Under-20 National Team: Placente loses Echeverri and faces significant absences for the World Cup

With less than two weeks to go before the start of the U-20 World Cup in Chile, the Argentina National Team led by Diego Placente suffered a major setback in its planning: Claudio Echeverri will not be released by Bayer Leverkusen.

The German club's Sporting Director, Simon Rolfes, was blunt in explaining the decision: "We're going to need the player. He's staying. That's our opinion and also City's." This way, the former River player joins the list of confirmed absences for the tournament.

The "Diablito" is not the only one. Franco Mastantuono will not be there either, since Real Madrid decided to keep him so Xabi Alonso can have him available in LaLiga and the Champions League. Meanwhile, Borussia Dortmund will not release Aaron Anselmino, who also has a muscle problem, while Benfica denied Gianluca Prestianni's departure, a regular substitute in Bruno Lage's team.

With these refusals, Placente already has four key absences in the squad. However, the AFA is still working: Argentine envoys traveled to Europe to insist on some players. In this context, Julio Soler could join the squad, while Valentín Carboni's situation remains complicated, since Genoa shows no intention of releasing him.

The U-20 National Team thus faces the final stretch toward its World Cup debut with an adverse outlook, without several of its main prospects but with the hope of competing at the highest level.

When does the U-20 World Cup in Chile start

The youth world championship will begin on Saturday, September 27 with South Korea - Ukraine and Japan - Egypt at 5 p.m. Meanwhile, the Argentina National Team will open its participation the following day with its match against Cuba at 8 p.m.

It should be noted that the Albiceleste will be in Group D, where Australia and Italy will also be, opponents it will face on October 1 and 4 at the same time respectively.