BUENOS AIRES.- Four days after a lackluster victory against Mauritaniathe Argentine team recomposed its image this Tuesday and crushed Zambia 5-0 in a pre-World Cup friendly played at La Bombonera in Buenos Aires in front of some 50,000 spectators.
In what could be the last official duel of Lionel Messi As a team in their country, the Albiceleste came out very early to erase the poor image they left against the modest Mauritanian team, whom they could barely beat last Friday 2-1.
The coach Lionel Scaloni chose a formation with a good part of those pointed out as possible starters for the Albiceleste in the World Cup.
Just in the first arrival, Messi himself found space on the right and sent the center back for the low finish of Julian Alvarez (4′).
Argentina dominated easily, with a good job of Leandro Paredes and Enzo Fernandez as the pistons in the middle of the field to recover and keep the world champion on African soil.
The momentum to get the nail out of the way continued with a goal from Messi himself (43′), which he combined with Alexis MacAllister inside the African area and scored with a left-footed cross for 2-0 that raised the crowd in La Bombonera.
In the second half, Argentina again had an impact from the start, with a penalty that scored Nicolas Otamendi (49′) after Messi gave up kicking and gave him the ball.
Argentina extended the lead when the defender Dominic Chanda deflected a cross and scored it into his own goal, and already in added time, the full-back Valentine Boat (90+3′), one of the players looking for a place in the World Cup squad, rounded off the win after an assist from Nico Gonzalez.
“We show what we are”
The highlights, beyond the five goals and facing a much inferior opponent, who is 91st in the ranking FIFAis that the Albiceleste showed obvious improvement.
“From that first game, the truth is that we left with a bit of a bitter taste because what we wanted to do didn’t work out. Today we entered with a different mentality and we showed what we are. We showed that we are very good. We leave with good feelings,” highlighted the “Cuti” Cristian Romeroone of the pillars of the defense.
Along the same lines, Scaloni considered that the team reacted to the previous poor presentation. “The team understood the message from the other day when we were not good. Today the team played as they are used to doing. It was clear that what happened the other day was an accident and the important thing is that this cannot be repeated again,” he noted.
Argentina will begin the defense of the title Qatar 2022 on June 16 at GEHA Field in Kansas Cuty, when he faces Algeria by Group J, where they are also Jordan and Austria.
