Paris Olympics 2024: Lionel Messi out from Argentina Olympic squad

Lionel Messi will not be in Argentina’s squad for the Olympics, which begin in Paris later this month. Coach Javier Mascherano included four World Cup winners, including striker Julian Alvarez and defender Nicolas Otamendi, in the squad he announced on Tuesday. Paris Olympics 2024: Lionel Messi out from Argentina’s Olympic squad.

The 37-year-old Messi, who has been plagued by injuries this year, is now playing in the Copa America as he aims to retain the continental title he won in 2021. That win served as a springboard for Argentina to lift the World Cup in 2022.

Messi won a gold medal in his only Olympic campaign in 2008 in Beijing. The Olympic men’s soccer tournament is for under-23 teams, but three older players are allowed on each team. Mascherano, who won Olympic gold medals as a player in 2004 and ’08, will add goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli, Otamendi and Alvarez to his squad after the Copa America.

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He will also be joined by midfielder Claudio Echeverri, who recently signed for Manchester City from River Plate. Argentina will play two friendlies in France before opening its Olympic soccer tournament against Morocco on July 24. Argentina and Morocco are in Group B along with Iraq and Ukraine.

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The Olympics 2024 will be hosted by Paris, the capital city of France. Paris previously hosted the Olympics in 1900 and 1924 and joins London (1908, 1948 and 2012) as the only two cities to have hosted the Olympics three times.

The Games will officially open on Friday, July 26, 2024. Instead of being held in a traditional stadium, the 2024 opening ceremony will take the form of a four-mile-long float parade down the Seine River.

Athletes and performers ride through the heart of Paris on about 160 boats, ending at the Trocadero. The opening ceremony concludes with a final performance as the Eiffel Tower lights up the night.

More than 500 athletes are expected to represent the US at the Paris Olympics. Most athletes make Team USA by competing in the Olympic Trials or by earning the necessary international results and rankings, while others earn their ticket to Paris through discretionary selections.