Why does it always seem like the Argentinian national team is trying to wreck our players?
Obviously not the case, yet....
Part of it boils down to the weird age/experience gap in their defenders, which can easily be described by comparing their last two tournament starting xis
2022 World Cup: Tagliafico, Otamenti, Romero, Molina
2024 Copa America: Tagliafico, Martinez, Romero, Montiel
Now let's look at their recent callups
Deep in their 30s with armfuls of caps
Nicolas Otamendi, Nicolas Tagliafico, Marcos Acuna, German Pezzela
Mid to late 20s with plenty of caps
Cuti Romero, Lisandro Martinez, Gonzalo Montiel, Nahuel Molina
Mid to late 20s with less caps between them than Otamendi or Tagliafico
Lucas Martinez Quarta, Marcos Senesi, Nehuen Perez, Leonardo Balerdi, Juan Foyth (for context, Foyth has 18 caps - the other four have 21 between them)
Late teens or early 20s just getting into the squad
Julio Soler, Valentin Barco, Nicolas Valentini
Long story short, Cuti and Lisandro Martinez are going to be Argentina's first choice CB pairing at the next World Cup and the AFA is going to want them playing as much as they can between now and then while the rest of the back line gets worked into place around them
And the rest of the backline will be an issue to work on, because while RB is on lock with Molina being first choice for the 2022 World Cup and Molina first choice for the 2024 Copa America, LB is a work in progress as the options are the 33 year old Tagliafico or the currently untested 19 year old Soler or 20 year old Barco