Scaloni smiles: Dibou Martinez will start at Aston Villa ahead of FIFA match
With his physical problems behind him, Dibou will start in the Premier League before joining the qualifying… and Scaloni is celebrating.
This Thursday at 21:00, the Argentina national team will play their first official match after winning the World Cup in Qatar. Leaving behind friendly matches with Panama, Curaçao, Australia and Indonesia, FIFA will start the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in September.
There, Albiceleste will face Ecuador at the Estadio Monumental and against Bolivia in the heat of La Paz on 7 and 12 September respectively. Challenges were announced for these matches last Thursday, where there were surprises and absences due to injury or discomfort, but it was decided to choose a player who had physical problems due to his importance to the team, and that was Emiliano Martinez.
El Dibou suffered muscle discomfort against Scottish side Hibernian in the previous UEFA Conference League and missed two games against Aston Villa. And although the Birmingham club confirmed that everything was fine with Martinez, his absence from these fights just a few days before the start of the FIFA date alarmed Argentina.
In Aston Villa’s last game before loaning out his players to the national teams, Dibou will appear in the starting line-up to visit Anfield Road and face Alexis McAllister’s Liverpool in a new Premier League game for which the fact that this man from Mar del Plata arrives on a double day in which the Argentina national team will face 100% physical fitness, which is undoubtedly a reason to celebrate Lionel Scaloni and all world champions.
Dibou Martinez and Alexis McAllister in the headlines: Here’s how Liverpool and Aston Villa will shape the Premier League
Liverpool: Alison Becker; Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joel Matip, Joe Gomez, Andrew Robertson; Dominic Soboshlay, Alexis McAllister, Curtis Jones; Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz. DT: Jurgen Klopp.
Aston Villa: Emiliano Martinez; Ezri Consa, Diego Carlos, Pau Torres; Matty Cash, Boubacar Kamara, Douglas Louis, Lucas Digne; Moussa Diaby, John McGinn; Ollie Watkins. DT: Unai Emery.
Date, time and place of Argentina matches on FIFA date in September.
On the first day of the qualifiers, CONMEBOL Argentina will be at home against Ecuador and this match will take place this Thursday at 21:00 at the Estadio Monumental. Then, next Tuesday, September 12, at 17:00, the world champion team will visit Bolivia at the Hernando Siles stadium located in La Paz.