Another international break, another round of easy victories for the defending world champions. Argentina make it look easy when they want to, and this whole past week in the United States had the feeling of a holiday from the pressures of regular club football, a chance to catch up with old friends and move down a gear. It even included a school trip for the Albiceleste, Saturday's outing to Miami to watch head boy Lionel Messi strut his stuff in MLS before joining his chums for the second game.
That Inter Miami match, a 4-0 rout in which Messi got two of his side's goals – the Albiceleste contingent in the stands was suitably enthusiastic in its celebrations – was very much in keeping with the overall spirit of the week for Argentina. Competition was almost non-existent as they powered past Venezuela and Puerto Rico (yes, Puerto Rico) with seven goals scored and zero conceded.
There was no doubt, then, that this is still a very good Argentina team, more than capable of inflicting misery on its opponents. But that does not dispel the nagging question: why on earth are these the opponents lined up ahead of a World Cup defence?
It's not a new phenomenon either. Of Argentina's last 14 friendly opponents, only two have qualified for the 2026 World Cup (not a particularly high bar either, given the expansion). Eight of those teams herald from the CONCACAF region, including such footballing luminaries as Curacão, Guatemala and Tuesday's opponents Puerto Rico, while Estonia were the sole European rival faced, in a game played way back in June 2022.
Argentina won all 14 of those games by an aggregate score of 47-2, with only Venezuela and Ecuador holding the Albiceleste to within one goal. It's always nice to win, of course, but only the most optimistic of observers can claim rolling over Caribbean nations is steeling Lionel Scaloni's men for potential clashes with Spain, France and other World Cup hopefuls nine months from now.
The basic lack of seriousness of the whole situation does have some positive outcomes. Against Puerto Rico two players received their first Argentina cap, a momentous occasion in the career of any footballer no matter who the opposition.
José Manuel López, who came up in the sport the long way via Colegiales de Tres Arroyos and regional amateur leagues before getting his break with Lanús and flourishing at Palmeiras, spearheaded the Albiceleste attack alongside Messi.
The other new boy, Facundo Cambeses, can tell a more conventional but possibly even more dizzying success story: the keeper was Gabriel Arias' backup at Racing before grabbing the number one jersey just over a month ago, going from perennial benchwarmer to the first choice for the Libertadores semis and now full Argentina international after he came on for Emiliano Martínez in the second half.
There is a mitigating factor here too for those in charge. Argentina used to mix with top European nations on a regular basis outside of the World Cup – as recently as 2014 they got one over on champions Germany with a 4-2 win in Düsseldorf in their first match after that fateful final – but UEFA's decision to limit international friendlies to an absolute minimum with the advent of the Nations Cup made scheduling such games incredibly difficult. Even with that qualifier though, the inability of the AFA to arrange competitive games, or even games full stop, borders piss-up in a brewery levels of incompetence.
In November, Argentina know they will face Angola in Luanda, but still have no idea who their second opponent of that window will or indeed on what continent, after a fixture in India fell through. It is an unacceptable grade of improvisation for a world champion with some of the finest football talent on the planet.
Putting six past Puerto Rico will always be fun for players and fans alike; but it is time to seriously think about the task ahead and prepare accordingly, putting Messi and his team-mate through real tests.
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