Argentina vs Mexico 21/11/18

21 November 2018

For the second time in less than one week, Argentina and Mexico will face each other in a friendly meeting that shall take place at the Estadio Malvinas Argentinas in Mendoza.

The South Americans defeated the CONCACAF-based nation by two goals to nil a few days ago although the visitors wasted a couple of decent opportunities to make things difficult for the hosts.

After the World Cup elimination to France, Jorge Sampaoli had to step down in favor of Lionel Scaloni, who is appointed an interim coach until the end of the year. During his spell on the national team bench, Scaloni has three victories, over Mexico, Iraq, and Guatemala, with his team bagging nine goals without conceding once in the process. Meanwhile, the Albiceleste have failed to beat Colombia in a friendly challenge, having been held to a scoreless draw before suffering a narrow 1-0 loss to the arch-rivals Brazil.

On the other hand, El Tri have been struggling to find the right balance since the World Cup exit. After a 2-0 defeat to Brazil at the final tournament, Ricardo Ferretti has taken charge of the national team but has failed to live up to expectations so far. Apart from a 3-2 win over Costa Rica, Mexico have lost all four remaining matches in the post-World Cup period. In addition to the aforementioned failure against Argentina, Ferretti’s players have been beaten by Uruguay, the United States, and Chile. Not only they’ve lost six out of the previous seven games, but they’ve also struggled to find the back of the net six times in that period.

Provisional line-up – Argentina:

Gk: Romero Defense: Otamendi – Mercado – Foyth – Tagliafico – Meza Midfield: Paredes – Lo Celso – Cervi Attack: Dybala – Icardi

Provisional line-up – Mexico:

Gk: Ochoa Defense: Araujo – Reyes – Gallardo – Rodriguez Midfield: Layun – Alvarado – Fabian – Corona Attack: Raul Jimenez – Henry Martin