Argentina showed it’s in World Cup form in its final warm-up match against Iceland. After taking an early lead, nothing much happened for a long time—until Lionel Messi stepped up.
Argentina started their World Cup warm-up match against Iceland without Lionel Messi. La Pulga had recently been sidelined with a thigh injury and initially sat on the bench. Meanwhile, Leverkusen midfielder Palacios got the chance to start, as national team coach Lionel Scaloni gave his stars a bit of rest.
However, the defending World Cup champions had no trouble getting started in front of 88,000 spectators at Auburn University’s College Stadium; Strasbourg’s Barco scored the opening goal after just eight minutes: Iceland failed to clear the ball following a free kick, and from the edge of the penalty area, Barco blasted the ball powerfully into the left corner.
Messi comes on and scores
Nothing else happened before halftime, when Scaloni flexed his muscles and brought on Fernandez, Mac Allister, and Martinez for the second half. The Icelanders, who did not qualify for the World Cup, held on to the narrow lead for a long time, at least until Messi came on. In the 70th minute, Argentina’s superstar entered the field, and just two minutes later, the score was already 2-0. Martinez was fouled by the goalkeeper in the penalty area after a fine pass from Messi; La Pulga stepped up to take the penalty and confidently converted it into the top right corner.
Another substitute, Almada, put the finishing touch on the game shortly before the end (86th minute)—and once again, Messi was involved, setting up assist provider de Paul with a quick dribble down the right side of the penalty area, whose cross Almada simply had to tap over the line.
Argentina has thus confidently mastered its dress rehearsal for the tournament in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. The South Americans will kick off the tournament on Wednesday, June 17 (3 a.m.), in Kansas City against Algeria. In Group J, they will also face Austria and Jordan. As the reigning world champions, Argentina is naturally among the favorites to win the World Cup.
