Lionel Scaloni's surprise from Argentina's expanded squad for the World Cup » The hero of 2022, left at home

The AS Roma attacker has not played for Argentina since the end of 2024. Although he was part of the squad that lifted the trophy in Qatar (2022), his role diminished as injuries and the emergence of younger options changed the direction of the team.

Paulo Dybala did not make Argentina's 55-man squad for the World Cup

The biggest talking point of the announcement was the omission of Paulo Dybala, who failed to even secure a place on the preliminary list.

Dybala, who has not represented the Albiceleste since coming on as a substitute in a World Cup qualifier against Colombia in September 2024, has 40 caps for his country and scored a penalty in Argentina's penalty shoot-out victory over France in the 2022 final.

This season, Dybala played in 25 matches for AS Roma. He scored only 3 goals and provided 5 assists. According to the specialized website Transfermarkt, his market share is 5 million euros.

Argentina's technical staff will now use the coming weeks to whittle down the squad to a final 26-man squad by May 30. The team is scheduled to play two warm-up games in the United States, facing Honduras at Texas A&M's Kyle Field on June 6 and Iceland at Auburn's Jordan-Hare Stadium on June 9.

Argentina are in Group J, where they will face Algeria on June 16, Austria on June 22 and Jordan on June 27. The tour of the United States of America, Canada and Mexico will take place between June 11 and July 19.

Argentina's preliminary squad for the World Cup

• Goalkeepers: Emiliano Martinez, Geronimo Rulli, Juan Musso, Walter Benitez, Facundo Cambeses, Santiago Beltran

• Defenders: Agustin Giay, Facundo Medina, Leonardo Balerdi, Cristian Romero, Nahuel Molina, Nicolas Otamendi, Lisandro Martinez, Nicolas Tagliafico, German Pezzella, Gonzalo Montiel, Marcos Acuna, Kevin Mac Allister, Marcos Senesi, Lucas Martinez Quarta, Lautaro Di Lollo, Zaid Romero, Gabriel Rojas, Nicolas Capaldo

• Midfielders: Leandro Paredes, Rodrigo De Paul, Enzo Fernandez, Thiago Almada, Exequiel Palacios, Nicolas Paz, Franco Mastantuono, Alexis Mac Allister, Claudio Echeverri, Guido Rodriguez, Maximo Perron, Anibal Moreno, Milton Delgado, Alan Varela, Ezequiel Fernandez, Giovani Lo Celso, Nicolas Dominguez, Emiliano Buendia, Valentin Barco, Tomas Aranda

• Forwards: Lionel Messi, Julian Alvarez, Nicolas Gonzalez, Giuliano Simeone, Lautaro Martinez, Gianluca Prestianni, Santiago Castro, Matias Soule, Alejandro Garnacho, Jose Manuel Lopez, Mateo Pellegrino

What Argentina's World Cup starting XI could look like: (4-3-3): Emiliano Martinez – Nahuel Molina, Lisandro Martinez, Cristian Romero, Nicolas Tagliafico – Rodrigo De Paul, Alexis Mac Allister, Enzo Fernandez – Lionel Messi, Lautaro Martinez, Julian Alvarez