Argentina vs Curacao : Lineups and LIVE updates
With the carnival mood in Argentina still going strong, the world champions cap off their March homecoming on Tuesday with a friendly against Curacao
On the heels of their comfortable 2-0 win over Panama, the World Cup triumph tour for Lionel Messi and Argentina continues when they face CONCACAF underdogs Curacao at Estadio Unico in friendly action at the Santiago del Estero.
Thiago Almada scored the opener in the 78th minute, while Lionel Messi starred in Argentina’s victory in Buenos Aires on Thursday, and scored a late free-kick goal and completed nine successful dribble attempts during the match.
That goal marked the 800th of his professional career for club and country, but he's not done scoring just yet. Now, the 35-year-old legend will try to score his 100th international goal in this encounter as the celebrations for the victory in Qatar continue.
Curacao, ranked 85th in the world, troubled both Canada and Honduras in the CONCACAF Nations League, but finished bottom of Group C.
They have never played Argentina in their nation's history, and given that CONCACAF will host the new 48-team 2026 World Cup, this could be a huge game to gauge their progress as they aim for qualification in four years' time.
There's a huge gulf in quality between these two teams and if Argentina opened the scoring early on, they can run up a big scoreline. Expect this to be another festive atmosphere, celebrating Messi and his teammates accomplishments in Qatar.
Argentina vs Curacao confirmed line-upsArgentina XI (4-3-3): E.Martinez; Montiel, Otamendi, Acuna; Lo Celso, Fernandez, Mac Allister; Messi, La. Martinez, Gonzalez
Curacao XI (4-3-1-2): Room; Martina, Gaari, Van Eijma, Floranus; Kuwas, Anita, Gorre; L. Bacuna; J. Bacuna, Janga
Argentina vs Panama LIVE updatesArgentina's upcoming fixturesLionel Messi's Albiceleste will be aiming to follow up on Panama win against Curacao, which is the final friendly fixture for Scaloni's men in the current March international break, with the player's set to return to their respective clubs.
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