responsibility of coming to the world champion and the two-time world champion." It is worth mentioning that it will be Castellanos' first time with the Albiceleste, after several times being part of pre-selections, without being able to be called up finally.

Later, Enzo Fernández and Guido Rodríguez arrived. These players, along with Julián Álvarez, Rodrigo De Paul, Juan Musso, Giuliano Simeone and Lautaro Martínez - who have already been in the country since Sunday - were available to Scaloni from today.

Meanwhile, the rest of the squad will be completed between tonight and early Tuesday morning, with the arrivals of Gonzalo Montiel, Nicolás González, Cristian Romero, Walter Benítez, Paulo Dybala, Matías Soulé, Leandro Paredes and Alejandro Garnacho.

The first to arrive after practice was Lisandro Martínez, who spoke to the press: "It's nice to be back. We are happy when we play together, every time we come here it's to enjoy. They are always important and difficult games when we play with the National Team, so when it's our turn to wear this shirt we do it with total seriousness and now we have to prepare ourselves in the best way. The people are a separate paragraph, every time we play the support is incredible."

Valentín Barco followed suit immediately, also exchanging words with journalists while waiting for the Argentine stars. Another who joined in the evening is Alexis Mac Allister.

Thus, the squad will be completed shortly in view of the matches against Chile - on Thursday, September 5, at the Monumental - and Colombia - on Tuesday, September 10, in Barranquilla -, the next two commitments of the South American Qualifiers on the road to the 2026 World Cup.

The options that Scaloni is considering in the absence of Tagliafico

The call-up of Marcos Acuña means that Scaloni has two players available who can be placed as left backs in the squad: Huevo and Valentín Barco. Although it is true that the coach will begin work today and is expected to speak on Wednesday, the reality indicates that Acuña's call-up seems to be to be placed as a starter, given that he was part of the world champion team and has no physical discomfort. In any case, the coach could be inclined to give Barco a chance, who curiously replaced Acuña in Sevilla and is shaping up to be the Albiceleste's full-back of the future.

In the unexpected case that neither of those two options convince him or he wants to change the formation, Scaloni could then turn to Lisandro Martínez as a full-back, with Nicolas Otamendi as a centre-back, or even with Nicolás González as a wing-back, in a hypothetical line of five. In any case, the first few days of training will be key to knowing which variant the coach leans towards, in view of the first match, against Chile.

How he would form the attack without Messi or Di María

Although Scaloni's decisions always tend to surprise at the last minute, a review of the Albiceleste's history without Messi or Di María allows us to stop at the match with Paraguay in October of last year. There, the Flea started on the bench and the Fideo was suspended, so the National Team stopped its attack with Nicolás González on the left, Lautaro Martínez as center forward and Julián Álvarez more reclined on the right, avoiding the classic double nine.