The Tottenham star has made Argentina’s preliminary squad for WC.
Lionel Scaloni announced Argentina’s 55-man preliminary squad for the 2026 World Cup, and as expected, given that this particular selection contains fewer genuine surprises than a Tottenham injury update, Cristian Romero’s name appeared alongside the usual ensemble of World Champions and Champions League regulars. The preliminary squad features Romero in the defensive section alongside Lisandro Martinez, Nicolas Otamendi, and Leonardo Balerdi.
The Standard has the full squad. Romero, widely regarded as a guaranteed starter for Argentina, forms with Lisandro Martinez one of the world’s finest central defensive partnerships. That assessment from his national team coach, accumulated across the 2022 World Cup triumph, the 2024 Copa America, and sustained international performances since, creates a form of institutional immunity to short-term injury setbacks.
Scaloni is not selecting Romero because he watched him play in May 2026. He is selecting him because he watched him play for the previous three years and concluded, entirely reasonably, that a fit €50m Cristian Romero is non-negotiable in his defensive architecture.
Race against time for Cristian Romero?
The question surrounding his inclusion was never whether he would feature but whether he would stand fit enough to participate meaningfully. Reports from the AFA suggest Argentina expect him to recover fully in time for June’s pre-tournament friendlies. The knee ligament injury suffered against Sunderland has seen itself managed conservatively, with the World Cup timeline providing a clear target date for the medical staff.
He was always going to be in the preliminary squad. The meaningful question is whether he makes the final cut and, more pertinently, what his presence in Buenos Aires or training camps for the next several weeks means for his availability at Hotspur Way.
Romero has been absent since the Sunderland match. De Zerbi has managed without him, constructing a defensive partnership between Kevin Danso and Micky van de Ven that has produced three consecutive clean sheets in the club’s recent run of improved results. That partnership, forged from necessity, has proven functional enough to deliver survival momentum. Romero’s absence, whilst obviously damaging in terms of quality and leadership, has not proven fatal. This absence will likely continue next season too, with Romero leaving the club highly plausible.