Indonesia vs Argentina: International Friendlies – Argentina are set to visit Indonesia with a 9-match unbeaten run that started during the World Cup. Going into the World Cup, they had a 36-match unbeaten run. Since their defeat to Saudi Arabia in their very first match of the campaign, they have again retained another unbreakable streak. After winning the World Cup, they have won 3 consecutive friendlies. Argentina will be without Lionel Messi, Angel Di Maria, and Nicolas Otamendi who have gotten permission to go on their holidays.
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Argentina started their World Cup campaign in December last year with a defeat against Saudi Arabia. However, since then, their journey was uphill till they won the entire tournament with a win against France in the final. After their World Cup win, Argentina have played three friendly matches till now. They won all 3 of them against Panama and Curacao in March, and Australia three days ago. They snuck past 2 goals without conceding any in return against Panama in their first match after the World Cup.
They sailed through their match against Curacao five days after their match against Panama. They scored 7 goals where Lionel Messi scored a hattrick and brought his total goal tally for Argentina to 102 goals. Nicolas Gonzalez, Enzo Fernandez, Angel Di Maria, and Gonzalo Montiel all contributed with one goal each in the match. These matches were their firsts back at their home in Argentina after their World Cup win. Hence, it was also a celebratory time for the players and the crew.
Back from those two friendlies they travelled to China for their next friendly against Australia. The last time they met Australia was during the World Cup round-of-16 stage. Lionel Messi opened the scoreline during that win against Australia. He repeated the feat again in this friendly three days ago. However, now he achieved this feat within 80 seconds into the game making it the fastest goal in his career. German Pezzella then doubled their lead after coming in at the start of the second half.
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This victory brought their unbeaten run in all competitions to 9 matches and in friendly matches to 15 games. As Albicelestes will look to extend their streaks further during their match against Indonesia next, they will be without some of their key players. Lionel Messi, Angel Di Maria, and Nicolas Otamendi will not be present for the match. After the European season ended only very recently, all players including Messi, Di Maria, and Otamendi flew directly to fulfill their national duties.
Hence, these three players have gotten permission to leave on their holidays. As a result, coach Scaloni will be making a whole lot of changes to his squad for the match. He could be lining up the second team against Indonesia. Geronimo Rulli could be starting instead of Emi Martinez. While Alejandro Garnacho who made his debut for the senior team in the last game as a substitute, coming in the 74th minute, could be starting the game. Julian Alvarez, Giovani Lo Celso, and Leonardo Balerdi could be starting as well.
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