The Argentine National Team continues its preparation in Beijing

The squad trained under the orders of lionel scaloni for two hours on the playing field of the Olympic Stadium in Beijing, known as “Bird’s Nest”, doing physical work, with the ball, and specific work for the goalkeepers.

After the stretching exercises on the rubber track that surrounds the playing field, the team worked on the grass, carrying out different games with the ball in small spaces, control, transfer and definition, tactical defense and attack movements with trademark without active opposition.

The practice was intense and relaxed, and in its final stretch Scaloni arranged a 50-meter workout, alternating three different teams on the pitch.

The players who participated in the practice were Lionel Messi, Ángel Di María, Leandro Paredes, Giovani Lo Celso, Enzo Fernández, Nahuel Molina, Rodrigo De Paul, Marcos Acuña, Lucas Ocampos, Guido Rodríguez, Germán Pezzella, Giovanni Simeone, Gerónimo Rulli, Nicolás Tagliafico, Walter Benítez, Alejandro Garnacho , Leonardo Balerdi, Facundo Medina, Exequiel Palacios, Alexis Mac Allister, Facundo Buonanotte, Cristian Romero and Nicolás Otamendi.

The Beijing Olympic Stadium referred to, as has been said, as “Bird’s Nest”, owes its name to the metal pieces that make up its design and emulate the framework of a real nest made by the Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron .

This scenario was created in 1990 for use in the eleventh Asian Olympic Games and later for the matches of the Olympic Football Tournament and other disciplines in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in which Argentina was champion for the second time.

The team led by lionel scaloniwho in principle was going to offer a press conference this Monday but it happened to Wednesday, will return to train in the same venue on Monday at 7:00 p.m. (8 in Argentina), always surrounded by a great popular effervescence by the group in overall and Messi in particular.

The match against the Australians, rivals of the albiceleste team in the round of 16 of the World Cup in Qatar, which they beat 2-1, will take place next Thursday from 9 in Argentina (20 in China), and at the same time they will face on Monday the 19th to Indonesia, in its capital Jakarta.

One of the expectations surrounding the Argentine team is the presence of the youthful striker from Manchester United, Alejandro Garnachowho would not start against Australia but, as promised by himself scaloni Before embarking in Ezeiza heading to Asian territory, he will surely have minutes in both games.

It is that before the interest of Spain to add it to its selected (Grenache He was born in Madrid and will be 19 years old on July 1), Argentina will try to comply with the regulatory process to get a “shield” for this striker in which there are high expectations in the Argentine coaching staff.

But to achieve that garnacho not play in any other national team than the regulatory Argentine, it is necessary that he have minutes in three matches of FIFA dates, so he would add the two of this tour of the East and the first of the South American Qualifiers towards the 2026 World Cup against Ecuador, in September in the Más Monumental stadium, to complete this process.

For now and to face Australia In the first game of this Asian tour, the “main” team of recent World Cups is glimpsed, with Emiliano Martinez; Nahuel Molina, Cristian Romero, Nicolás Otamendi and Nicolás Tagliafico; Rodrigo De Paul, Enzo Fernández and Alexis Mac Allister; Lionel Messi, Julián Álvarez and Ángel Di María.