The AFA presented this Tuesday at Miami project to create a High Performance Center to be used essentially by the Argentine national teamwhich will be erected in the city of Hialeah of that state, with the presence of the president of the entity, Claudio Tapiaaccompanied by the coach of the national representative, lionel scaloni.
The act took place before a large audience at the Milander Center for Arts Entertainment, where this Argentine soccer project was made official in the United States.
In the main hall of the complex that AFA acquired on North American soil, located near the Miami airport, the presentation began with a conference by President Claudio “Chiqui” Tapia, remarking that AFA “has a place in the world where can generate an even better projection” of Argentine soccer.
The current head of the AFA assured that if “all the growth that Argentine soccer had in the last two years had not been consolidated, surely all the objectives achieved could not have been achieved”, in reference to the conquests achieved by the group directed by Lionel Scaloni, and captained by Lionel Messi of the Copa América in Brazil 2021, the Finalísima trophy in London and the World Cup in Qatar 2022.
The technical director, Lionel Scaloni, was proud of the property that will be useful for the national teams that present competitions close to the American territory and declared it “essential for Argentine soccer.”
“It’s important, not only for what’s to come, but because we’ll have qualifying matches and we’d like to have a place close by with the necessary conditions to work decently,” summed up the coach, assuring that “on the last trip to Venezuela for qualifying for the World Cup, there was no possibility of training in the best way”.
More than 220 young Argentine talents were recruited in the United States by the coaches who work for the AFA around the world. “We have to be close to the situation, where there are many Argentine players. And this is that place in the world,” said the president of the AFA in reference to the deepening of the project in the United States.
“We have a special area that is in charge of detecting players with families of Argentines who left the country,” emphasized coach Scaloni. “But at the same time, with the world championship, we also received information from the large number of children who asked their parents to obtain the Argentine passport. That fills us with pride and excites us all,” acknowledged the Santa Fe technical director.
Scaloni will be raising in the next few hours the squad list for the first two matches of the South American Qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup against Ecuador and Bolivia, to be played in Buenos Aires and La Paz, respectively, in the first half of September.
This list will be very extensive because Javier Mascherano will also participate in its formation, which will add some players who will be part of the Argentine representative who will participate in the qualifying Pre-Olympic contest for the Paris 2024 Games who will have the opportunity to play some international friendly during the FIFA dates .
During the presentation event of AFA-USA, the mayor Esteban Bovo, from the city of Hialeah, the city that will have some albiceleste facilities in the place, was present, where he was presented with a commemorative plaque in the hands of “Chiqui” Tapia, who remarked “commitment and social assistance to the residents of Hialeah in the national parks”.
For his part, Mayor Bovo explained that “there is a creation of a movement and a culture of sport in this territory” due to the arrival of the world champion national team in the city.
In addition, the Floridian politician explained that “the presence of AFA in Hialeah is a huge impact regarding the open spaces for this city. We are serious about reaching an agreement that respects the use of the parks by citizens and at the same time understand that the AFA project reflects attracting world soccer stars or some leagues can come to our city”.
And precisely the presence of Messi in Inter Miami was what also ended up giving the final boost to this proposal that allows Argentine soccer to continue establishing its brand in different parts of the world, obviously also reinforced by obtaining the ecumenical title in Qatar.
Source: Ambito
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