🇦🇷 face weak side again, concede, but win with a Joia goal 🎥 | OneFootball

Argentina have only been scheduling friendlies against weaker national teams since winning the 2022 World Cup.

And they had another manageable opponent ahead of them this Friday (27).

They even conceded a goal to Mauritania, who sit 115th in the FIFA rankings, but beat the African side 2-1 at La Bombonera.

Special mention goes to Nico Paz, who is shining for Como in Italy’s Serie A and is expected to return to Real Madrid.

Messi starts on the bench

Scaloni rested De Paul and Messi, for example.

That opened up a valuable chance for Nico Paz in the starting XI.

The 21-year-old midfielder is having a great season for Fàbregas’ Como.

He has 11 goals and six assists for the current fourth-placed team in Serie A.

He came through at Real and is expected to return to the Spanish giants.

📸 Maurizio Lagana - 2025 Getty Images

There is a €9 million buy-back clause that is likely to be activated for the 2026/2027 season.

Enzo Fernández opened the scoring after a cross from Molina (17'). 

And Nico Paz doubled the lead with a free-kick (32').

Messi was brought on for the second half — taking Nico’s place, fittingly enough.

There were eight substitutions in total.

Including the debuts of Palmeiras’ Giay and Racing’s Gabriel Rojas.

Flaco López, another Palmeiras player, also came on.

The African side looked more dangerous in the second half.

And they got their deserved goal in the 94th minute, through Jordan Lefort.

Mauritania finished second from bottom in Group B of the African World Cup qualifiers. They won only one of their 10 matches in a group led by Senegal and in which DR Congo advanced to the intercontinental playoff. 

Without facing any giants...

The highest-ranked team Argentina have faced in friendlies since the World Cup in Qatar was Ecuador, who are currently 23rd in the rankings.

Besides La Tri, Messi & Co. have only faced two other opponents who will play at this year’s World Cup: Curaçao (World Cup debutants) and Australia — both in 2023. 

 Their next opponent will be another African national team: Zambia, ranked 91st. 

Meanwhile, Brazil — who have just faced France — will still take on Croatia during this FIFA window, and had previously played England, Spain, Senegal, Tunisia, Japan and South Korea, for example. 

See below for all of Argentina’s friendly matches in the current cycle: 

2023

2-0 - Panama - 23/3

7-0 - Curaçao - 28/3

2-0 - Australia - 15/6

2-0 - Indonesia - 19/6

2024

3-0 - El Salvador - 22/3

3-1 - Costa Rica - 27/3

1-0 - Ecuador - 9/6

4-1 - Guatemala - 14/6

2025

1-0 - Venezuela - 10/10

6-0 - Puerto Rico - 14/10

2-0 - Angola - 14/11

2026

2-1 Mauritania - 27/3

Zambia - 31/3  

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

📸 LUIS ROBAYO - AFP or licensors