“Now an important, exciting period begins.”
That was how Lionel Scaloni described what is coming for Argentina, speaking on 20 September ahead of a run of home matches that doubles as farewell and rebuild. Bolivia come to the Mario Alberto Kempes Stadium in Córdoba on 30 September, then Burkina Faso and Benin visit the Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires on 3 and 6 October.
Only the last of the three carries any ceremony. Messi, 39, along with Rodrigo De Paul and Giovani Lo Celso, is in the squad for the 6 October game alone. The other two are Scaloni’s chance to try out what the team should be next.
“That is our intention in the upcoming matches: to give young players the opportunity to adapt to our style of play,” Scaloni said.
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Two auditions before the goodbye
The 28-man list keeps 20 members of the group that lost the 2026 World Cup final and adds several younger names around them. Franco Mastantuono, who missed the World Cup, is back. Román Vega, the Zenit left-back, receives his first senior call-up.
Scaloni was open that the transition will not be easy.
“After the 2024 Copa America, I also had a feeling that things were going to be tough. It is difficult to try, I am not saying it will be easy,” he said. “As a coach, as the leader of the group, you have to know that it’s going to be difficult.”
Messi’s international goodbye
Messi retired from international football after Argentina lost 1-0 in extra time to Spain in the 2026 World Cup final at MetLife Stadium on 19 July. His 21-year run with the senior side took in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and the 2021 and 2024 Copas América.
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AFA president Claudio Tapia said the Benin match was arranged for the captain to have “the farewell he deserves on October 6”, confirming the invitation this month.
Scaloni’s own contract runs to December. He hinted after the final loss that he might step down and has not said publicly whether he will stay on for another cycle. Leandro Paredes, Nahuel Molina and Thiago Almada, three players who were in the World Cup squad, are serving FIFA bans stemming from an altercation after the final in New Jersey, with Paredes given a 10-match sanction.
Bolivia at the Mario Alberto Kempes Stadium kicks off Argentina’s run on 30 September.
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