Forwards
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With Lionel Messi now free to take part in Argentina's remaining World Cup qualifiers after the reversal of his ban for swearing at an official, he will clearly be a part of the starting XI. Sampaoli has made his admiration for the Barcelona forward patently clear and a more offensive and connected team should give Messi a better platform to perform than he has received under some of his previous national team coaches.
Sampaoli has generally preferred small and mobile forwards over fixed reference points in his coaching career to date and while the squad does include some of the latter type, including the controversial selection of Mauro Icardi, the majority of the call-ups are closer to the former profile.
Paulo Dybala and Gonzalo Higuain have formed a highly effective partnership at Juventus and it is something that Sampaoli may well seek to replicate with the national team. But with both involved in the Champions League final five days earlier, it is unlikely they will take part from the start against Brazil in the first of the two friendlies.
There is, therefore, a solid chance that Icardi will start that match up front, flanked by Messi and one of Joaquin Correa, who showed definite signs of improvement towards the end of the season at Sevilla and Alejandro Gomez, who has enjoyed the best campaign of his career to date at Atalanta.
