Argentina national under-23 football team

Argentina

Nickname(s)	Albicelestes (White and Sky blue)
Association	Asociación del Fútbol Argentino (Argentine Football Association)
Confederation	CONMEBOL (South America)
Head coach	Gerardo Martino
Captain	Vacant
Most caps	Javier Mascherano (18)
Top scorer	Domingo Tarasconi (9)
Home stadium	El Monumental
FIFA code	ARG
First colours Second colours
First international
Argentina 11–2 United States (Amsterdam, Netherlands; May 29, 1928)
Olympics
Appearances	8 (First in 1928)
Best result	Winners: 2004, 2008
Confederations Cup
Appearances	CONMEBOL Men Pre-Olympic Tournament 10 (First in 1960)
Best result	Champions: 1960, 1964, 1980, 2004

Olympic medal record
Men's football
	1928 Amsterdam	Team
	1996 Atlanta	Team
	2004 Athens	Team
	2008 Beijing	Team

Argentina Olympic football team represents Argentina in international football competitions in Olympic Games. The selection is limited to players under the age of 23, except three overage players. The team is controlled by the Asociación del Fútbol Argentino (AFA).

History

First silver medal and a long absence

The team that won the Silver Medal at the 1928 Olympics.

Argentina took part for the first time in 1928 Summer Olympics held in the Netherlands. The team advanced to the final after defeating United States (with a thrashing 11-2) at the first round and Belgium (6-3) on second round. In semifinals, the national team smashed Egypt by 6-0, qualifying to play the final against Uruguay.

The first match ended in a 1-1 tie so a second game had to be played three days later. In the decissive match, Uruguay won the tournament when defeating Argentina by 2-1 winning the Gold Medal. The Argentine line-up was Bossio, Bidoglio, Paternóster, Médice, Monti, Evaristo, Carricaberri, Tarasconi, Ferreira, Perduca, Orsi.

In the 1932 Summer Olympics no football tournament was held. Likewise Argentina did not participate in the 1936, 1948, 1952 and 1956 editions, returning for the 1960 games held in Rome. Argentina was eliminated in the first round after a loss to Denmark by 3-2, although the team won its successive games against Tunisia (2-1) and Poland (2-0). Argentina placed 2nd to Denmark.

Argentina's next participation was in the 1964 Summer Olympics organized by Tokyo, where the team finished in the last position of the groupd after a 1-1 to Ghana and a loss to Japan by 2-3. Since then, Argentina had a long absence of the games, not having taken part in the 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980 and 1984 Olympics.

The national team returned for the 1988 Summer Olympics held in Seoul. Argentina tied 1-1 to United States, then defeating South Korea 2-1, finishing 2nd to the Soviet Union and qualifying for the next stage. On the quarter finals, Argentina lost to Brazil by 2-1 being eliminated from the competition.

Return to the podium

Argentina did not qualify for the 1992 edition, coming back for the 1996 edition held in Atlanta. For the first time in the history of the Olympics, the International Olympic Committee allowed football representatives to register a maximum of three above-23 players. The Argentine players registered under that range were Diego Simeone, José Chamot and Roberto Sensini. Former Senior captain Daniel Passarella was the manager.

The national team debuted with a 3-1 victory over the United States. The team then tied to Portugal and Tunisia, both 1-1. Argentina placed 1st in the group, qualifying for the second round. In quarter finals, Argentina trashed Spain by 4-0 which allowed the team to pass to the semi-finals, where it defeated Portugal by 2-0. After 66 years since the first final played in Amsterdam, Argentina got right to play its second olympic final. The match was played on 3 August 1996 and Argentina lost to Nigeria (that had eliminated Brazil at semi-finals) by 2-3. The line-up for the final was: Cavallero; Zanetti, Ayala, Sensini, Chamot; Bassedas, Almeyda, Ortega, Hugo Morales; Claudio López, Crespo. Other players that formed the roster were Carlos Bossio, Marcelo Gallardo and Marcelo Delgado. In the next edition of the games (2000 Argentina did not participate.

First gold

The 2004 Summer Olympics were held in Athens and Argentina returned to the competition after the absence in Sydney. The squad, managed by Marcelo Bielsa, won the gold medal for the first time in its history. Before playing the final, Argentina won all the games in the first round, thrashing Serbia and Montenegro (6-0), then defeating Tunisia and Australia. Argentina finished 1st in the group with no goals received. On quarter finals, Argentina smashed Costa Rica 4-0, reaching the semi-finals against Italy which beat by 3-0. Argentina played the final against Paraguay on August 28, 2004, winning not only the game (1-0) by the gold medal.

Argentina won the competition with an astounding campaign, winning the 6 games played, with no goals received along the tournament. The team also totalized 17 goals (2,83 per match). The line-up for the final was: Lux; Coloccini, Ayala, Heinze; Lucho González, Mascherano, Kily González, D'Alessandro, Tevez; Rosales, César Delgado. The most notable player of the tournament was Carlos Tevez, also the topscorer with 8 goals.

Second gold

The 2008 Summer Olympics were held in Beijing and Argentina consecutively competed at Athens and Beijing. The squad won their second consecutive gold medal.

Argentina did not qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics held in London. Argentina did qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics held in Rio de Janeiro.

Honours

• Gold medal (2): 2004, 2008
• Silver medal (2): 1928, 1996

Statistics

Summer Olympics

Main article: Football at the Summer Olympics

Argentina vs. Uruguay, the final at Amsterdam 1928.

Argentina defeated Italy by 3-0 at the 2004 semi-finals.

Argentina team celebrating the gold medal at Beijing, 2008.

Olympics Record
Year	Host	Round	Pos.	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA
1896	Athens	Did Not Participate
1900	Paris	Did Not Participate
1904	St. Louis	Did Not Participate
1908	London	Did Not Participate
1912	Stockholm	Did Not Participate
1920	Antwerp	Did Not Participate
1924	Paris	Did Not Participate
1928	Amsterdam	Silver Medal	2	5	3	1	1	24	7
1932	Los Angeles	No football tournament
1936	Berlin	Did Not Participate
1948	London	Did Not Participate
1952	Helsinki	Did Not Participate
1956	Melbourne	Did Not Participate
1960	Rome	Round 1	-	3	2	0	1	6	4
1964	Tokyo	Round 1	-	2	0	1	1	3	4
1968	Mexico City	Did Not Qualify
1972	Munich	Did Not Qualify
1976	Montreal	Did Not Qualify
1980	Moscow	Qualified and Withdrew
1984	Los Angeles	Did Not Participate
1988	Seoul	Quarter-finals	-	4	1	1	2	4	5
1992	Barcelona	Did Not Qualify
1996	Atlanta	Silver Medal	2	6	3	2	1	13	6
2000	Sydney	Did Not Qualify
2004	Athens	Gold Medal	1	6	6	0	0	17	0
2008	Beijing	Gold Medal	1	6	6	0	0	11	2
2012	London	Did Not Qualify
2016	Rio de Janeiro	Qualified
2020	Tokyo	TBD
Total		8/19	2	32	21	5	6	78	28

South American Pre-Olympic

Main article: CONMEBOL Men Pre-Olympic Tournament

Year	Host	Pos.	P	W	T	L	GF	GC
1960	Peru	1º	6	6	0	0	25	6
1964	Peru	1º	5	5	0	0	11	1
1968	Colombia	(Did not participate)
1972	Colombia	3º	7	1	5	1	7	6
1976	Brazil	3º	5	2	1	2	7	8
1980	Colombia	1º	6	5	1	0	13	2
1984	Ecuador	(Did not participate)
1988	Bolivia	2º	7	3	3	1	8	2
1992	Paraguay	5º	4	2	1	1	4	3
1996	Argentina	2º	7	6	1	0	21	3
2000	Brazil	3º	7	3	1	3	12	9
2004	Chile	1º	7	5	2	0	16	8
Total			61	38	15	8	124	48

• Since 2007, the Olympic Qualification tournament from CONMEBOL's members is the U-20 South American Championship.

Players

Current squad

The following 35 players were pre-selected for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

0#0 Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club 1GK Augusto Batalla (1996-04-30) April 30, 1996 0 0 River Plate 1GK Gerónimo Rulli (1992-05-20) May 20, 1992 0 0 Real Sociedad 1GK Ezequiel Unsain (1995-03-09) March 9, 1995 0 0 Newell's Old Boys 1GK Axel Werner (1996-02-28) February 28, 1996 0 0 Atlético de Rafaela 2DF Víctor Cuesta (1988-11-19) November 19, 1988 0 0 Independiente 2DF Ramiro Funes Mori (1991-03-05) March 5, 1991 0 0 Everton 2DF Lautaro Gianetti (1993-11-13) November 13, 1993 0 0 Vélez Sarsfield 2DF José Luis Gómez (1993-09-10) September 10, 1993 0 0 Lanús 2DF Jonathan Maidana (1985-07-29) July 29, 1985 0 0 River Plate 2DF Emanuel Mammana (1996-02-10) February 10, 1996 0 0 River Plate 2DF Mateo Musacchio (1990-08-26) August 26, 1990 0 0 Villarreal 2DF Víctor Salazar (1993-05-26) May 26, 1993 0 0 Rosario Central 2DF Jonathan Silva (1994-06-29) June 29, 1994 0 0 Boca Juniors 2DF Alexis Soto (1993-10-20) October 20, 1993 0 0 Banfield 2DF Leandro Vega (1996-05-27) May 27, 1996 0 0 River Plate 3MF Santiago Ascacibar (1997-02-25) February 25, 1997 0 0 Estudiantes 3MF Franco Cervi (1994-05-26) May 26, 1994 0 0 Rosario Central 3MF Joaquín Correa (1994-08-13) August 13, 1994 0 0 Sampdoria 3MF Matías Kranevitter (1993-05-21) May 21, 1993 0 0 Atlético Madrid 3MF Manuel Lanzini (1993-02-15) February 15, 1993 0 0 West Ham United 3MF Giovani Lo Celso (1996-04-09) April 9, 1996 0 0 Rosario Central 3MF Mauricio Martínez (1993-02-20) February 20, 1993 0 0 Unión de Santa Fe 3MF Leandro Paredes (1994-06-29) June 29, 1994 0 0 Empoli 3MF Emiliano Rigoni (1993-02-04) February 4, 1993 0 0 Independiente 3MF Lucas Romero (1994-04-18) April 18, 1994 0 0 Cruzeiro 3MF Iván Rossi (1993-11-01) November 1, 1993 0 0 Banfield 4FW Martín Benítez (1994-06-17) June 17, 1994 0 0 Independiente 4FW Jonathan Calleri (1993-09-23) September 23, 1993 0 0 São Paulo 4FW Ángel Correa (1995-03-09) March 9, 1995 0 0 Atlético Madrid 4FW Paulo Dybala (1993-11-15) November 15, 1993 0 0 Juventus 4FW Cristian Espinoza (1995-04-03) April 3, 1995 0 0 Huracán 4FW Mauro Icardi (1993-02-19) February 19, 1993 0 0 Internazionale 4FW Cristian Pavón (1996-01-21) January 21, 1996 0 0 Boca Juniors 4FW Giovanni Simeone (1995-07-05) July 5, 1995 0 0 Banfield 4FW Luciano Vietto (1993-12-05) December 5, 1993 0 0 Atlético Madrid

Notable players

• 

  Angel Bossio, the 1928 goalkeeper.

• 

  Domingo Tarasconi, 1928 topscorer (9 goals).

• 

  Hernán Crespo, 1996 topscorer (6 goals).

• 

  Carlos Tevez, the 2004 topscorer with 8 goals.

• 

  Javier Mascherano, 2 gold medals and most caps.

• 

  Lionel Messi won the gold medal in 2008.

• 

  Sergio Agüero was part of the 2008 team.

Former squads

• 1928 Summer Olympics squads - Argentina
• 1960 Summer Olympics squads - Argentina
• 1964 Summer Olympics squads - Argentina
• 1988 Summer Olympics squads - Argentina
• 1996 Summer Olympics squads - Argentina
• 2004 Summer Olympics squads - Argentina
• 2008 Summer Olympics squads - Argentina

See also

• Argentina national football team
• Argentina national under-20 football team

External links

• Argentina under-23 at AFA website