Lack of heavyweight opponents worries Argentina before the 2026 World Cup | OneFootball

With the cancellation of the Finalissima against Spain, Argentina lost its last opportunity to face a major national team during the final stage of its preparations for the 2026 World Cup in North America.

Argentina found opponents of a similar level only in its neighbors Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay, in the South American qualifiers and at the 2024 Copa América, within a schedule that otherwise was limited to friendlies against lesser opponents.

This schedule, lacking more demanding matches, is evident in this March international window, when Argentina, second in the FIFA rankings, will host modest Mauritania (115th) and Zambia (91st) at La Bombonera, two teams that failed to qualify for the World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

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Lesser opponents

These friendlies against lesser opponents differ greatly from the warm-up matches of Brazil and Colombia (against France and Croatia) and Uruguay, which will test itself against England and Algeria during this FIFA window.

Ecuador, also qualified for the World Cup, will likewise have tougher tests against Morocco and the Netherlands, top-level national teams that will also be present at the tournament in North America.

Upon arriving in Buenos Aires, Lyon full-back Nicolás Tagliafico lamented not being able to face Spain, noting that “playing this kind of match is good for everyone. As players, we always aim for these games, but it wasn’t possible. So we have to focus on what we have.”

For his part, Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernández recalled that “before the World Cup [in Qatar, in 2022], we didn’t have such demanding friendlies either. But we try to approach every match with the same sense of responsibility.”

Along the same lines, full-back Valentín Barco, who plays for Strasbourg, said that “any opponent can serve as good preparation. Every national team has its own status and quality players. That’s why we’re going to approach this challenge in the best possible way.”

On the one hand, the Argentine Football Association (AFA) showed inflexibility in its negotiations with the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) over the venue for the Finalissima, but the process also exposed management problems in securing high-level opponents after the clash with the current European champions was called off.

In its last 11 friendlies, Argentina defeated Panama (2–0), Curaçao (7–0), Australia (2–0), Indonesia (2–0), El Salvador (3–0), Costa Rica (3–1), Ecuador (1–0), Guatemala (4–1), Venezuela (1–0), Puerto Rico (6–0) and Angola (2–0), compiling a record of 33 goals scored and only two conceded.

Avoiding complacency

The gap between Argentina and another title contender such as Brazil becomes clear when one sees that, in recent months, the Brazilian national team has faced Senegal, Japan, the United States, South Korea, Spain, England and Mexico, several of whom rank in FIFA’s top 20.

A few months ago, when asked about the lack of major opponents, coach Lionel Scaloni said: “It’s not easy for national teams to come play here [in Argentina]. On top of that, we don’t have opportunities to play against European countries because of the Nations League.”

However, Scaloni also dismissed the idea that there could be any complacency from facing opponents of this caliber, emphasizing that “these matches are called friendlies, but that is only a name. They have to be played, and we have to give our all. The players need to prove their worth to the coach to secure a place on the World Cup squad list.”

On the other hand, certain sections of the press take a critical view of the situation.

“Since the triumph in Qatar, every friendly has followed a consistent pattern: the sporting irrelevance of the opponents, combined with a focus on financial gain. As a result, they have piled up only low-level matches. It would have been much better to face Spain at the Bernabéu than to play Curaçao, Indonesia or Puerto Rico in Argentina,” said Cristian Grosso, editor of the newspaper La Nación.

After these friendlies in Buenos Aires, the last to be played in Argentina and, very possibly, one of the final chances for local fans to see Lionel Messi live, the reigning world champions have two warm-up matches scheduled in the United States a few days before their World Cup debut.

In that regard, it had been announced that Argentina would face Honduras and Mexico in June. However, those matches were canceled, and the national team is now looking for opponents to complete its preparations in pursuit of a fourth World Cup title.

*With content from AFP

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