{"id":2802028,"date":"2026-03-30T06:03:29","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T06:03:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/2802028\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T06:03:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T06:03:29","slug":"argentina-set-for-friendly-clash-against-mauritania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/2802028\/","title":{"rendered":"Argentina set for friendly clash against Mauritania"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Karl Matchett<\/p>\n

Argentina are also playing Zambia during this international break in what\u2019s effectively now a farewell to the public before trying to make it back-to-back successes on the global stage.<\/p>\n

Spectacle and superstar<\/p>\n

There won\u2019t be much surprise if the lead-up to the game \u2013 and maybe the first half at least \u2013 is all about the usual Lionel Messi sideshow. At 38 years of age he\u2019s still sharp and relentless in the final third; in MLS he may be but he can still top the lot, ranking ahead of 99% of similar forwards for goals and chances created and all 100% of them for touches and shots.<\/p>\n

Still, the idea is to maximise what you get from Messi while maintaining balance elsewhere, which makes the likes of Juli\u00e1n Alvarez and Thiago Almada so vital with movement and workrate off the ball.<\/p>\n

\"\"To watch the upcoming friendlies in the United States, click here<\/p>\n

Plan in action<\/p>\n

A little over a decade ago, Mauritania were in the bottom handful of national teams on the entire planet, by Fifa rankings anyway. Ground has been made in that regard, and they\u2019ve been to three Afcon tournaments in the past seven years, but didn\u2019t qualify for 2025\u2019s edition and have never been to a World Cup.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t seem like a testing opponent on first glance for Argentina, but they do face another (much stronger) African side in their World Cup group \u2013 Algeria \u2013 and also a World Cup finals debutant, in Jordan, so perhaps a defensive-minded opponent will provide some practice for what lies ahead. In reality, this is maybe the best alternative on offer at short notice, given Messi and co were supposed to be facing Spain in the Finalissima this weekend.<\/p>\n

Recent matches<\/p>\n

Three not-high-profile opponents have been Argentina\u2019s choices since the qualifiers ended in a 1-0 defeat to Ecuador, with Venezuela, Puerto Rico and Angola all duly dispatched. Mauritania haven\u2019t won any of their last six and have just one victory since the end of 2024.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Team news<\/p>\n

Lionel Scaloni had a full squad in training at the start of the week and it\u2019s expected the likes of Lionel Messi, Alexis Mac Allister and Juli\u00e1n Alvarez will all start, though Rodrigo De Paul could miss out with a knock.<\/p>\n

Mauritania will look to Romania-based captain Aly Abeid for defensive organisation while Rangers winger Djeidi Gassama is hoping for an international debut.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Key Player<\/p>\n

Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez has been in the headlines over a potential summer move; at his best he is a scheming danger in the final third but he has been hot and cold this term. Over the past year he ranks in the top 5% of all attacking midfielders in Europe for getting on the ball; he should have plenty of that in this game so it\u2019s all about whether he can find the telling ball to the front men.<\/p>\n

Prediction<\/p>\n

A routine win for the South American side but the key will be keeping up the tempo if they want to rack up the scoreline: Argentina 3-0 Mauritania.<\/p>\n

(Cover image from IMAGO)<\/p>\n

You can follow every Argentina game with FotMob this season \u2013 featuring deep stats coverage, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.<\/p>\n

To watch the upcoming Argentina games in the United States, check out the coverage provided by BeINSports \u2013 here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Karl Matchett Argentina are also playing Zambia during this international break in what\u2019s effectively now a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2802029,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[785161],"tags":[133793,23370],"class_list":{"0":"post-2802028","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-argentina","8":"tag-argentina","9":"tag-23370"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/wakoka.com\/@news\/116316616114408933","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2802028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2802028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2802028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2802029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2802028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2802028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2802028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}