Enzo Fernández and Alexis Mac Allister, the Argentine stars who were left out of the World Cup album

They are the black holes of the chromes or the stars born from an absence.

Enzo Fernández and Alexis Mac Allister have just joined the list of unexpected heroes that each World Cup produces, players who went from invisibility to the spotlight during the month in which the planet revolves around soccer.

Neither of them is among the 18 Argentines chosen by Panini for Qatar 2022, an album that without them seems to be obsolete in the present time.

Fernández and Mac Allister are not among the 576 footballers in the 2022 album and this Sunday they will go to France for the final photo of Qatar, that of the 11 champions.

In the absence of their figurines, as the stickers are called in Argentina, the boys and girls want their giant photo in the bedroom.

There is no footballer like Fernández, 21, who was more suited to the atypical Qatar 2022 calendar, played between November and December for the only time.

If he was a World Cup regular, from June to July, he most likely would have seen it on television.

It is even possible to conjecture that, if FIFA had not extended the list from 23 to 26 players – it did not make the reason official but the idea was born during the pandemic – it would not have joined either.

Enzo -the name of the Uruguayan Francescoli in which River fans are inspired to baptize their children, including Enzo Pérez, finalist of Brazil 2014, idolatry that Zinedine Zidane also transferred to his eldest son-, played his last game in football Argentina on July 6, 2022, less than half a year ago, a closeness that shows its meteoric advance,

Less than six months ago, Fernández had not added a second for the Albiceleste, even though at the end of 2021 he had been called up for a game in which he did not make it to the substitute bench.

Benfica, a hunter of South American pearls, closed its incorporation on July 23 for 10 million dollars, plus another 8 million for goals, in exchange for 70% of the pass.

Formed in a River in which at first he had no place, to the point that he was loaned out to Defensa y Justicia -where he made his debut in the Argentine League in November 2020, at the age of 19-, Enzo pulverized the times: after his return to River, it took him four months in Portugal, from his debut in August 2022, to reach the World Cup.

Panini did not take it into account because it could only have been noticed by someone from the future.

Fernández made his debut for Argentina on September 23, in a friendly against Honduras.

He entered in the last 24 minutes and, four days later, against Jamaica, he added more time: 34 ′.

Lionel Scaloni understood that he had found a hidden gem and gave him 39 minutes in his third participation, against the United Arab Emirates, already in the week before the World Cup.

His progress at Qatar 2022 ridicules the importance of experience: he entered add-ons against Saudi Arabia and Mexico, where he scored a goal, and earned a first start against Poland, when he played the opening 79 minutes.

Since then he has not come out again: a mixture of quality and fierceness, he became the owner of a historic position, that of the Argentine central midfielder -that of Néstor Rossi, Antonio Rattín, Fernando Redondo and Javier Mascherano-, and added the 90 against Australia, the 120 of the battle against the Netherlands and the 90 against Croatia, when he opened the game with a pass to Álvarez that ended with Lionel Messi's penalty.

Media from England assure that he will continue his career at Liverpool in exchange for the 120 million euros of his clause.

The Avenger

As if he were a family avenger, Alexis Mac Allister (23 years old) personalizes the reverse story of his father, Carlos, defender of Boca and the team that was included in the United States 1994 album but at the last minute was marginalized from the list of the World.

The Brighton midfielder from England was not included in the Qatar 2022 cards but he does participate -and as a key player for Argentina- in the World Cup, an income that he also won thanks to a last-minute sprint, although carried out from March, and not only in the last semester of the year.

Mac Allister, emerged in Argentinos Juniors (Maradona's birthplace) and with a stint in 20 games for Boca, had had a brief participation in the national team in 2019 in two friendlies against Chile and Mexico.

It seemed that he was leaving the media spotlight in a team of little lineage in the Premier League but in truth he was getting stronger, and thus he returned to the national team on March 26 of this year, on the penultimate date of the Qualifiers, when Scaloni was looking for alternatives to the headlines Giovani Lo Celso and Leandro Paredes.

Mac Allister played well against Venezuela and gained the confidence of Scaloni, who saw a midfielder who could provide him with goals, through passes, marking, sacrifice and positional intelligence.

Back in Qatar, Lo Celso's injury and Paredes' low physical level made him a place as a starter in the second game, against Mexico, and -like Enzo- he entered with the naturalness of someone who seems made for a World Cup.

He also scored a goal, against Poland, and against France he will add the sixth game followed by him as a starter.

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