The La Albiceleste are in stunning form under head coach Lionel Scaloni, not tasted defeat in 32 consecutive games and will return to play after being crowned 2022 Finalissima.
Argentina will take on Estonia in an international friendly at the El Sadar stadium on Sunday. The La Albiceleste are in stunning form under head coach Lionel Scaloni, not tasted defeat in 32 consecutive games and will return to play after being crowned 2022 Finalissima champions after defeating Italy 3-0 in Wembley in the mid-week. It was their second international trophy in less than a year. Lionel Messi-led side defeated Brazil 1-0 in the Copa America final in July 2021, to lift the trophy. Meanwhile 110th ranked Estonia got the better of San Marino 2-0 to kickstart their 2022-23 UEFA Nations League campaign on a bright note.
La Albiceleste displayed a very dominant performance to beat the European champions on Wednesday. The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi was the architect of the triumph, providing the assists for the opening two goals. Lautaro Martinez tapped in from close range after some brilliant work by Messi on the left channel, before Angel Di Maria finished off a perfectly weighted through ball from his Paris Saint-Germain teammate. Substitute Paulo Dybala completed the drubbing with a fine strike in injury-time. Apart from boasting a fine attacking lineup, Scaloni’s side has been solid at the back, having kept 10 clean sheets from their last 13 games across all competitions.
After the Estonia game, Argentina has one more friendly lined up this month against their arch rivals Brazil on Saturday. The South American champions are touted to be one of the title-contenders for the World Cup in Qatar later this year. Their preparations are in full swing and stalwart Messi has finally started to taste success with the national team. As for Estonia, they have won just three of their last eight matches across all competitions, and one of those came on Thursday. Thomas Haberli’s side found the back of the net twice through Robert Kirss and Joonas Tamm to secure three points from the Nations League match.
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Argentina boss Scaloni is likely to make few changes to the side that started against Italy and give more game-time to last match’s goal-scorer Dybala. Meanwhile Emiliano Martinez and Leandro Paredes are unfit and have not been included in the squad.
As for Estonia, Haberli is likely to bring in Henri Anier and Sergei Zenjov for the match against the two-time world champions. Both of them have a combined tally of 31 international goals.
Argentina probable starting lineup: Armani, Molina, Pezzella, L Martinez, Acuna, Rodriguez, De Paul, Di Maria, Gomez, Lo Celso, Dybala.
Estonia probable starting lineup: Hein, Tamm, Kuusk, Mets, Zenjov, Kreida, Kait, Vassiljev, Sinyavskiy, Anier, Zenjov.
The international friendly between Argentina and Estonia will take place at Estadio El Sadar Park and it will kick-off at 11:30 pm IST on Sunday, June 5.
Unfortunately, there will be no official live telecast or streaming of these games on Indian Television platforms. However the football fans in Argentina can watch the action on TyC Sports, TyC Sports Play, Flow, DirecTV Go, and Telecentro Play.