After private communication was completed to ensure that no accidents would occur, the Argentine Football Association held a press conference on the afternoon of March 23 to announce the new national team training roster.
There are a total of 25 people on this list, in addition to the well-known superstars such as Messi, Aguero, Di Maria, Higuain, Zabaleta, Otamendi, Mascherano, Tevez and so on. , as well as many star players from the five major European leagues.
There are only 4 players from Argentina's domestic league. One of them is none other than Alan Willard.
There are 30 teams in the A-League this year, and the first team has 800-900 people. Only 4 players have been selected for the national team training list. This shows how difficult it is to become a national football player in Argentina, which is full of talents.
Therefore, Velarde was selected for the Argentine national team for the first time. As soon as the press conference ended and the media reported the official list, Velarde immediately received calls from teammates, coaches, club executives, the general manager of Gonia Restaurant, and Simpson. Henderson, Douglas Johnson and others, as well as calls from former neighbors, congratulated him on his first call-up to the Argentina national team.
Even if everyone knows that this training camp is just a training camp to select backup candidates, I am afraid that the main roster has already been determined, and there are at most a few marginal substitute places that can catch the last train of the Copa America in Chile.
But no matter what, even if he is only selected for the national team training list once, he is a veritable national player, and he is different from ordinary A-League stars.
As agent Douglas Johnson said, after becoming an Argentina international, whether it is recommending Velarde to the five major European leagues or undertaking brand endorsements, it will be much smoother.
It would be even more perfect if Velarde can perform well during this training camp and get a chance to enter Chile's Copa America squad.
Willard naturally said that he will definitely go all out.
After looking at the schedule, Willard found that the first friendly match was on Sunday, March 29. This is an A-level event on a FIFA match day. Counting FIFA points, substitutions can only be made by 3 people, which is different from the kind of warm-up match where substitutions are made casually and are in the nature of a teaching match.
This kind of international A-level event will definitely have a lot of experience rewards. Therefore, yesterday on Monday, Willard only spent 5 skill points to increase the header from 88 to 89. Now after thinking about it, he also spent the last 5 skill points to increase the defense from 87 to 87. 88, skill points return to zero.
After all, defense is the foundation of his position as a defensive midfielder. He can improve a little bit before reporting to the national team.
Now the skill points will be completely reset to zero. It can only depend on whether the national team can gain a lot of experience and upgrade through training and competition, and obtain skill points for upgrade rewards.
When Velarde was preparing to leave for the training ground, the media and fans were also discussing Argentina's new training roster.
Although there are only two friendly matches in this training session, this is the last training session before the 2015 America's Cup. After this training camp, the roster for the America's Cup will be determined. Therefore, the roster for this training camp is still very important.
In the Argentine national team, most of whom are born in the 1980s, Alan Velarde is one of the few young players born in the 1990s. At only 21 years old, he is the youngest in the team and is also the first time to be selected for the Argentine national team. Players naturally attract much attention.
"The Argentine national team's new training roster has been announced, and Alan Velarde from Hurricanes has been selected for the national football team for the first time! 》
"Alan Velarde was selected into the Argentine national team's latest training roster and officially became a national player! 》
"Atletico Hurricanes' defense core Alan Velarde has been selected for the Argentina national team. Will it bring new changes to the Argentine national team's defense?" 》
"At only 21 years old, he has only played more than a dozen games in the Argentine League and the Copa Libertadores. Why was Alan Velarde selected for the Argentina national team? 》
The media and fans who support the Hurricanes are naturally ecstatic and are very proud that the Hurricanes have an active international player.
But other media and fans were somewhat skeptical and even ridiculed.
After all, Willard's age, experience, and qualifications are a flaw. In a defensive position that is generally considered to require stability, many fans are indeed unconvinced by using a player who is only 21 years old and has only played more than a dozen games in Argentina and the Copa Libertadores.
This is not like a forward. Even if a game is inactive for 89 minutes, as long as he scores a goal and makes a contribution in the last minute, he is a good forward.
As for defensive players, even if you complete the defensive task excellently for 89 minutes, once you make a low-level mistake in the last minute and lead to conceding the ball, you will become a sinner.
This is why everyone subconsciously feels that defensive players need older, experienced and stable players.
Velarde is not famous enough, so not to mention foreign fans, even Argentina's own fans don't know much about him. Outside of the Hurricanes' own media and fans, others did have doubts about Velarde's selection.
But head coach Gerardo Martino said in an interview: "Villad's current ability is definitely enough to be selected for the Argentine national team. Some fans don't recognize it, but they are just not familiar with him. As long as they watch more of Velarde, After playing a few games with Ladd, you will know that Velarde's ability is definitely the best among defensive midfielders. Moreover, this training camp is not the final list for Chile's America's Cup, so recruiting Velarde is a good use. These two friendly matches will test his quality and his ability to quickly integrate into the national team."
The implication is that if Velarde cannot quickly integrate into the national team, no matter how capable he is, he may not be able to be selected for the America's Cup squad.
This is also normal.
After all, football is about playing as a whole. If a person cannot integrate into the team, especially in a defensive position like Velarde, and cannot integrate with the backcourt defense, then the harm will be greater than the benefit, and he will naturally not be selected again.
Therefore, although being selected for the national football team at the age of 21 is an honor, it is also a test for Willard.
The media and fans are also waiting to see whether Velarde can integrate into the national team in just this training session.
On March 25, the day when the national team reported, after Krisna and others helped Velard check and pack his luggage, Desia personally drove Velard to the Ezeisa House, the national team training base.
This is a national team training center that integrates outdoor training fields, indoor training fields, gyms, entertainment halls, dormitories, restaurants, medical centers, etc.
After kissing Desia goodbye, he took out the recruitment document issued by the Football Association. After a strict inspection by the security personnel, he passed the access control and entered the training base. A staff member of the Football Association led Willard to the dormitory. In the dormitory Check-in is reported in the lobby on the first floor.
