The Albiceleste debut in the competition that grants two places to Paris 2024 takes place this Sunday, in the Venezuelan city of Valencia
The Argentine Under 23 team, with Javier Mascherano as coach, plays this Sunday against Paraguay its first match in Group B of the South American Olympic Qualifiers that are held in Venezuela and grants two places for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The match, which takes place at the Polideportivo Misael Delgado stadium in the city of Valencia, begins at 8 p.m. (Argentine time) and is exclusively broadcast by DSports, which has the rights to the contest for Argentina, Peru and Uruguay.
The albiceleste, two-time Olympic champion (Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008), will try to achieve the sixth title in a Pre-Olympic after having achieved it in Peru 1960 and 1964, Colombia 1980 and 2020, and Chile 2004. Brazil is the top winner with seven stars. The ‘Jefecito’ team is part of group B with Paraguay, Peru, Chile and Uruguay, led by Marcelo Bielsa. Only the first two will advance to the final quadrangular, which will assign the two tickets to Paris for the champion and runner-up of the competition.
Argentina vs. Paraguay: everything you need to know
Date 1 of group B of the 2023 South American Olympic Qualifiers.
Day: Sunday, January 21.
Time: 20 (Argentine time).
Stadium: Misael Delgado Sports Center in Valencia, Venezuela.
TV: DSports.
Streaming: DGO.
In the run-up to the tournament and in dialogue with LA NACION, Mascherano spoke about his experience as coach in charge of the youth team: “Here, the coach is the head, and one must be aware that in youth teams he cannot hinder the process. . And my name is strong, for better or worse, but it is strong. And for 16 or 17 year old boys, that can work against them. I felt that in the South American the boys never finished letting go. The senior team had become world champions a month ago, we were the first team to wear the three stars on the shirt, and there was a lot of noise around the coach who had been through the senior team. And all that could have been counterproductive,” he stated.
In addition, he also referred to the need to improve the image shown in the “two bad steps” that he took at the head of the team: “I come from two bad steps, the South American and the World Cup, it must be said honestly. Is it reality or not? Yes, then you have to live with reality. I know how I work, how I prepare things and I am completely calm about the steps we have taken. Does that guarantee me winning? No, not even close. We must live with these risks and the results will be our responsibility. But it is something that I love because for more than 20 years those sensations accompanied me. And that is why I continue in football, I like to compete, I like that the debut of the Pre-Olympic with Paraguay arrives this Sunday to test myself,” he concluded.
What do the bets say?
In the main sports prediction platforms around the planet, the Argentine team has a wide advantage to win this Sunday’s match. If achieved, betting houses pay odds of up to 1.51 against the 5.40 that are paid for a hypothetical victory for Paraguay. The tie, for its part, is trading around 3.75.
Possible formations
Argentina: Leandro Brey; Joaquín García, Marco Di Césare, Nicolás Valentini, Valentín Barco; Cristian Medina, Juan Sforza, Ezequiel Fernández; Pablo Solari, Luciano Gondou and Thiago Almada.
Paraguay: Ángel González; Alan Núñez, Ronaldo De Jesús, Gilberto Flores, Dani Rivas; Fabrizio Peralta, Wilder Viera, Enso González; Iván Leguizamón; Marcelo Pérez and Marcelo Fernández.