Argentina thrashed Zambia at La Bombonera, wraps up at home | OneFootball

It was 5-0 in a friendly where Scaloni’s team dominated from the start. Messi, Julián, Otamendi, Colo Barco, and an own goal made the difference.

The Argentina National Team thrashed Zambia 5-0 at La Bombonera in its final friendly on home soil before the 2026 World Cup. Lionel Scaloni’s side was superior from the opening whistle and wrapped up the match without any trouble.

Argentina controlled possession, set the tempo, and every time it accelerated, it made the difference. The match had the feel of an open training session, with sustained dominance and very few defensive demands.

⚽ 4′ 1H: Goal by Julián Álvarez (1-0)

⚽ 44′ 1H: Goal by Lionel Messi (2-0)

⚽ 5′ 2H: Goal by Nicolás Otamendi (3-0)

⚽ 22′ 2H: Own goal by Dominic Chanda (4-0)

⚽ 45’+3 2H: Goal by Valentín Barco (5-0)

Substitutions and rotation

In the second half, Scaloni turned to the bench and gave several players some minutes. Rodrigo De Paul, Valentín Barco, Nicolás González, Giuliano Simeone, Lucas Martínez Quarta, Máximo Perrone, Nicolás Paz, and Juan Musso came on.

Argentina lineup:Emiliano Martínez; Nahuel Molina, Cristian Romero, Nicolás Otamendi, Nicolás Tagliafico; Enzo Fernández, Alexis Mac Allister, Leandro Paredes; Lionel Messi, Julián Álvarez, and Thiago Almada.Head coach: Lionel Scaloni.

The national team will continue its preparations with an international tour during the next FIFA window, when Lionel Scaloni’s coaching staff has friendlies scheduled against tougher opponents, including Serbia. It will then finalize the squad list and hold a training camp ahead of the 2026 World Cup, where it will be part of Group J: it will debut on June 16 against Algeria, face Austria on the 22nd, and close against Jordan on the 27th.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.