Argentine soccer team
The Argentina national soccer team is the team made up of players of Argentine nationality that represents that country through the Argentine Soccer Association (AFA) in official competitions organized by the South American Confederation of Soccer (Conmebol), the governing body of that sport in South America, and by the International Federation of Association Soccer (FIFA). She is current champion at the confederation, interconfederation and world level.
He played his first international match -which he won 6-0- against Uruguay, on July 20, 1902, in the city of Montevideo. This is recognized by FIFA, AFA and AUF as the first official match of both teams. Previously in 1901, a friendly match was played in Uruguay but this is not considered official by the AUF or by FIFA, because the Uruguayan representative was the Albion Football Club, likewise the AFA does not include it in the count of its thousand games played.
It is considered one of the great powers of international men's soccer, being, at the level of senior teams, the country with the most official titles won in history (22) and also with the most runners-up (21). In total, Argentina won 54 official international titles adding those achieved at the main, Olympic and youth team level.
Currently, it sits in third place in the all-time World Cup standings. He has won it three times: the first local title in 1978, the second in Mexico 1986 and the rest in Qatar 2022. In addition, he was a finalist in three other editions: in Uruguay 1930, in Italy 1990 and in Brazil 2014. At the continental level, it occupies first place in the historical classification of the Copa América, and together with Uruguay it is the team that has won the trophy the most times, winning it fifteen times (1921, 1925, 1927, 1929, 1937, 1941, 1945)., 1946, 1947, 1955, 1957, 1959-I, 1991, 1993 and 2021), and the one who achieved the most runners-up in the competition, with fourteen (1916, 1917, 1920, 1923, 1924, 1926, 1935, 1942, 1959 -II, 1967, 2004, 2007, 2015 and 2016). Also, in 1992 he won the "King Fahd Cup" renamed from 1997 as the FIFA Confederations Cup, while in 1995 and 2005 he played the defining match of said tournament.
To which must be added three official Interconfederative titles: the Pan American Soccer Championship in 1960 (being runner-up in said contest in 1956) and the Conmebol-UEFA Champions Cup (previously called the Artemio Franchi Cup) in 1993 and 2022 (being the selected one with the most titles in the competition). In addition, the 1964 Nations Cup on Brazilian soil stands out as an unofficial tournament; defeating Portugal, the hosts Brazil (at that time, current two-time world champion) and England (future world champion in 1966), achieving the title undefeated.
In the Olympic Games, the main team achieved its greatest achievement in Amsterdam 1928, when they won the silver medal. For its part, the Olympic team won the gold medal in Athens 2004 and in Beijing 2008 -consecutively- and the silver medal in Atlanta 1996. It also won numerous medals in other official competitions for the IOC with teams made up of youth, won: five gold medals, two silver and three bronze in the Pre-Olympic Tournaments; seven gold, two silver and three bronze in the Pan American Games; and two gold and one silver in the Games ODESUR. The teams from Argentina and France are the only ones in the world that have managed to win the World Cup, the Olympic Games, the Confederations Cup, the Intercontinental Cup, and their respective regional tournament (Copa América and Eurocopa, respectively).
The under-20 youth team is the top champion of the World Cup in the category, with six titles: 1979, 1995, 1997, 2001, 2005 and 2007. In addition, they were finalists in 1983. On the other hand, the Under-17 youth team has managed to climb to the World Cup podium by obtaining third places in the 1991, 1995 and 2003 editions. In addition to obtaining fourth place in 2001 and 2013.
Great players in history have passed through this team, including midfielder Diego Maradona, and strikers Alfredo Di Stéfano, Mario Alberto Kempes, and Lionel Messi; among other notable footballers such as Guillermo Stábile, Manuel Ferreira, Carlos Peucelle, José Manuel Moreno, Norberto Méndez, Adolfo Pedernera, Ángel Labruna, Amadeo Carrizo, Omar Sívori, Luis Artime, Osvaldo Ardiles, Daniel Passarella, Ubaldo Fillol, Daniel Bertoni, Leopoldo Luque, Jorge Valdano, Jorge Burruchaga, Oscar Ruggeri, Sergio Goycochea, Claudio Caniggia, Diego Simeone, Gabriel Batistuta, Fernando Redondo, Ariel Ortega, Roberto Ayala, Hernán Crespo, Cristian González, Javier Zanetti, Walter Samuel, Juan Pablo Sorín, Pablo Aimar, Juan Román Riquelme, Sergio Agüero, Nicolás Otamendi, Ángel Di María, Emiliano Martínez, Julián Álvarez and Enzo Fernández.
In March 2007, he reached first place in the FIFA ranking for the first time, which he held only for that month, although in October 2007 he was once again at the top of the ranking, until July 2008. Later, he reached the top of the ranking again. first place between July and October 2015, and from April 2016 to March 2017. It is currently second, only behind Brazil.
The Argentine soccer team is the only American team to win, first, the Copa América, the Intercontinental Champions Cup and the World Cup, thus ending with the so-called Curse of the Copa América champion , to obtain the third triplet in its history, although the first that includes the world title.
Within that successful cycle, he achieved a long undefeated record of 36 matches (the most for American teams and the second overall), which began in the match for the bronze medal of the 2019 Copa América and culminated in the defeat against Saudi Arabia in the first match of the 2022 World Cup. The coach of this process, Lionel Scaloni, also became the first Argentine coach in history to achieve the continental and world cup double.
It should be noted that, in the finals of the current treble, the team defeated the current champions of the Copa América (Brazil), the European Championship (Italy) and the World Cup (France).
History
First game
| 20 July 1902 | Uruguay  | (0:6) |  Argentina
| Albion FC Stadium, Montevideo | ||
Charles Dickinson  3'Germán Arímalo (Propia Puerta) 31'Edward Morgan 64'Carlos Carve Urioste (Propia Puerta) 66'Juan Anderson 71'Jorge Brown 86' | Attendance: 8000 spectators Arbitrator: Robert Whall Rudd | |||||
Uruguay: Enrique Sardeson, Carlos Carve Urioste, Germán Arímalo, Miguel Nebel, Alberto Peixoto, Luis Carbone, Bolívar Céspedes, Gonzalo Rincón, Juan Sardeson, Ernesto Boutón Reyes, Carlos Céspedes.
Argentina: José Laforia, William Leslie, Walter Buchanan, Eduardo Duggan, Carlos Buchanan, Ernesto Brown, Edward Morgan, Juan José Moore, Juan Anderson, Charles Dickinson, Jorge Brown.
First decades (1902-1930)
Beginnings and first successes
On July 20, 1902, he played his first official match against Uruguay, in Montevideo, with a 6-0 victory. In Buenos Aires he played for the first time on September 13, 1903 against the same rival, and lost 2-3.
During its first years of existence, the national team played only friendly matches until 1905, when the first edition of the Lipton Cup was held. It was a cup organized by the Argentine and Uruguayan soccer associations, whose last edition was played in 1992. The first official title won by Argentina was in 1906, defeating Uruguay 2–0 in Montevideo. That same year, Argentina also played the Copa Newton, another competition organized by both associations, winning the trophy after beating Uruguay 2–1 in Buenos Aires.
In the following years, Argentina played matches only against South American teams since the other teams claimed that the trips were long and the development of the First World War.
Argentina would win four consecutive Newton Cups between 1907 and 1911, and four Lipton Cups from 1906 to 1909. After some Uruguayan victories, Argentina won the 1913, 1915 and 1916 Lipton Cups and the 1916 Newton Cup.
In 1910, the Copa Centenario Revolución de Mayo was held in Argentina, a tournament commemorating the centenary of the May Revolution. It was the first international tournament for teams in South America in which more than two national teams participated. Previously, only international tournaments had been held between the teams of Argentina and Uruguay, in the Copa Newton, the Copa Lipton or the Copa Honor Argentino. The Albicelestes won their 2 games and were champions: they defeated Chile 5-1 and Uruguay 4-1 and the tournament's top scorer was Rosario Central striker Harry Hayes, with 3 goals. Although the first official edition of the Copa América took place in 1916, there are those who say that this tournament could well have been the first South American Championship. This sports contest was not included in the history of the South American contest because it had not been officially recognized by CONMEBOL since this entity had not yet been founded, a fact that occurred in 1916.
.jpg)
In 1916, Argentina held the first tournament organized by Conmebol, the South American Championship (the current Copa América) played in Buenos Aires and Avellaneda and won by Uruguay, which together with the host, Brazil and Chile were the only teams that played the inaugural competition, played under the system of all against all. During that tournament Argentina played three games, defeating Chile 6-0 and drawing with Brazil 1-1 and Uruguay 0-0, who became champions on goal difference. The team for the last game against Uruguay was: Isola, Díaz, Reyes, Martínez, Olazar, Badaracco, Heissinger, Ohaco, H.Hayes, E.Hayes and Perietti.
Argentina achieved three runners-up finishes in the first four editions of the tournament. In 1916, 1917 and 1920 it was second, behind Uruguay, while in 1919 it had been third, being three points behind the champion, Brazil.
From 1921 came the first official successes for Argentina, which won its first title in the 1921 South American Championship, held in Buenos Aires. The team won all the games in dispute, defeating Brazil (1-0), Paraguay (3-0) and Uruguay (1-0) to get six points, conceding no goals. Notable players from that team were goalkeeper Américo Tesoriere and striker Pedro Calomino. Julio Libonatti was also the tournament's top scorer. In the following years, Argentina was fourth in 1922 and runner-up in 1923, 1924 and 1926.
In 1924, Argentina played a friendly match against Uruguay at the Sportivo Barracas stadium. With only 15 minutes to play, striker Cesáreo Onzari scored from a corner, with no other player touching the ball before it entered the goal. Due to the fact that Uruguay was the Olympic champion, this work was called "Olympic goal", a name that is still used. The goal was validated for the first time, since FIFA had recently accepted it. According to the newspaper La Nación, 52,000 fans attended the game that ended in a 2-1 victory for Argentina, where the Uruguayan team left the field with four minutes remaining. The Argentine players later complained about the rough play of the Uruguayans during the match, while their rivals also complained about the aggressiveness of the home spectators, who threw bottles at them at the end of the match.
In 1925, the South American Championship was held for the third time in Argentina, and the local team won its second title. The team played four games and went undefeated once more, defeating Paraguay and Brazil twice each, including a 4-1 victory against Brazil, with a treble from Manuel Seoane.
Argentina won another title in 1927, winning the championship held in Peru. The team had a great campaign, finishing undefeated with three wins out of three games played. They had a big win over Bolivia 7-1, then beat Uruguay 3-2 and the home team 5-1 in the last match of the tournament, which was Argentina's third.
1928 Amsterdam Olympic Games
After winning two of the last three South American championships, Argentina arrived at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympic Games as one of the favorite teams to win Olympic gold. The beginning was an 11-2 win against the United States. Subsequently, they eliminated Belgium with a 6-3, and in the semifinals they defeated Egypt with a resounding 6-0. The final was against Uruguay, who had just won the 1924 Paris Olympics. After drawing 1-1, a tiebreaker was played. Finally, the Uruguayans won 2-1 and Argentina obtained the silver medal, with players like Juan Evaristo, Luis Monti, Roberto Cherro, Domingo Tarasconi and Adolfo Zumelzú.
The Olympic team was joined by Mario Evaristo and Manuel Ferreira and, in 1929, Argentina won its fourth South American tournament as host, finishing undefeated once more, defeating all its rivals: Peru (3-0), Paraguay (4-1) and Uruguay (2-0), in the last match played at the El Gasómetro stadium in Buenos Aires. Most of the players that made the team would play for Argentina in the first World Cup organized by FIFA a year later.
Uruguay World Cup 1930
A year later, the 1930 World Cup arrived in Uruguay, the first edition held in South America.
In the first phase of the tournament, they were grouped in Group 1 along with France, Mexico and Chile. La Albiceleste debuted with a 1-0 win against Les Bleus with a goal from Luis Monti. In the second game, they beat La Tricolor 6-3 with a hat trick from Guillermo Stabile, a brace from Adolfo Zumelzú, and a single goal from Francisco Varallo. In the last duel, Argentina beat La Roja 3-1 with a quick brace from Guillermo Stabile, and a solitary goal from Mario Evaristo. With a perfect score, they advanced to the semifinals, where they faced the United States defeating 6-1, advancing to the World Cup final for the first time in history.
Thus they managed to reach the final, at the Estadio Centenario in Montevideo, in which they were defeated by the hosts, Uruguay. The locals took the lead with a goal from Pablo Dorado, but the Argentine team recovered with goals from Carlos Peucelle and Guillermo Stabile, ending the first half with a partial 1-2 victory. In additional time, three goals were enough for Uruguay to turn the series around, José Cea, Victoriano Iriarte and Héctor Castro the architects of the Uruguayan comeback that ended in a definitive 4-2. Argentine Guillermo Stábile was the tournament's top scorer with eight goals.
Lights and Shadows (1930-1974)
Absence in World Cups and clear continental dominance in the Copa América
From then on, a period of absence for Argentina would begin in the World Cups due to misguided sports management policies in which the governments of the day intervened. After participating in the 1934 World Cup in Italy with a second-tier team and being quickly eliminated in the first phase by Sweden 3-2, Argentina would only return to a World Cup in 1958 after giving up participating due to political decisions in 1938, 1950 and 1954..
Argentina did not participate in the World Cups in France in 1938, the last one before the Second World War, and in Switzerland in 1954, arguing that the organization of the cup should alternate between South Americans and Europeans. The first World Cup after the war was the 1950 World Cup held in Brazil, but Argentina did not attend due to a conflict in 1948 with the Brazilian Football Confederation because it did not allow a Brazilian team and an Argentine team to play a friendly in Chile., to which was added a players' strike and the exodus of its main figures such as Alfredo Di Stéfano to Colombian soccer. This also caused Argentina not to participate in the 1949 Copa América organized by Brazil, while due to financial problems they were unable to do so in 1939 and 1953.
Even so, Argentina became a regional power by obtaining consecrations in the Copa América obtained in 1937 (under the technical direction of Manuel Seoane), and in 1941, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1955, and 1957 (under led by Guillermo Stábile) to which were added two runners-up in 1935 and 1942, and third place in 1956.
In 1951, Argentina played England for the first time and were defeated 2–1 at Wembley Stadium. A second match was played in Buenos Aires on June 14, 1953, where Argentina won 3–1, and the match caused great repercussions in the country.
The dirtyfaces of 1957 and the disaster of Sweden 1958
The Argentine team that participated in the 1957 Copa América is probably the best remembered from those years due to its expert players and the exquisite style of play displayed on the pitch. Argentina beat Colombia (8-2), Ecuador (3-0), Uruguay (4-0), Chile (6-2) and Brazil (3-0). The team was defeated by Peru in the last match, but won the tournament due to finishing first in their group. The attack line, made up of Oreste Corbatta, Humberto Maschio, Antonio Angelillo, Omar Sívori and Osvaldo Cruz, was widely praised at the time, and is still remembered by the media and football fans. Maschio was the top scorer with 9 so many.
Argentina returned to a World Cup after 24 years, more precisely to the 1958 one held in Sweden. The team suffered the absence of Maschio, Angelillo and Sívori (playing in Serie A but not called up by Stábile for the tournament), who had put in exceptional performances in Lima a year earlier. Although the team was made up of valuable players, the previous titles made us think that great preparation would not be necessary to play in the World Cup. The financial situation of the clubs meant that the great team that won the 1957 Copa América in Lima fell apart quickly, since the main players were transferred to Europe, and secondly because there were not too many clashes with European teams prior to the competition. World Cup: Only in 1956 was it played with Czechoslovakia and Italy in Buenos Aires, while the rest were friendly with their neighbors on the continent. The leaders and coaching staff knew little about European football, and the lack of experience against European teams was evident once the tournament was over.
Argentina lost to West Germany 3-1 in their first game and beat Northern Ireland 3-1 in their second game. Although, Argentina was ultimately eliminated after losing 6-1 to Czechoslovakia, one of the worst defeats for a national team in a World Cup. The poor performance became known as "the Sweden disaster". Later, in Buenos Aires, 10,000 people were waiting for them at the Ezeiza International Airport to insult them.
A little revenge
The year after that World Cup failure, a small revenge came: the Brazil of Pelé, Zagallo, Didí, Vavá, Nilton Santos, and many other stars that had just been World Champion in Sweden in 1958 played the 1959 South American Championship in Argentina with all its headlines. The last date would define the title between Argentines and Brazilians, since both led the positions with 10 and 9 points respectively. Before some 85,000 people (with overflowing capacity) on April 4 at the River Plate Stadium, the last defining match of the tournament between the great South American rivals was played. The match ended 1-1, with a goal from Pizzuti for Argentina and Pelé for Brazil. Thus, with the final draw, the title remained in the hands of Argentina, which once again won another Copa América against its people, which allowed it to win its twelfth continental title. The team was coached by a Triumvirate made up of Victorio Spinetto, José Della Torre and José Barreiro, replacing Guillermo Stábile after his 19-year stay in the national team. Argentina would not win a Copa América until 1991, when the team coached by Alfio Basile won the trophy in Chile.
In 1959, José Manuel Moreno became Argentina's coach, although he did not spend much time with the team. Under his coaching, Argentina played the South American Championship in Ecuador, where the team defeated Paraguay (4-2), drew with Ecuador (1-1), suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Uruguay (5-0), although the team achieved a great victory against Brazil (4-1) with three goals from José Sanfilippo in the last game. After the extra tournament ended, Moreno left his place and Guillermo Stábile began his second term as coach of the Argentina national team.
Argentina won its first interconfederation title by winning the 1960 Pan American Soccer Championship, a tournament organized by CONMEBOL and CONCACAF, in an attempt to unify the two confederations. And although in the following years they did not win the Copa América, they continued to demonstrate supremacy at the continental level, but they could not find an adequate internal organization to translate that soccer potential into World Cups. That same year the team suffered three defeats in Brazil: two of them in the Roca Cup and the next in the Atlantic Cup. That was the last game where Argentina was coached by Stábile in his second term, being replaced by Victorio Spinetto.
In 1961, Argentina began a tour of Europe, playing against Portugal (2-0), Spain (0-2), Italy (1-4), Czechoslovakia (3-3) and the Soviet Union (0-0). After a short period of time coached by José D'Amico, Juan Carlos Lorenzo took over the team. Argentina performed poorly in the 1962 World Cup in Chile, drawn in Group 4, along with Bulgaria, England and Hungary. The Argentine team only had a 2-0 victory against the Bulgarians, a 3-1 defeat against the English and a 0-0 against the Hungarians in the last match, to be eliminated in the first phase of the tournament.
The Nations Cup
In the 1963 South American Championship, Argentina, being led by Horacio Torres, finished third in the tournament, although the team achieved important victories over Brazil, Ecuador and Colombia, but lost in Bolivia and Peru. That same year, Argentina was also defeated by Brazil in the Roca Cup.
In 1964, Argentina won the Nations Cup, a tournament organized by the Brazilian Football Confederation to commemorate its 50th anniversary. Argentina participated in the championship with the debut of José María Minella as coach, along with Brazil, England and Portugal. Later called "a little World Cup", the Nations Cup is considered "the first big title" won by Argentina. The team remained undefeated, winning all the games played, a 2-0 against Portugal, a 1-0 against England, and a great 3-0 against Brazil, the organizer of the event. The victory over Brazil was very praised by the media because the Brazilians had not been defeated at home since the Maracanazo, in 1950. Argentina finished the tournament without goals conceded.
World Cup in England 1966
Argentina, still led by José María Minella, qualified for the 1966 World Cup held in England. However, the AFA opted for a change and initially appointed Osvaldo Zubeldía as head of the coaching staff. Soon after, Juan Carlos Lorenzo took charge of the squad, beginning his second experience in the national team. Argentina debuted in Group 2, defeating Spain 2-1, drawing against West Germany 0-0 and winning against Switzerland 2-0, advancing to the quarterfinals where they would meet tournament hosts England losing 1 -0.
It was a controversial match where the Argentine midfielder Antonio Rattín was sent off by the German referee Rudolf Kreitlein accusing insults, the ruling generated some suspicion, even more knowing that the referee did not speak Spanish. Rattín was so incensed at the decision, believing the referee to be an England supporter, that he refused to leave. As a way of showing his displeasure, he sat on the red carpet exclusively for the Queen of England. Finally, he had to be escorted from the field by two policemen and as a final sign of disgust, he crumpled the British corner pennant before being escorted off. This incident, and others surrounding the same game, started the long-lasting rivalry between the two national teams, although on the other hand, it allowed the establishment of yellow and red cards in soccer, a solution devised by FIFA after the spark that activates the incident. Although Argentina did not put in a great performance, the players were well received by the crowd at Ezeiza, partly due to the incident with Rattín and the queen's carpet, where Rattín himself later says that he "didn't know where it had gone. sitting".
Absence in Mexico 1970
The next step for the team was the 1967 South American Championship, held by Uruguay. Argentina, led by Jim Lópes, had a good campaign, winning five out of six games in dispute, only being defeated by the host team, finishing second.
During 1967 and 1969, the Argentine Football Association appointed five different coaches to the national team: Carmelo Faraone (directed two games), Renato Cesarini (5), José María Minella (8), Humberto Maschio (4) and Adolfo Flintstone (4). In those years, Argentina played a series of friendly matches, most of them being South American teams and a few European teams. In 1969, Argentina began qualifying for the 1970 World Cup led by Adolfo Pedernera. The national team shared its group with Bolivia and Peru, being defeated in the first two games played as visitors. Although Argentina won the next game (against Bolivia, 1-0), the 2-2 draw against Peru in the last game (played at La Bombonera) allowed the Peruvian team to be one of the South American representatives in the World Cup, eliminating to Argentina.
To date, this remains the only time Argentina has failed to qualify for a World Cup. This lousy performance continues to be considered one of the greatest frustrations of the Argentine National Team in its history.
World Cup in Germany 1974
After the frustration of 1969, the AFA appointed Juan José Pizzuti, who had won the Intercontinental Cup with Racing Club three years earlier, as coach of the national team. Pizzuti led for three years, in which Argentina played several friendly games against South American teams, including the 1971 Copa Roca title. In 1972, Argentina was invited to play the Copa Independencia in Brazil, where the team did not achieve good results.
After the Copa Independencia, Pizzuti was replaced by Omar Sívori, the most notable player of the 1957 Copa América. Qualification for the 1974 World Cup began in September 1973, where Argentina shared their group with Bolivia and Paraguay. Bolivia used to play in La Paz, where the Argentine players suffered from lack of oxygen and other effects caused by altitude sickness. To avoid complications, Sívori decides to prepare a team to play at altitude. Following his instructions, Miguel Ignomiriello, his number 2, took many players to Tilcara to acclimatize to the altitude.
Argentina won the match 1-0. That team was nicknamed the ghost team due to the lack of organization in the AFA at the time, which meant that the media could not obtain information about the team during their tenure in Tilcara. Years later, Mario Kempes revealed that the players themselves had to organize some friendly matches to get money to buy food because the association completely forgot about them. Argentina won the other games against Bolivia and Paraguay (4-0 and 3- 1 respectively, both in Buenos Aires), finally qualifying for the World Cup.
After qualifying for the 1974 World Cup, Omar Sívori stepped down and was replaced by Vladislao Cap. With a new coach, once again, Argentina performed poorly in a World Cup. They were defeated by Poland 3-2, followed by a 1-1 draw with Italy. In the last match of the first round, Argentina defeated Haiti 4-1, qualifying for the second round, where the team lost to Johan Cruyff's Netherlands 4-0 and Brazil 2-1, ending with a 1-1 draw against Democratic Germany. Argentina finished last in the group and eighth overall.
It was Menotti (1974-1982)
Looking for new talents
After the frustrating performance in Germany 1974 and the designation of Argentina to host the 1978 World Cup forced the AFA to make changes to Argentine soccer. David Bracuto was appointed President of the AFA in 1974 and offered César Luis Menotti the position of manager, which Menotti accepted under various conditions, including the condition that Argentine players under the age of 25 should not be sold to foreign clubs. Menotti began to tour and explore the entire country, club by club, in search of new values. In this way, he formed an excellent squad with figures such as Fillol, Passarella, Tarantini, Bertoni, Olguín, Luque, Valencia, Houseman, Ardiles and Kempes, among other great players.
Menotti made his debut on October 12, 1974 in a friendly match against Spain. Argentina began a long preparation for the 1978 World Cup, which would be hosted in their homeland for the first time, playing several matches and friendly tournaments. During those years, Argentina played a total of 33 games. The year 1977 was also the international debut of Diego Maradona, who played for the first time at the age of 16 against Hungary. The match was held in Buenos Aires with a great victory for the Albiceleste team by 5-1.
Argentina also played in the 1975 Copa América, where for the first time it did not have a fixed venue. All matches were played in each country throughout the tournament. Argentina debuted by thrashing Venezuela (5-1 and 11-0) but lost to Brazil in the following two games (2-1 and 1-0), so the verdeamarela qualified for the next stage and the team was eliminated.
In 1978, final preparations for the World Cup began, playing several matches against South American and European teams. Although Diego Maradona was considered one of the best players in the world, Menotti did not include him in the final list for the tournament. Some sources claim that the military junta ruling the country at the time induced Menotti to include River Plate midfielder Norberto Alonso in place of Maradona, and that Menotti almost certainly knew that the prodigious 17-year-old talent was not he would be able to handle the immense pressure and attention at the biggest sporting event in Argentine history. However, other journalists claim that there were too many attacking midfielders.
World Cup in Argentina 1978: World champion at home
Argentina directly entered Group 1 of the 1978 World Cup as the host country, accompanied by France, Italy and Hungary.
In the first phase they played their matches at the Monumental Stadium. In their debut, they defeated Hungary 2-1 with hits from Leopoldo Luque and Daniel Bertoni, before a useless discount from Károly Csapó. The same score would be repeated against France thanks to goals from Daniel Passarella and Leopoldo Luque that made Michel Platini's French goal insufficient. A subsequent defeat against Italy by 0-1 did not make it impossible to qualify and they entered the next phase of the tournament as second in the group. There a difficult group would await, shared with Brazil, Poland and Peru, from this group one of the finalists would come out.
After a 2-0 victory against Poland, thanks to a double by Mario Kempes, and a 0-0 draw against Brazil, it required an overwhelming result against eliminated Peru, and if it was by a difference of four goals. La Albiceleste did their thing and beat Peru by an overwhelming 6-0 with scores from Alberto Tarantini, René Houseman, and two goals from Mario Kempes and Leopoldo Luque. In this way, Argentina added 5 points, the same as Brazil but with a greater goal difference, since Argentina managed to score (+8), and Brazil (+5), which is why they qualified for their second World Cup final..
The decisive match against the Netherlands was played at the Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires in front of 71,000 spectators who filled the stands. Mario Kempes would put the Albiceleste ahead in the 38th minute, but a few minutes from the final whistle, the Orange Team would tie the match through Dick Nanninga in the 82nd minute. After the regulation ninety minutes (Rob Rensenbrink was close to giving the Netherlands the title in the last minute but his shot hit the post), the game went into extra time, and once again, Mario Kempes scored again in the 105th minute, and then Daniel Bertoni added another goal in the 115th minute that sealed the 3-1 victory for Argentina, and their first world title in history. Mario Kempes, a key player in the team, finished top scorer in the tournament with six goals. Thus, Argentina cut an 18-year streak without obtaining an official title in its absolute team, since the last achievement of this nature had been in the 1960 Pan-American Championship.
- World Cupboard 1978
|
After Success
After the World Cup success, César Luis Menotti continued as manager, and Argentina played a friendly match in preparation for the 1979 Copa América. Maradona scored his first senior goal against Scotland in Glasgow, where Argentina won 3-1. In 1979, Argentina played a new edition of the aforementioned regional contest, where it shared a group with Brazil and Bolivia, which defeated Argentina 2-1 on the first date. However, Argentina won the second game against Bolivia 3-0, but drew with Brazil 2-2 in the last game and was eliminated from the competition.
The highlight was the 1979 Youth Soccer World Cup won by the under-20 team in Tokyo. The team, also coached by Menotti, won the tournament with Diego Maradona and Ramón Díaz as the leaders and the most outstanding players of the squad. The tournament was also the first official championship that Maradona played in a national team.
Because Argentina did not need to qualify for the next World Cup as the defending champion, the national team played a series of games in preparation for the competition. In 1980, there were no official tournaments so the team toured Europe and also organized friendly games in some of the most important cities in Argentina such as Mar del Plata, Córdoba and Mendoza. Argentina participated in the Mundialito, a tournament sponsored by Uruguay in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the first World Cup tournament, where the team defeated West Germany 2-1 and drew with Brazil 1-1, equal on points with the latter but with less goal difference, reason to be eliminated in the first phase.
World Cup in Spain 1982
In 1982, the Argentine national team traveled to Spain to participate in the 1982 World Cup, while Argentina was fighting the Malvinas War with the United Kingdom after the recovery of the Malvinas Islands, ordered by the de facto president, Leopoldo Galtieri, on April 2.
The lineup was based on the 1978 team, with the addition of Diego Maradona (who had won a national title playing at a high level) and Ramón Díaz, who together with Maradona had won the U-20 championship. The team arrived in Spain as heavy favorites to win the Cup. However, they made their debut with a 1-0 loss to Belgium in Barcelona. There were internal tensions within the pitch between the older and younger players, and this caused problems. However, the team recovered by defeating Hungary (4-1) and El Salvador (2-0), qualifying for the next stage. In the second round, Argentina shared a group with Italy and Brazil, being defeated by both (1-2 and 1-3) and eliminated from the championship. Maradona could not show his abilities during the tournament, suffering from the hard play of the rivals (especially that of Claudio Gentile in the match with Italy). Finally, he would be sent off by the referee after kicking the Brazilian player Batista in the groin.Other players in attendance were Juan Barbas, Gabriel Calderón (from the youth championship winning team), Patricio Hernández, Julio Olarticoechea, Enzo Trossero and Jorge Valdano.
Failure at the World Cup caused Menotti to step down. Despite poor performances, the national team achieved two world titles (senior and under-20) during Menotti's nine years as manager. This was the first time that Argentina planned and carried out long-term work with clear and serious objectives.
Bilardo era (1982-1990)
Road to Mexico
To replace Menotti, the AFA chose Carlos Salvador Bilardo, who had won the 1982 Metropolitano with Estudiantes de La Plata. Bilardo was famous for his perfectionism and obsession with game tactics and strategy, which caught the attention of both fans and critics. The Bilardo era began in May 1983 with a 2-2 draw with Chile in Santiago. Shortly after, Argentina played the 1983 Copa América, the first official tournament with Bilardo. The team was eliminated in the first round with three draws (2-2 at home and away against Ecuador; and 0-0 against Brazil as a visitor), and one victory (1-0 against Brazil at home).
The squad was made up exclusively of players from the Argentine First Division, some of them being goalkeepers Ubaldo Fillol and Nery Pumpido, defenders Néstor Clausen, José Luis Brown, Enzo Trossero, Julio Olarticoechea and Roberto Mouzo; midfielders Claudio Marangoni, Jorge Burruchaga, Alejandro Sabella and José Daniel Ponce; and forwards Ricardo Gareca and Alberto Márcico.
After the Copa América, Argentina traveled to Calcutta to play the Nehru Cup, and then played a series of friendlies before the 1986 World Cup qualifiers in Mexico. The team made a successful tour of Europe where they won all three games played, including a 3-1 defeat against West Germany in Düsseldorf. In May 1985, Argentina played its first qualifying game against Venezuela, winning 3-2 on the road. Argentina won three consecutive matches, against Colombia (3-1 in Bogotá; and 1-0 at home) and Venezuela (3-0 at home), but lost to Peru (1-0 in Lima) in a match, where the midfielder Peruvian Luis Reyna marked Maradona at the limit of the regulation. Finally, Argentina faced Peru in the last game of the qualifiers in Buenos Aires. The visiting team won 2-1, qualifying for Mexico, but in the final minutes of the match, a memorable play by Daniel Passarella ended with Ricardo Gareca's goal that marked the final 2-2, and which allowed Argentina to be one of the four South American representatives in Mexico.
Although he led the team to a new World Cup qualification, Bilardo was criticized by the media who focused on the low level of the team during the process. Some journalists also accused Bilardo of playing defensively, leaving behind the historical Argentine milestone of short passes and dribbling. Clarín, the most widely read newspaper in the country, was one of the toughest opponents of DT, and Bilardo himself declared that Clarín called the president of the AFA, Julio Grondona, to ask him to fire the coach.
Before the World Cup, Argentina toured Europe, losing to France (one of the favorites to win the Cup) and Norway, but defeating Israel 7-2.
Mexico World Cup 1986: The consecration of Maradona
Argentina entered the 1986 World Cup in Mexico with hopes set almost exclusively on their top star at the time, Diego Maradona. It was assigned in Group A, along with Italy, Bulgaria, and South Korea. There was some fight between Maradona and Passarella, due to the fact that the captaincy of the team was transferred from Passarella to Diego by order of Carlos Bilardo. Finally, Daniel Passarella was left off the payroll due to gastroenteritis, always viewed with suspicion (it was even said that Bilardo, who is a doctor, had caused it with a laxative to remove him from the team).
In their debut in the first phase, Argentina beat South Korea 3-1, with both Jorge Valdano twice and Oscar Ruggeri the only one. Against the tough Italy, the initial goal by way of Alessandro Altobelli's penalty was matched by Diego Maradona, a game that would end up tied 1-1. In the last match, they qualified for the next round after winning 2-0 against Bulgaria with goals from Jorge Valdano and Jorge Burruchaga.
In the round of 16, the clash against Uruguay, would provide another Argentine victory, which would win 1-0 with a goal from Pedro Pasculli. In the quarterfinals, they faced England, here Diego Maradona scored two famous goals, “The Hand of God” and the “Goal of the Century”, which countered the both English from Gary Lineker. In the semifinals, Argentina defeated Belgium 2-0 after a new brace from Diego Maradona to advance to their third World Cup final.
The final was hosted at the Azteca Stadium against Federal Germany. José Luis Brown opened the account at minute 23, and at minute 55, Jorge Valdano put the score at 2-0. However, the Albiceleste relaxed and the Federal German team managed to tie from set pieces. At minute 74, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge scored 2-1 and at minute 80, Rudi Völler equalized the score. Three minutes later, Diego Maradona surrounded by opponents, filters a masterful pass to Jorge Burruchaga who scored the final 3-2, thus winning Argentina its second world title. Six yellow cards were drawn in this match, which was a record number until the 2010 final.
Argentina remained undefeated in the tournament, winning five out of six games played. Maradona played at a superlative level, as he had done in the 1979 U-20 World Cup, leading Argentina to the title. Maradona was also the team's top scorer with five goals, in addition to winning the Golden Boot as the best player of the tournament. The team in the final was: goalkeeper Nery Pumpido; defenders José Luis Brown, José Luis Cuciuffo, Oscar Ruggeri; midfielders Julio Olarticoechea; Ricardo Giusti, Sergio Batista, Hector Enrique, Jorge Burruchaga; and forwards Diego Maradona, Jorge Valdano.
- World Cupboard 1986
|
After winning the World Cup, Argentina did not play a match until 1987, when a new edition of the Copa América arrived. The tournament changed format, returning to a single host where Argentina was chosen local. An Argentine team was formed with a mixture of players from European and local leagues, which debuted with a 1-1 draw against Peru, then beat Ecuador 3-0, and in the semifinals, lost 1-0 against a rested Uruguay, for being current champion, and that he would finally repeat the title. Finally, they lost to Colombia 2-1, finishing in fourth place. At the end of 1987, Argentina played a friendly against Federal Germany, winning 1-0 at the José Amalfitani Stadium. In 1988, the team played in the Four Nations Cup, losing to the Soviet Union (4-2) and West Germany (1-0). Argentina immediately headed to Australia for the Australian Bicentennial Gold Cup, where the team did not perform well, with a win against Saudi Arabia and a heavy loss to the host (4-1).
Back in Argentina, the team began its preparation for the 1989 Copa América, held in Brazil. Argentina qualified for the second round after beating Chile and Uruguay (both 1-0) and achieving two draws with Ecuador and Bolivia (both 0-0). In the final phase, Argentina was defeated by Brazil and Uruguay (both 2-0) and only drew with Paraguay (0-0). Thus, they finished third in their group without winning a game and without goals scored in the round. Some players on the team were Pumpido, Brown, Ruggeri, Clausen, Cuciuffo, Burruchaga, Maradona, Enrique, Giusti (all of them world champions in 1986), Claudio Caniggia, Abel Balbo, Luis Islas, Roberto Sensini, Gabriel Calderón, Néstor Gorosito and Pedro Troglio.
1990 World Cup in Italy: Finalists again
A new World Cup event was coming up, to which they presented themselves as current champions, the 1990 World Cup in Italy, the team still under the baton of Carlos Bilardo. Previously, the team played several games without good results, winning only one of the five games played (against Israel, chosen again to be the last rival to contend before the tournament, as in 1986, since then considered a "cabala";). Forward Jorge Valdano, one of the most important players during the 1986 World Cup, had been retired for two years, but received an offer from Bilardo to join the squad due to a lack of effective forwards. Hopeful, he trained hard to be in good physical condition for the Cup, but on May 5, in Switzerland, where the team was going to play a match a couple of days later, he injured his left ankle, so Bilardo decided not to include him. in the final list of players. Once the withdrawal was consummated, the versions intensified: as Valdano and Maradona had surveyed players from other teams to request a more equitable distribution of World Cup income, it was said that FIFA had put pressure on them, and there were also comments about their refusal to contribute for the bars trip to Italy. Valdano denies all this and assures that it was the exclusive decision of the technician, or as he himself said: "I swam across the ocean and drowned on the shore."
On this occasion, the albiceleste team was included in Group B, along with Cameroon, the Soviet Union, and Romania. He made his debut in the opening match at the Stadio di San Siro in Milan, being defeated 1-0 by Cameroon; Francois Omam-Biyik scored the only goal. This result caused a great surprise in Argentina and in the world, given that the African team was an unknown team in the soccer environment, and Argentina was the current world champion. The match would be marked by the violence by which the "indomitable lions" exercised the Argentine players, even ending with two players sent off. Following that setback, Argentina won their second game against the Soviet Union 2-0 (where starting goalkeeper Nery Pumpido was badly injured, being replaced by Sergio Goycochea for the remainder of the tournament), and drew Romania 1-1 in the last match. first round match, both played at the Stadio San Paolo in Naples.
The team qualified for the second round as the best third-placed team, where they faced their nemesis Brazil at the Stadio delle Alpi in Turin. During the first half, Brazil generated far more chances than Argentina, with forwards Müller and Careca shooting repeatedly on target, even hitting the posts but failing to convert, Claudio Caniggia scoring that was incorrectly disallowed for forward position, Argentina With Maradona in very poor physical condition, he contracted the rival's offense during the first half that ended 0-0, with a markedly hostile public, and tremendously suffocating weather. In the second half, Brazil were not as persistent as they had been during the first 45 minutes, so Argentina took advantage of the situation. With just nine minutes remaining in the game, Diego Maradona grabbed the ball in midfield, dribbled past three opponents and made a precise pass (including "spout" to a Brazilian player). to Claudio Caniggia, who advanced with the ball and after dribbling past goalkeeper Claudio Taffarel, scored the only goal of the match. Argentina thus won 1-0, eliminating their arch-rival for the first time in a World Cup. That match is still considered by the media and fans as one of the most notable moments for the Albiceleste team.
In the quarterfinals, in a match played at the Stadio Artemio Franchi in Florence, Argentina had to go through a penalty shootout to beat Yugoslavia (0-0 t.s. 3:2 pen) The goalkeeper Sergio Goycochea excelled stopping shots from Dragan Stojković, Dragoljub Brnović and Faruk Hadžibegić. On the Argentine side, Diego Maradona and Pedro Troglio missed the shot, and for a moment, Argentina trailed the Yugoslavs, but Goycochea's exceptional performance kept his country in the tournament.
Argentina then advanced to the semifinals, playing hosts Italy at the Stadio San Paolo in Naples. The local team was considered the favorite to win the match, since its top star Salvatore Schillaci had been the tournament's top scorer (he was awarded the Golden Boot and the Golden Ball at the end of the competition), while Argentina had many physically ill players., including Maradona (he played with a swollen left ankle). However, Argentina put in their best World Cup performance and the match ended 1-1 after 90 minutes. With zero goals in extra time, the game went to a penalty shootout, where Goycoechea was the hero again, stopping shots from Roberto Donadoni and Aldo Serena to send Argentina to their fourth World Cup final.
The final, played at the Olímpico in Rome, was played for the second time in a row by Argentina and West Germany, in what was a rematch of what happened in 1986. Forward Claudio Caniggia was suspended for said final after receiving a yellow card in the semi-final against Italy. Germany went into the decider as the heavy favourites, as the team had displayed a precise and effective style of play, unlike Argentina, who (with the exception of the match with Italy) had not had previous good performances. In addition, the German soccer players were in good physical condition, while the Argentine players reached the final carrying various injuries, including Maradona, who continued to require infiltrations in his left ankle. There was even hostility on the part of the Italians towards the Argentines, given the previous result (the image of Maradona on television was famous, where his lips are seen insulting the Italian fans, due to the whistles to the Argentine anthem). characterized by refereeing errors by the Uruguayan nationalized Mexican referee Edgardo Codesal, added to the expulsion of two Albiceleste players. A few minutes before the game went into extra time, referee Codesal charged Roberto Sensini for a controversial foul on Rudi Völler inside the area and, as a consequence, awarded a controversial penalty in the 87th minute, five minutes before the final whistle that was blown. He gave 90 + 2, which ended the dream of the three-time championship. The German Andreas Brehme was in charge of executing the penalty, he would not miss it, granting West Germany its third world title.
The 1986 champion was unable to defend the title. The team had several injuries, including that of its top figure Diego Maradona, who played the entire tournament injured. Other players, including Oscar Ruggeri and Jorge Burruchaga, were also in the same vein. Argentina's standout player was Sergio Goycochea, who is still remembered for his outstanding performance in penalty shoot-outs. Even so, they were fervently received. by the Argentine fans, who greeted them from the balcony of the Casa Rosada.
It was Basile (1990-1994)
A generational change and continuous triumphs
After the World Cup, Bilardo resigned, assuming his time was over, just like his captain Maradona, who had announced shortly after the loss to Germany that the 1990 World Cup had been his last tournament with the national team.
Alfio Basile was announced as Bilardo's replacement. The coach began his tenure convinced that the new era would come with a generational renewal of the squad, which is why he mostly called up players who were playing in the First Division instead of foreign players, at least for the first time. Thus it was that a significant number of promising youngsters appeared in the team, such as Diego Simeone, Leonardo Rodríguez, Gabriel Batistuta. Darío Franco, and Fernando Redondo, among others, who mixed with some experienced players who continued from the Bilardo era, such as Oscar Ruggeri, Sergio Goycochea, José Basualdo, and Claudio Caniggia, with whom Argentina showed a showy and forceful game.
Argentina made its debut with Basile on the bench in February 1991, defeating Hungary 2-0 in Rosario. In preparation for a new edition of the Copa América that was held in July of that year (the first official championship under the baton of "Coco"), the team played some matches and friendly tournaments, such as the Stanley Rous Cup, where Argentina drew 2-2 with England at Wembley Stadium (after losing 0-2 in the first half). In March, Maradona gave a positive drug test in Italy (it was determined that he had used cocaine), for which he was suspended from professional activity for 15 months.
Copa América 1991: Champions of America after 32 years
In the Copa América held in Chile, Argentina won its thirteenth continental championship after a period of 32 years, with an outstanding performance on the field. The team debuted with a 3-0 victory against Venezuela, then defeated local Chile 1-0, later beat Paraguay 4-1 in Concepción, and finally closed their group with a 3-2 victory against Peru.
In the finals, the team beat their nemesis Brazil to a great 3-2 victory, then drew 0-0 with Chile, and defeated Colombia 2-1 in the last game, winning the the title due to the 5 points he won. Argentina won the tournament undefeated, winning six of seven matches. Gabriel Batistuta was the top scorer of the tournament with six goals. Apart from Batistuta, Sergio Goycochea, Leonardo Astrada, Claudio Caniggia, Diego Simeone (who wore the emblematic number 10 shirt in Maradona's absence), Darío Franco and Leo Rodríguez were some of the Albiceleste's most notable players.
King Fahd Cup 1992
In 1992, Argentina won the Kirin Cup, a friendly tournament (defeating Japan and Wales), and in October, earned the right to participate in the King Fahd Cup. This competition would later be renamed and made official retroactively by FIFA as the Confederations Cup.
The teams that comprised it were Saudi Arabia, the reigning Asian champion as well as being the host country; Argentina, 1991 Copa América champion; United States, 1991 Concacaf Gold Cup champion; and Ivory Coast, champion of the 1992 African Cup of Nations. For this initial edition, there were no representatives from Europe or Oceania.
Argentina came as a great favourite, with a team that included the best players in the country: Gabriel Batistuta, Leonardo Rodríguez, Claudio Caniggia, Diego Simeone, Sergio Goycoechea, Óscar Ruggeri and Fernando Redondo were present, among others. The team he was immersed in an outstanding period in which he came to play up to thirty consecutive games without defeat. For his part, the coach Basile used the competition as preparation for the 1993 Copa América and for the knockout phase of the World Cup in the United States from 1994.
Argentina won this tournament with ease, easily defeating the Ivory Coast 4-0 in the semifinal and Saudi Arabia 3-1 in the final.
1993: Champions of the Artemio Franchi Cup and double championship in the Copa América
On February 24, 1993, Maradona returned to the team when Argentina played the Artemio Franchi Cup against Denmark in Mar del Plata. Argentina won 5:4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw.
Between June and July of that same year, the national team also played the Copa América held in Ecuador. It is worth noting that this edition was the first in which 12 teams participated (previously there were only ten belonging to CONMEBOL), which caused the prevailing format to be modified, abandoning the all-against-all system and adding a knockout phase similar to the one used in other competitions, while the groups were divided into three with four teams each.
Despite his return in the Artemio Franchi Cup a few months ago, Maradona was not called up for the continental competition, so the "Cholo" wore the emblematic number 10 on his jersey again.
Argentina began the round with two draws against Mexico and Colombia (both 1-1), but a narrow victory against Bolivia (1-0) was enough to qualify for the quarterfinals. There, Argentina eliminated Brazil for the second time in a row, (6:5 on penalties after a 1-1 draw), while in the semifinals they beat Colombia in the same way (6:5 on penalties after a 0-0 draw). -0). In the final against Mexico (the fourth team in the world with the most absolute titles), Argentina achieved a 2-1 victory, with two goals from Batistuta, achieving its fourteenth regional title and thus surpassing Uruguay, the maximum champion to date (that he would revalidate his record only in 2011), achieving only two victories in the ninety minutes of regulation, the rest in extra time or penalties.
Some of the players that were part of the squad were Sergio Goycochea, Oscar Ruggeri, Gabriel Batistuta, Darío Franco, Diego Simeone, Fernando Redondo and Luis Islas.
United States World Cup 1994
Immediately after the Copa América, Argentina had to play the qualifiers for the 1994 World Cup, held in the United States. The team shared a group with Colombia, Paraguay, and Peru. Argentina won the first two games as visitors to Peru (1-0 in Lima) and Paraguay (3-1 in Asunción) but lost to Colombia 2-1 in Barranquilla. Thus the national team lost the streak that remained undefeated at 33 games, being to this day, the third longest undefeated in history at the national team level.
In Buenos Aires, Argentina defeated Peru 2-1, drew 0-0 with Paraguay, and suffered a catastrophic defeat and Argentina's worst home defeat to Colombia 5-0 on September 5 1993 at the Monumental Stadium. It became the biggest loss for the national team since the 6-1 defeat at the 1958 World Cup against Czechoslovakia, and its worst loss at home. Colombia (with great players like Carlos Valderrama, Freddy Rincón, Faustino Asprilla and Leonel Álvarez), not only won the qualifiers undefeated, but also sent Argentina to play the intercontinental play-off against Australia, the representative of Oceania.
The most important sports magazine in the country, El Gráfico, entered "mourning" with a completely black cover with the only legend: "Shame", which expressed the anger and humiliation after the defeat.
To fulfill the objective, Basile asked Maradona to return because the team would need him to qualify for the Cup. It was a complicated negotiation due to the existing "fight of egos" between the star and other members of the squad, although Maradona finally accepted and flew to Sydney to start what was his last stage wearing the light blue and white . Argentina played the first leg against the socceroos on October 31, 1993, which ended 1-1 (with goals from Abel Balbo and Aurelio Vidmar). The second leg was in Buenos Aires, where the Albiceleste triumphed 1-0, with a goal from Batistuta at 59'. With an aggregate score of 2-1, the Albiceleste achieved the long-awaited qualification for the World Cup.
Argentina played several friendly matches as preparation. The team lost to Brazil 0-2 but beat Morocco 3-1 in Salta and Israel 3-0 in Ramat Gan. He made his debut in the competition by thrashing Greece 4-0 in Boston, a hat-trick from Batistuta. Maradona scored Argentina's third goal, which would be his last in a World Cup and in the national team. The team played its second game against Nigeria again in Boston, which they defeated 2-1 with a brace from Caniggia. At the end of the match, the Albiceleste became one of the favorites to win the tournament, due to the attacking style of play shown by the squad (playing with four forwards), the number of goals scored, and the good performances of some of his players like Redondo, Caniggia, Batistuta, and even the aging Maradona, who looked in great shape and had scored a gem of a goal.
But at the end of the match against Nigeria, Maradona was called to doping control, which came back positive for ephedrine, a prohibited substance. The impact and repercussion of the news was immediate, and Maradona was expelled from the tournament and suspended for 15 months by FIFA, in the famous incident where "his legs were cut off"
Still wounded after losing their leader, Argentina were beaten by Bulgaria in the sweltering heat of Dallas in their final group game. Even so, the team qualified to the knockout phase, where they were defeated by Romania 3-2 in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena with a great final goal from Gheorghe Hagi, nicknamed the "Maradona of the Carpathians". After the successes of 1986 and 1990, and despite a promising start, Argentina were eliminated in the round of 16. After the elimination, in an interview for ESPN with Quique Wolff, Maradona declared that the 1994 team was "the best Argentina of all time".
Era Passarella: transition stage (1994-1998)
After the disappointment in the United States, Basile resigned from his position, and in his place, the AFA appointed Daniel Passarella, captain of the team that emerged world champion in 1978. The arrival of Passarella as the new technical director of the team and his A strong hand to "clean up" internships between players did not contribute much on the sporting level, although it did have an impact in the press: Passarella forced his players to wear short hair, and prohibited those who did not comply with it from participating in his training, in addition to being equally rigid with homosexuality or the use of earrings in the ears. For these reasons, figures like Fernando Redondo would be left out of their calls.
To face the new era, renewed blood was needed in the squad, and for that, the Kaiser opted for players like Marcelo Gallardo, Ariel Ortega, Pablo Aimar, Hernán Crespo, Juan Sebastián Verón, Matías Almeyda, Javier Zanetti, Roberto Ayala and Claudio Javier López, added to some that had their debut in the era of “Coco”, such as Gabriel Batistuta and Diego Simeone.
The Kaiser's first great test in command of the national team came shortly after taking over as coach, since in January 1995, Argentina participated in the second edition of the Confederations Cup (still named «Copa Rey Fahd») as champion of the 1993 Copa América. The albiceleste team was included in Group B, along with Japan and Nigeria. There they beat the Asians by a resounding 5-1, and drew 0-0 with the Africans. Although Argentina had obtained the same number of points as Nigeria (4), the goal difference between the two teams once again earned them a place in the final, where they lost 2-0 to Denmark.
Argentina in 1995 and 1997 brought two great joys to the Argentine people, although at the youth team level (under 20 world cup), by winning in 1995 in the final of the under 20 world cup against Brazil, and in the world cup sub20 1997 to the other great of South American football: Uruguay, in the final.
In the 1995 Copa América, Argentina passed the group stage with victories over Bolivia (2-1) and Chile (4-0), although in the third match they suffered a surprise loss to the United States 3-0. Thus, Argentina finished second in their group on goal difference. In the quarterfinals he starred in a clash against Brazil; the Albiceleste won 2-1 until in the 81st minute, a controversial Brazilian goal by Túlio Maravilha who used his left forearm to lower a cross and score the goal under the goal of Hernán Cristante declared the partial 2-2. The Peruvian referee Alberto Tejada did not listen to the claims of the players and the Argentine bank. The tie led to the definition being determined with kicks from the penalty mark. Brazil would win 4:2, after Claudio Taffarel saved Diego Simeone and Néstor Fabbri's shots.
In March of that year, the team also played at home in the Pan American Games. After reaching the first round undefeated, the Albiceleste defeated Honduras 3-2 and secured a place in the final against Mexico. In the defining match, neither of the two teams was able to take advantage of their rival, so the contest had to be decided from the kicks from the penalty mark. The result was 5:4 in favor of the team led by the Kaiser, who was able to hang the gold medal for first place. This tournament would later be played from 2003 by the U-23 team.
In 1996, the Atlanta Olympic Games were held and with the inclusion of three over-23s for the first time, they debuted with a 3-1 win in the qualifying phase against the United States and then drew with Portugal and Tunisia, both 1-1. Then, in the quarterfinals, they thrashed Spain 4-0, and beat Portugal 2-0 in their semifinal key; in the other, Nigeria surprised by defeating Brazil 4-3. In the final, Argentina was twice up on the scoreboard, although they would fall 3-2 in the final minutes, taking the silver medal.
Before playing the World Cup in France in 1998, the albiceleste team had to play another edition of the Copa América in 1997, where, after beating Chile (2-0), and drawing with Ecuador (0-0) and Paraguay (1-1), was again eliminated in the quarterfinals, this time by Peru 2-1.
1998 World Cup in France
Argentina had no problem reaching the 1998 World Cup in France, doing very well in the qualifiers, for the first time in a round-robin format. However, in his interim he oscillated between good and bad performances. With Maradona officially retired, the team entered the tournament with high expectations for the takeoff of players who had played in the previous World Cup, with Gabriel Batistuta being a constant threat in the six-yard box, and Diego Simeone being the main figure from midfield.
Placed in Group H of the competition, their opponents were Japan, Jamaica and Croatia. They started their campaign with a 1-0 win over their Asian counterpart, and followed that up with a 5-0 win over the Caribbean. Their third match was against the Slavs, whom they beat 1-0. They entered the knockout phase with an impressive record of seven goals scored, and without having conceded a single goal in all three of their opening round games. In the round of 16, their opponent was England, an equally strong team. Argentina took the lead after just six minutes played through Gabriel Batistuta from the penalty spot, but Alan Shearer equalized the score in the same way four minutes later. Six minutes later, youngster Michael Owen got the ball after a poor pass to Roberto Ayala to score a great goal after his individual effort, but before the first half was up, Javier Zanetti's free kick made it 2–2.. In the plugin, the Englishman David Beckham was sent off after kicking Simeone, with the result unchanged until the end of the regulation day and overtime. In the penalty shootout, Argentina won 4:3, after Ayala scored the decisive point to qualify for the quarterfinals, with a great performance from goalkeeper Roa.
In the quarterfinals, Argentina faced the Netherlands. The match was equally close, with both sides scoring early goals; Patrick Kluivert would score after 12 minutes and Claudio López would equalize five minutes later. Midway through the first half, Ariel Ortega hits the post with a shot. For a period of time, Argentina had an advantage, as the Dutch were a man down with the sending off of Arthur Numan after his second foul on Simeone; Despite the fact that Batistuta smashed the right post of Edwin van der Sar, who only managed to stand before the imminent goal that was not, the Argentine team was unable to take the opportunity and break the tie before they too had a player less on the field of play, since Ortega would receive two consecutive yellow cards, the first for simulating a foul in the six-yard box, the second after a header against the Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar. The Argentinian defense held firm until the 89th minute, when a long aerial ball from Dutch captain Frank de Boer found Dennis Bergkamp, who maneuvered around Ayala and past goalkeeper Roa to send the Netherlands through to the semi-final, eliminating Argentina of the competition.
Era Bielsa: success in qualifying and failure in the World Cup (1998-2004)
In October 1998, Marcelo Bielsa took over as national coach, replacing Daniel Passarella. During his stay, the team obtained the best records in its history, both in average goals for, against, percentage games won and points achieved in a World Cup qualifier (taking into account the format prevailing since the 1998 Soccer World Cup): 13 wins, 42 goals for, 15 goals against and 43 points (12 pts more than the second) with only one defeat, the second best defense in the group (behind Uruguay) and the best goal difference (+27). The good results and the game displayed by the Argentine national team during the first years of his stage as coach of the Albiceleste team earned him recognition as best national team coach in the world in 2001.
Bielsa took a tactical risk with a usual formation of 3-4-3, unprecedented until then for Argentina: attacking in closed spaces and sometimes defending in open areas, to multiply goal situations and have possession of the ball, based on a permanent attack and high and constant pressure, demanding intense and coordinated physical efforts. Key players in Bielsa's scheme were midfielder Juan Sebastián Verón, defender Roberto Ayala, and forwards Ariel Ortega and Hernán Crespo. The controversial coach used a game scheme that was not very suitable for the customs of Argentine players but he achieved positive results and forcefulness in his game despite not being attractive for the national soccer taste.
The Bielsa era began in the 1999 Copa América, held in Paraguay, where Argentina was eliminated in the quarterfinals, after defeating Ecuador (3-0) and Uruguay (2-1) and losing to Colombia (0 -3) in a match where Martín Palermo obtained the dubious merit of missing three penalties in the same match, being eliminated by Brazil 2-1. Roberto Ayala missed the penalty that meant the tie. Subsequently, Argentina did not participate in the 2001 Copa América held in Colombia for security reasons and was replaced by Honduras.
Korea-Japan World Cup 2002
For the 2002 Soccer World Cup, held in South Korea and Japan, Argentina was placed in Group F, which was, on the occasion, the group of death. He made his debut against Nigeria, a team he had already faced and defeated in the United States in 1994 (with a 2-1 result that time), beating it with a brief 1-0 thanks to a header from Batistuta, executed after a corner kick by Juan Veron. La Albiceleste dominated a match in which they had several clear scoring situations that were neutralized by Nigerian goalkeeper Ike Shorunmu, while the African team had a chance to score thanks to some good individual play by their captain Jay Jay Okocha.
The toughest confrontation for the Argentine team was against England, which clearly dominated the game during the first half, with a ball crashed into Cavallero's post by his star Michael Owen, who then exaggerated a free kick in the box the South Americans to get a penalty, accurately executed by captain David Beckham. In the second half of the match, England maintained its dominance and added new scoring chances, while Pablo Aimar replaced Verón, who had shown a very poor performance so far. Aimar injected personal quality into the game, but failed to compensate for the lack of precision of "Burrito" Ortega and the recently entered "Piojo" López. He then ended up being overwhelmed by the efficient and suffocating English brand. The match was a heavy defeat for Argentina, which had no reaction to the British game.
Pressed to win yes or yes against Sweden to qualify for the round of 16, the technical director Bielsa was pressured by the press due to Verón's poor performance in the match against England and the possibility of having Batistuta and Hernán Crespo play together. Bielsa did not give in to his rigid scheme rehearsed during the qualifiers, and although Argentina showed good command of the game against the Swedes, a free kick executed with power by Anders Svensson left all the team's intentions behind. After the goal, the technical director made the three possible changes to seek improvements, without clearly achieving them. The veteran scorer Claudio Caniggia was sent off with a direct red card from the match despite being sitting on the substitute bench, for insulting the referee, without having gotten to play any of the three games played. Ortega, overreacting a foul in the Swedish area, got a penalty at the end of the agonizing defeat. The "10" The Argentine kicked unsuccessfully into the hands of goalkeeper Magnus Hedman, who rebounded with his fists, thanks to which striker Hernán Crespo had the chance to finish off the goal. With no time to turn the result around, Argentina were unexpectedly but indisputably eliminated from a tournament in which the press and the public expected a much higher performance than what he achieved. Due to the high level of expectations that existed with respect to the Argentine team in the tournament, the early elimination was the worst placement in the history of the Albiceleste with 18th place, and led to an avalanche of criticism of Bielsa, who was also reaffirmed in the position of coach by the president of the Argentine Football Association, Julio Grondona. The failure in the World Cup affected Bielsa personally, that after the elimination he isolated himself for several months in his country house.
America's Cup 2004
In July 2004, Bielsa led the team to the final stage of the Copa América held in Peru. Argentina reached the final after two wins against host Peru (1-0) and Colombia (3-0), which would be against Brazil. Argentina was winning 2-1 and was staying with the title ending an 11-year streak without winning a cup when at the last minute (90'+3) Adriano took advantage of a bad rebound from the Argentine defense to beat Abbondanzieri with a spectacular left-footed shot, sending the game to a penalty shootout at the end with a two-goal tie. On penalties, the seleção was proclaimed champion by 4:2.
2004 Athens Olympic Games
Weeks later, in August, Bielsa led the Olympic team to win the gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics. The Argentine team clearly prevailed in all their matches until reaching the final, where they defeated Paraguay by the minimum with a goal from Carlos Tévez, having won all the games played in the Olympic tournament, obtaining the only official title that Argentine soccer lacked and the first gold medal for the country since 1952.
Resignation
After beating Peru as a visitor for the qualifiers for the 2006 World Cup in September 2004 (when the Argentine national team was in qualifying positions), Bielsa surprisingly decided to leave his position for personal reasons. He added a total of 85 games (including the Argentine Olympic team): won 56, drew 18 and lost 11.
Pekerman era (2005-2006)
Confederations Cup 2005
Marcelo Bielsa's successor was José Pekerman, who, after winning three world championships with the U-20 team, would have his chance at the helm of the Major League.
His tenure began at the 2005 Confederations Cup, where Argentina qualified as runners-up in the 2004 Copa América, as Brazil had qualified as world champions. Argentina was placed in Group A, where they beat Tunisia (2-1) and Australia (4-2), although they equalized in the last game with Germany (2-2). In the semifinals they faced Mexico, where after a 0-0 draw in the ninety minutes of regulation, they took the game to extra time. Mexican Carlos Salcido scored at 104', but six minutes later Luciano Figueroa found parity and they went to a penalty shootout. There, the Mexican Ricardo Osorio missed his penalty against Germán Lux, and Esteban Cambiasso scored his to go to the final by 6: 5. In that instance, however, they would fall conclusively against the canarinha 4-1.
The beginnings of Messi
After the defeat in the final, the team managed to qualify for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, as second with 34 points, the same as Brazil but with less goal difference and, led by young promises that Pekerman directed in youth –like Tévez, Saviola, and Riquelme among others- Argentina created great expectations. That same year Lionel Messi would also make his debut in the senior team, after having won the U-20 World Cup: against Hungary, on August 17, 2005, he came onto the field in the 63rd minute for Lisandro López and just 47 seconds later he was sent off by referee Markus Merk after grabbing with defender Vilmos Vanczák.
World Cup in Germany 2006
The draw put Argentina in Group C, once again in the so-called group of death, because that included the teams from the Netherlands, Serbia and Montenegro and the Ivory Coast, the latter classified in agonal form
In their debut, the Argentine national team had to face the Ivory Coast, the most modest team in the group but which included Didier Drogba among its ranks, chosen as the footballer of the year in Africa. The game was not easy for the Albiceleste, who after going to the locker room at halftime with two goals ahead (Hernán Crespo at 24' and Javier Saviola at 38') and having shown good control of the ball, ended up winning by the slightest difference after Drogba discounted at 82'. After the triumph in their debut, the team faced Serbia and Montenegro, which they beat 6-0, in one of the best matches of the group stage, with goals from Maxi Rodríguez (2), Esteban Cambiasso, Hernan Crespo, Carlos Tevez, and Lionel Messi. Already classified to the second phase, the team had to face the Netherlands. Both coaches made several changes to the starting line-up compared to previous matches, and since they did not try to risk too much (since both got a pass to the round of 16 in the previous matches), the match ended in a goalless draw (0- 0). As a result, Argentina qualified first in their group, relegating the Netherlands to second place.
Argentina reached the round of 16 match against the Mexican team having obtained better results than its rival. Aware that they had done an excellent job in the group stage, the national team came out of the match quite confident. However, the tricolor team made a good tactical approach, this being perhaps the most difficult game Argentina had in the tournament. Mexico would manage to take possession of the ball from Argentina and score at 5'; the first goal through Rafael Márquez Álvarez. Five minutes later, Argentina managed to equalize through a shot from Hernán Crespo. The game continued without any more goals being scored and, after ninety minutes had been played, it had to be defined in extra time. At 8' After extra time, Maxi Rodríguez, located in the right sector, received an air pass from Sorín, stopped the ball with his chest and before it fell to the ground, he made a shot that entered near the right post of Oswaldo Sánchez. This goal was voted the best of the tournament and allowed Argentina to get a pass to the quarterfinals after beating Mexico 2-1.
For the quarterfinals, Argentina was to face the host, Germany. He started out dominating possession of the ball throughout the first half, as he did in a good part of the game, but he wasn't as forceful in finishing plays, presenting little danger to Jens Lehmann's goal; during the entire game only five shots were made on goal. A few minutes into the second half, the Argentine national team managed to take the lead after a header from Roberto Ayala. From that moment Germany went ahead and began to press in the rival field, which gave results in the 80th minute when Miroslav Klose managed to tie the match and take it to extra time. During the extra time the advantage went to the Albiceleste, who had greater possession of the ball. Despite this, they could not capture this dominance in the result, and after the tie in extra time, the game had to be defined by penalties. There, both Ayala and Cambiasso missed their penalties, and Germany got their pass to the semifinal after winning the definition from twelve steps by 4:2. The curiosity of the match was produced by goalkeeper Jens Lehmann, who consulted a list that he kept in a stocking before each penalty kick taken by the Argentine team. Subsequently, the German coaching staff acknowledged that they had studied Argentine kickers for years, and that this paper contained detailed information on each player. However, the list was later released and only two of the five kicks were actually predicted; the remaining players on the list did not participate in the penalty kicks. The penalties by the Argentine national team had to be saved by Leo Franco, because Roberto Abbondanzieri had to leave the field of play injured, due to a foul committed by Miroslav Klose and that the referee did not charge. Many specialists saw foul play in this action, given the recognition that the Argentine goalkeeper had in penalties, being one of the specialists in the matter. Many think that if the "Duck" had not come out of the match, Argentina could have won and, consequently, play the semifinal of the tournament.
Second era Basile (2006-2008)
After a string of successes with Boca Juniors, Alfio Basile was called up to lead the national team for the second time after the resignation of José Pékerman in September 2006. "Coco" began his second stage managing the Albiceleste in the Copa América 2007. Argentina won all three games in the group stage, beating the United States, Colombia and Paraguay, and going undefeated to the next round. After victories over Peru and Mexico in the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively, they were favorites to beat Brazil in the final, but were beaten 3–0.
The Olympic team coached by Sergio Batista won the gold medal by beating Nigeria 1-0 in the final. That win set the record for most consecutive soccer tournament wins (6 won in 2004 and 6 won in 2008). Javier Mascherano was the sole survivor of the 2004 squad and consequently became the first Argentine to win two Olympic gold medals.
In 2008, a 1-0 defeat against Chile and a seven-point gap with Paraguay, the leader of the 2010 qualifiers, made Alfio Basile resign on October 16 of that year.
Era Maradona: The return of the "Ten" as technical director (2008-2010)
In October 2008, after the resignation of Alfio Basile, Maradona was presented as the new technical director at a press conference, accompanied by Carlos Bilardo as Coordinator of National Teams.
His debut took place on November 19, 2008 at the same stadium (Hampden Park), and against the same rival (Scotland), for whom he scored his first goal for the national team. The match ended with a win by 1-0, with a goal from Maxi Rodríguez.
Their second game in the qualifiers was played against the Bolivian team, in La Paz. The result was 6-1 for the locals, being the biggest win Argentina received in its history, equaling 6-1 against Czechoslovakia in the 1958 World Cup. In the qualifiers, Argentina had to wait until the last date to qualify to the 2010 World Cup with victories against Peru (2-1) (the last goal at 46' ST by Martín Palermo) and Uruguay (1-0). After qualifying, Maradona surprised with strong statements against journalism. Due to them, on November 15 the FIFA Disciplinary Committee prohibited him from engaging in any activity related to football for two months and, in addition, imposed a fine of 25 thousand Swiss francs.
South Africa World Cup 2010
The opening match for Argentina in the World Cup in South Africa was against Nigeria. The first arrival of the match was for the Africans but Argentina quickly managed to control the match. After 6 minutes and from a corner kick, Gabriel Heinze scored the first popcorn goal after a cross made by Juan Sebastián Verón. The second set was against South Korea. Just after 17 minutes, Park Chu-Young opened the scoring with a goal against. After half an hour of play, Gonzalo Higuaín scored the second, and when it seemed that Argentina had everything under control, Martín Demichelis made a rude mistake that was taken advantage of by Lee Chung-Yong to score temporary discount. The tranquility of Argentina came in the final 15 minutes when goals from Higuaín at 76 and 80 minutes made it 4-1.
With seven changes, Maradona's Albiceleste faced the third game against Greece. For the first time, Lionel Messi was the team's captain since Maradona decided to give Javier Mascherano a rest. with a powerful right hand he shot the Hellenic goal to open the scoring. With Palermo on the field, after the goal, Messi had another chance but his shot hit the post. And at minute 89, Martín Palermo covered himself in glory by scoring the final 2-0. The Titán goal was very emotional and celebrated since he is a much-loved player in Argentina throughout its history for having missed three penalties in a single game but also for having converted the qualifying goal against Peru.
For the third time in history and for the second time in a row in the round of 16, the Argentine national team had to face the Mexican team. As the minutes passed, Argentina began to go more towards the rival goal and scored the first goal. The Apache in a clearly advanced position received a cross from Messi and headed only on goal. The giant screen that the stadium had showed the play, and upon seeing it, the Mexican players went to look for the referee Rosetti and the linesman but both decided to validate the goal despite the offside. Seven minutes later Ricardo Osorio he made a mistake and gave a pass to his rival, Gonzalo Higuaín, who with a great individual move scored the second goal. third goal. After this goal, Mexico was able to control the ball for longer and managed to discount through Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez. With the passing of the minutes the difference remained and Argentina passed the round.
In the quarterfinals, the Albiceleste faced Germany again. Barely 2 minutes into the game, Nicolás Otamendi, who was imprecise for most of the game, committed a foul and was booked. Bastian Schweinsteiger took the free kick and Otamendi himself gave away Thomas Müller's mark, which quickly put the German team ahead. From that moment, Argentina could not gain a foothold in the match, and although they improved a bit as the minutes passed, their attacks were nothing serious. At the beginning of the second stage, Argentina came out determined. Played to tie, Argentina clearly improved and began to have more chances of scoring but despite going through their best moment in the match, Germany, who was betting on defending and counterattacking, made the difference. That was how in the last 25 minutes Miroslav Klose, Friedrich and again Klose put the final 4-0. Perhaps the difference in the result was too much with respect to the game of the match, but the truth is that Argentina tried to attack with more heart what football However, this was not enough, since the German attacks were forceful, before an Argentina that was more than disordered. That was the last game that Maradona coached in the national team, since the AFA decided not to renew his contract because he did not accept the modifications in the formation of the coaching staff that had been proposed to him.
Batista era (2010-2011)
America's Cup 2011
After Maradona's dismissal, Sergio Batista took over as interim, who in 2008 had led the Olympic team that had won the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics. With Batista in charge, the team beat Ireland 1-0 in Dublin and achieved a memorable victory against the Spanish team (which had just become world champion for the first time in its history) 4-1, with goals from Messi, Higuain, Tevez and Agüero. Thus begins an era in which Argentina did not achieve bad results (1-0 against Brazil in Qatar, 2-1 in Geneva against Portugal, 4-2 against Paraguay, among others), but never managed to find a characteristic game.
Batista would be confirmed as the final coach for the 2011 Copa América. Argentina, being the host of the tournament, was framed as the top seed in Group A, along with Bolivia (1-1), Colombia (0-0), and Costa Rica (3-0). With two draws and one victory, they reached the quarterfinals where they faced Uruguay, being eliminated on penalties 5:4.
She was Sabella (2011-2014)
Brazil World Cup 2014: a world final after 24 years
After Batista's dismissal, Alejandro Sabella takes over as coach. Argentina managed to finish in first place in the 2014 qualifiers (with 32 points) despite a hesitant start to their journey towards the 2014 World Cup (victory against Chile 4-1, defeat against Venezuela 1-0 and draw with Bolivia 1- 1). The meritorious victory on matchday four in the complicated visit to Colombia (2-1) set the Albiceleste on course. They did not lose again until the last date against Uruguay, when they were already mathematically classified. It was the highest scoring team in South America, with 35 goals in 16 games and the second with the fewest goals conceded (15). It is worth highlighting the presence of Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuaín, Sergio Agüero and Ángel Di María, dubbed by the press as the fantastic four, since, together, they scored 27 of the 35 goals; who were joined by players with a great European presence such as Ezequiel Lavezzi, Sergio Romero, Javier Mascherano, Martín Demichelis, Pablo Zabaleta, Lucas Biglia, Marcos Rojo, Ezequiel Garay and Enzo Pérez.
In the final phase of the World Cup, played in Brazil, Argentina was seeded in Group F, with Bosnia-Herzegovina (2-1), Iran (1-0) and Nigeria (3-2). He qualified for the next round as the leader, winning all three of his matches; however, his general performance raised some doubts. The most outstanding aspect of the team was the performance of Lionel Messi, considered one of the best players in the world to date.
In the round of 16, Argentina faced Switzerland, where, despite their favoritism, they would not be able to beat the Swiss goalkeeper, Diego Benaglio, who had a good participation. The Argentine defense, meanwhile, managed to neutralize the Swiss attack, particularly in the second half. A few minutes from reaching the definition from the penalty spot, Messi gave a perfect assist in the 118th minute to Ángel Di María, scoring the goal that allowed the pass to the quarterfinals.
In the quarterfinal match against Belgium, Gonzalo Higuaín scored in minute 8. In the rest of the game, the Belgians tried to reverse the result, but they could not organize a consistent attack that would jeopardize the classification of the Argentines at semifinals of the competition.
There, the team was measured against the Netherlands. The game was very tough, without any of the forwards being able to break equality. The Argentine defense, led by Javier Mascherano, managed to stop the attempts of the Dutch, mainly by Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie, while Higuain and Messi were also annulled. After drawing 0-0 in the regulation ninety minutes, the parity lasted for the other thirty of the supplementary, until reaching the definition by penalties. In this instance, goalkeeper Sergio Romero had an outstanding performance, since he managed to clear shots from Ron Vlaar and Wesley Sneijder. The goals scored by Robben and Dirk Kuyt were not enough to offset the successful shots from Messi, Ezequiel Garay, Sergio Agüero and Maxi Rodríguez. With a perfect score, Argentina managed to reach the final of the tournament, their first in a World Cup since 1990, after 24 years.
On July 13, 2014, the final was held at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, facing Germany, who had been their executioner in the past two editions. Argentina and Germany had previously met in two finals: Mexico 1986 and Italy 1990, with a victory for each. The game started quite evenly, with arrivals for both teams. Higuaín wasted a shot while alone in front of goalkeeper Manuel Neuer at 21', marking the albiceleste dominance during the first stage of the match. Higuaín would manage to score minutes later, but the Italian referee Nicola Rizzoli correctly canceled the goal for a forward position. Christoph Kramer, after a clash with Garay, had to be replaced by André Schürrle, who managed to improve the order of the German team. The change allowed a deeper arrival of the German team, which managed individual shots from Schürrle, Toni Kroos and Benedikt Höwedes, although they failed to convert into goals. In the second half, Argentina moved their pieces with the entry of Agüero, replacing Ezequiel Lavezzi and managed to have a greater presence in the attack. Both teams continued to try to score consistently until the end of the match. Toni Kroos, André Schürrle and Mario Götze tried to score without success, while Messi managed several flashes of good play. After the end of the regular day, the game started overtime. Rodrigo Palacio, in the first minutes of extra time, lost an excellent opportunity. After that shot, Germany began to gain more possession of the ball, while Argentina fell back. When it seemed imminent to resort to kicks from the penalty mark to define the champion, Mario Götze received a pass from André Schürrle and defined with great precision, scoring at 113'. the German winning goal.
At the end of the match, the award ceremony for both teams was held. FIFA jointly handed out the individual prizes to the best players in the tournament: Messi received the Ballon d'Or as the best player in the entire tournament.
Martino era (2014-2016)
Two consecutive runners-up in the Copa América
.jpg)
After the 2014 World Cup final and the resignation of Alejandro Sabella, Gerardo Martino assumed the technical direction of the team, which came from an outstanding series of successes with the Paraguayan national team and the Newell's Old Boys club. Argentina thus began its preparation for its next great challenge, the 2015 Copa América, with victories against Germany (4-2), Croatia (2-1), Hong Kong (7-0), El Salvador (2-1), Ecuador (2-1), and Bolivia (5-0), and defeats against Brazil (2-0) and Portugal (1-0).
In the continental tournament, the Argentine national team was drawn as the seed in Group B with Paraguay (2-2), Uruguay (1-0) and Jamaica (1-0). With two victories and a draw, they advanced to the next phase as first in their group, getting 7 points and having scored a total of 4 goals. In the quarterfinals, Argentina faced Colombia, which they beat in a penalty shootout 5:4, while in the semifinals, they achieved an overwhelming victory against Paraguay 6-1. He thus agreed to the final with host Chile, at the National Stadium in the city of Santiago.
Despite emerging as the candidate to take the title, the Albiceleste failed to impose its hierarchy on the local team, which became champion for the first time in its history by beating Argentina in the definition from the penalty spot by 4:1.
In 2016, the Argentine national team had a new chance to end its title drought in the Copa América Centenario, a special edition to commemorate its hundred years of existence.
Prior to this tournament, the Albiceleste played the first round of qualifiers, achieving three victories against Colombia (1-0), Chile (2-1), and Bolivia (2-0), two draws against Brazil (1-1), and Paraguay (0-0), and a defeat against Ecuador (0-2). He also participated in some friendly matches, including a resounding win over Bolivia (7-0), a close draw against Mexico (2-2), and a 1-0 win against Honduras.
Already in the competition, Argentina was seeded in Group D, along with Chile (2-1), Panama (5-0) and Bolivia (3-0), reaching the next round undefeated with 9 points and scoring a total of 11 goals. In the quarterfinal match, they prevailed against Venezuela with a score of 4-1, and in the semifinals, they beat the host United States 4-0. As in the previous edition, the rival in the decisive duel was Chile, and the event took place at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford County, New Jersey. Again in a penalty shootout, the albiceleste team fell to their similar trans-Andean team, this time 4:2.
With Martino on the bench, Argentina played a total of twenty-nine games, with nineteen wins, seven draws and only three losses in regulation time, 66 goals for and 18 against. After two runners-up, he concluded his cycle, between versions of little support from the Argentine squads for the Rio Olympics.
The second final lost against the Red also caused the momentary resignation of Lionel Messi, who had declared in a note to the TyC Sports channel after the game that "he already tried a lot" (referring to to his attempts to win a tournament with the national team); Despite this, on August 12 of that same year Messi would announce his return to the national team through a press release, and would also confirm his participation in the qualifying matches for the 2018 Soccer World Cup.
Bauza era (2016-2017)
.jpg)
With Bauza in charge, Argentina continued to rely on individual plays from its established stars such as Messi, Agüero, Higuaín and Di María, but with a weak collective performance, especially on key dates: in the qualifiers it achieved just three victories (Uruguay, Colombia and Chile), two draws (Venezuela and Peru), and three defeats (Paraguay, Brazil and Bolivia), finishing in the playoff zone.
Sampaoli era (2017-2018)
Adjusted qualification for the 2018 World Cup
After 251 days, Bauza was dismissed, and Jorge Sampaoli was appointed as his replacement. With him on the bench, three draws in a row with Uruguay (0-0), Venezuela (1-1) and Peru (0-0) left it in a very unfavorable context. To add insult to injury, on August 29, 2017, the FIFA Disciplinary Tribunal decided to reject the appeals filed by the Bolivian Football Federation (FBF) and give Bolivia two games for lost due to the improper alignment of Nelson Cabrera (originally born in Paraguay) the previous January 12; Due to this, the qualifying table was modified: Chile added two more points and managed to access the direct qualifying positions.
Meanwhile, the Albiceleste went down to the play-off zone, having to wait until the last date to achieve the long-awaited classification. In this, they visited Ecuador at the height of Quito. The local lined up an alternative team because they no longer had a chance of qualifying for the World Cup. Argentina won by 3 goals to 1, with a hat-trick from their captain Lionel Messi, thus sealing the long-awaited qualification for the World Cup in Russia. With 28 points, they finished in third place behind Brazil and Uruguay, followed by Colombia and Peru.
Already qualified for the World Cup, Argentina began the stage of preparation and selection of soccer players, starting with a victory against Russia (1-0), a surprise defeat against Nigeria (2-4), a victory against Italy (2-0), a historic defeat against Spain (1-6), and a resounding victory against Haiti (4-0). He finally had a commitment to Israel (a "cabala" party since 1986) that was going to be held in Haifa, but they wanted to move to Jerusalem, which provoked protests from radicalized groups, so the meeting did not take place. carried out, generating protests and even complaints in FIFA, by Israel for breach of contract (to Argentina) and threats (to Palestine)
Russia World Cup 2018
After the draw, the Albiceleste was placed in Group D, as the top seed, along with Iceland, Croatia and Nigeria.
Argentina made their World Cup debut on June 16, when they faced their first rival, Iceland. The match ended with a 1-1 draw. Sergio Agüero made it 1-0 after 18 minutes, but Iceland's Alfreð Finnbogason equalized four minutes later. A performance below expectations, where Iceland asserted their physical condition, and Argentina, for their part, found no alternatives to win the result, particularly after Lionel Messi missed a decisive penalty 64 minutes into the match. As a curious fact, this meeting marked the first time that he had not won his opening game in a World Cup since 1990; on that occasion they had lost to Cameroon 0-1.
Then they had a black afternoon against Croatia, who beat them 3-0, with goals from Ante Rebić, Luka Modrić, and Ivan Rakitić. The duel had started evenly, with arrivals for both teams, and remained in a constant back and forth throughout the first half, without any of the two teams in particular taking any advantage over the other. The 0-0 scoreline persisted until minute 52, when goalkeeper Caballero made a gross mistake when taking the ball out of his area, since when he tried to clear it, it bounced a few centimeters from Rebic, who took advantage of the situation and scored. the first goal of the game with a highly accurate volley. This setback seriously disconcerted the selected team, who from then on had no answers to the forceful offensive proposed by the Slavs. All this left him at the starting gate of the tournament, although the other group results (among them Nigeria beating Iceland) they opened the possibility of going to the round of 16 if they won their last game of the series.
Facing the African team, and with the return of several historical men to the starting lineup, highlighting Higuaín, Banega, and Di María, among others, the team appeared more motivated. In goal, the debuting River Plate goalkeeper, Franco Armani, took ownership and permanently relegated Caballero. Lionel Messi opened the scoring after 13 minutes of play. After an exquisite pass from Éver Banega from behind the middle of the field, which covered approximately 30-40 m, Messi cushioned the pass with his left thigh and, after beating his marker Kenneth Omeruo in the race, defined with a right hand crossed before goalkeeper Uzoho. He thus scored the hundredth goal of the tournament, and the Albiceleste continued to dominate practically the entire first half, even with a free kick from Messi that hit Uzoho's left post. However, in the second half, Nigeria came out more determined and after six minutes, Javier Mascherano committed an innocent penalty for a light grab on Leon Balogun in the area. The referee signaled the maximum penalty, the Nigerian Moses did not waste the launch, and put Argentina in trouble, taking into account that Croatia tied with Iceland and the goal difference. In an end to the heart attack, at minute 85, Marcos Rojo hit a cross from Mercado's right, making it 2-1 and unleashing delirium in the fans. Croatia's 2-1 victory over Iceland completed the agonizing passage of the Argentine national team to the next round.
In the round of 16, Argentina faced France in Kazan on June 30, where, after an early foul by Rojo on Kylian Mbappé, a penalty was awarded, scored by Antoine Griezmann in the 13th minute. In the 41st minute, after a pass from Banega, Di María scored the tie, with a 25-meter left-footed shot into the left corner of Hugo Lloris. In the second half, at minute 48, Mercado took advantage of a Messi rebound to score the partial 2-1. However, Frenchman Benjamin Pavard scored at 57'; to tie the match, and 7 minutes later, Mbappé took advantage of a rebound after a shot by Blaise Matuidi to score the 2-3 partial and 4 minutes later, Mbappé would score again, after a French counterattack created by Antoine Griezmann and Olivier Giroud. The Argentine defense was completely overwhelmed by the agile Franco-African player, who by instances managed to overcome the albicelestes with some ease. In the 90+3 minute, Agüero scored the final 3-4 after a cross from Messi, a heroic but insufficient goal. With time already up, a last Argentine effort was about to equalize the result and take it to extra time, but the miracle finally did not happen. In this way, Argentina was eliminated from the contest.
With weak individual and collective performances, the 2014 runner-up was unable to repeat the strong performances that had brought them to the final four years earlier, finishing bottom of the table in 16th place, their worst result in a World Cup since 2002 (where he had been left out in the group stage). After the World Cup, Higuaín, Biglia, Mascherano and Banega announced their retirement from the national team, and with them ended a generation that came to play three finals in four years.
It was Scaloni (since 2018)
La Escaloneta, renovation announced
.jpg)
After the early departure of the team from the World Cup, the Argentine Football Association and Jorge Sampaoli reached an agreement for the latter to leave his position as technical director of the Argentine team, confirming his departure on July 15, 2018. On Thursday, August 2, Lionel Scaloni from Santa Fe, then the U-20 coach, was confirmed by AFA through his Twitter account as the new coach of the major, on an interim basis.
Scaloni, assuming the commitments for an indefinite period of time, had the task of starting a process of generational renewal in the selected team. With the goal of forming a new group heading to the next World Cup, his arrival was accompanied by different promising youngsters who would have the chance to wear the national jersey for the first time, such as Lautaro Martínez, Leandro Paredes, Rodrigo de Paul, Giovanni Simeone, Santiago Ascacíbar, Gerónimo Rulli, Paulo Gazzaniga, Walter Kannemann, Rodrigo Battaglia, and Franco Cervi. Other players who had been part of the team in past calls but whose role was minimal became fixtures on the squad, this being the case of Mauro Icardi, Paulo Dybala, Giovani Lo Celso, Roberto Pereyra, Germán Pezzella, Marcos Acuña, Agustín Marchesín, and Ramiro Funes Mori.
In turn, several players from the local environment joined the process, who until then (with some exceptions in between) had not been taken into account. There stood out, among others, Cristian Pavón from Boca Juniors, Gonzalo Martínez, Franco Armani, and Exequiel Palacios from River Plate, Leonel Di Plácido from Lanús, Matías Vargas and Gastón Giménez from Vélez Sarsfield, Renzo Saravia and Matías Zaracho from Racing, Maximiliano Meza, Fabricio Bustos, and Alan Franco from Independiente, and Guido Herrera from Talleres.
Assisted by Walter Samuel and Pablo Aimar, Scaloni began his tenure on the FIFA double date in September (the first after the World Cup), where he led Argentina against the Guatemalan and Colombian teams on a tour of the United States. The renewed selection had its initial presentation when facing the Central American team at the Memorial Coliseum in the city of Los Angeles, which they beat by a comfortable 3-0, with goals from Gonzalo Martínez (from a penalty, at minute 27), Lo Celso (at 35'), and Simeone (at 44'). On Tuesday the 11th, at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford County, New Jersey, the Argentine team met faced the coffee growers in a tough duel that ended in a 0-0 tie.
Under Scaloni's tutelage, the team played six friendly matches, adding four victories, one draw, and one defeat, scoring a total of eleven goals and only conceding one. One of the most notable aspects of this period was the absence of Lionel Messi and other so-called historicals, such as Ángel Di María, Sergio Agüero, Gonzalo Higuaín, and Éver Banega, although Scaloni did include in his ranks some experienced, such as goalkeeper Sergio Romero and defender Nicolás Otamendi.
Due to the positive balance he achieved, and the good image he garnered among the players called up and the leadership of the Argentine Football Association, Scaloni was outlined to be nominated as the final coach of the national team, a fact that effectively materialized on November 29, the day his continuity was ensured until the 2019 Copa América by the president of AFA, Claudio Tapia, who gave him his support and also a contract extension option towards the 2020 Copa América. The appointment was also backed by the director of national teams, César Luis Menotti, when he assumed said position in January 2019. However, some local media criticized this decision due to Scaloni's lack of experience as a coach, since he had only directed the National Team Argentina's under-20 soccer team before taking office.
Copa América 2019: a valued third place
On June 15, Argentina made its debut in the Copa América for group B against Colombia at the Arena Fonte Nova in Salvador de Bahía, losing with a pale image by a result of 0 to 2. The selected team played its second match against Paraguay at the Mineirão de Belo Horizonte, where it salvaged a 1-1 draw without showing a significant improvement in its performance. There the goals were scored by Lionel Messi (from a penalty, at 57' ST), for the national representative and Richard Sánchez (37' PT) for the albirroja. On the last date for the first round, the blue and white team faced the guest Qatar at the Arena do Grêmio in Porto Alegre, achieving a 2-0 victory, with goals from Martínez (4' 2T) and Agüero (82' ST). Said score was enough for him to qualify for the quarterfinals of the competition as second in his group, with four points. Argentina met Venezuela in the quarterfinals at the legendary Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro, where they again won a 2-0 win, with goals from Martínez (10' PT) and Giovani Lo Celso (74' ST)., thus getting the pass to the semifinals and entering the top four of the tournament.
The team faced host Brazil in the first semifinal bracket of the competition, in what was a highly anticipated match both by the sports press and by the fans of both countries. There, Argentina considerably showed its best facet throughout the tournament, although it could not avoid elimination against the locals, who triumphed by a brief 2-0, with goals from Gabriel Jesus (19' PT) and Roberto Firmino (71'; ST), both kickback. A very controversial point in this match was the arbitration by Ecuadorian Roddy Zambrano, whose performance was accused of being local and biased by the visitors, particularly for avoiding the use of VAR in two disputed plays in which the Argentine players considered that the judge should have whistled. penal.
Closing their participation in the Copa América, Argentina faced Chile (who had just lost their semifinal bracket 0-3 to Peru) in the match for third place. The selected one was on the podium of the competition as the third best team after achieving a 2-1 victory, with goals from Agüero (12' PT) and Paulo Dybala (22' PT) for the Albiceleste, and Arturo Vidal (59' ST, penalty) for the red.
After the good performance of the technical director in charge and with a view to the next Copa América, supporters of the Argentine team and in the networks began to humorously compare Lionel Scaloni's team with a vehicle that goes in straight line towards the fulfillment of its objectives. The coach's last name was mixed with the word "scooter" or "van" and gave rise to the nickname "Scaloneta" that was used in popular jargon to talk about the team led by Scaloni. The same term came to be used by the players on the squad.
Copa América 2021: Argentina champion twenty-eight years later and Messi's first title
The 2021 Copa América, played in Brazil, was the forty-seventh edition of that tournament. The team led by Lionel Scaloni formed Group A with Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile and Bolivia. On June 14, they faced Chile in the match that opened the group, which ended 1:1, with a goal from Leo Messi from a free kick. Later, Eduardo Vargas would tie the game taking advantage of a rebound from Emiliano Martínez after saving a penalty from Arturo Vidal. The second date faced Uruguay, which they defeated 1:0 with a goal from Guido Rodríguez. In the third round they beat Paraguay 1:0, with a goal from Alejandro Gómez after an assist through a filtered pass from Ángel Di María, and in the fourth and last date, which was played on June 28, they thrashed the selection of Bolivia 4:1 with goals from Gómez, two from Messi and Lautaro Martínez. Thus, they qualified first in the group, achieving 10 points in the 4 games.
Its classification in the first position made it find itself in the quarterfinals with Ecuador (which had been in fourth position in Group B), the match was played on July 3 in Goiânia and it was a victory for Albiceleste by 3:0. The score would be opened by Rodrigo de Paul after an assist from Lionel Messi, taking advantage of a bad start from the rival goalkeeper, then the game would remain even until the last 10 minutes, in which Lautaro Martínez would increase the difference after a kind assist from Messi and finally, the latter would score in the final minutes of the game with the curiosity that originally the referee awarded a penalty in favor of Argentina, but after using VAR, he corrected with a free kick kicked by the captain that ended in a goal.
On July 6, Argentina met Colombia (who beat Uruguay on penalties in the quarterfinals) in Brasilia to play the semifinals of the competition, the team surprised with an early goal by Lautaro Martínez (7' PT) after a great dominance and assistance from Lionel Messi inside the rival area and after this the game was very close until in the second half Luis Fernando Díaz (61' ST) tied for the tricolor, after 90' of the game. minutes the match resulted in penalties in which Argentina won 3-2 with a surprising performance by Argentine goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez, blocking shots from Davinson Sánchez, Yerry Mina and Edwin Cardona, this being the first time that an Argentine national team goalkeeper He covers three shots (not counting deflected, that is, not going in the direction of the goal) in a penalty shootout. The series had as a curiosity that Emiliano Martínez talked with the Colombian players before kicking their penalties to distract them, one of his phrases would particularly circulate in the world media: "look at you like a brother". In this way, the Albiceleste reached the final of the Cup against the winner of Brazil-Peru who ended up being the host.
On July 10, the Argentine team faced Brazil at the Maracana Stadium in the city of Rio de Janeiro for the 2021 Copa América final. The first half began with the Argentine team dominating, and after 22 minutes In the first half Ángel Di María put the Argentine national team ahead with a great qualification from Rodrigo de Paul, the Brazilian winger Renan Lodi could not reach the ball and the Argentine winger went hand in hand with the Auriverde goalkeeper Ederson, making it 0-1.
At the start of the second half, Brazil went out to try to tie the game: Brazil took control of the game and locked up Argentina, hoping that the white and blue wall would fall; but the options for each minute were running out, meeting either the solid defense, or with Emiliano Martínez under the three sticks. At the last moment, Lionel Messi finished off the match with a pass from Rodrigo de Paul that ended with the 10 slipping in front of the Brazilian goalkeeper (88' ST).
The team was crowned champion, ending a 28-year drought without international titles and leading its captain Lionel Messi, its technical director Lionel Scaloni and players with extensive football experience to bear an international title for their country for the first time in their careers. In turn, Argentina's victory over Brazil meant the first edition of the Copa América organized on Brazilian soil where the local team could not win the title, since the green-yellow had won the editions from 1919, 1922, 1949, 1989 and 2019 as host. In addition, Lionel Messi was chosen the best player of the tournament (in addition to being the top assister and top scorer with 4 goals, a prize shared with Luis Fernando Díaz), and Emiliano Martínez was chosen the best goalkeeper. Although not were awarded, the performances of Rodrigo De Paul, Cuti Romero and Lautaro Martínez stand out, who were key in obtaining the title.
Finalíssima 2022: road to glory
After completing the tie, Argentina was preparing to play the Finalíssima, a match against the Italian national team, both as champions of Eurocopa 2020 and Copa América 2021, respectively, which also had enormous symbolic value, since The late Diego Maradona played in both countries, as well as being played in English territory, where even through hostile popular songs, an Argentine aversion is shown that transcends the sporting border.
The continuation of the Artemio Franchi Cup began on June 1 with the Argentine team uniformly controlling possession of the ball until Lautaro Martínez scored the first goal (28' PT) and then before the end of the first half, Ángel Di María will complicate the Italian team with a second goal (45 + 2' PT). In the second half, Argentina continued to dominate the Italian squad, generating several risky chances, although there were also scoring opportunities from Italian players, the result was maintained until the end of the match, when a late goal by Paulo Dybala sealed the win. to crown Argentina as champion of the tournament, 29 years after the last edition of the tournament, where coincidentally it was also won by the Argentine national team. By obtaining the Conmebol-UEFA Champions Cup, he achieved his 21st official title.
Qatar World Cup 2022: suffering and glory in the conquest of the third star
For the World Cup in Qatar, Scaloni made the call based on the team that won the Copa América, with Lionel Messi, Emiliano Martínez, Nicolás Otamendi, Cristian Romero, Lautaro Martínez, Rodrigo de Paul, Ángel Di María and Leandro Paredes in the lead, plus players of noteworthy current events such as Alexis Mac Allister, Enzo Fernández, Julián Álvarez and Lisandro Martínez; Giovanni Lo Celso's absence due to injury, and players who presented physical discomfort and arrived at the big event with just enough, such as Nicolás Tagliafico, Exequiel Palacios, Alejandro Gómez, Paulo Dybala, Nicolás González and Joaquín Correa. These last two were later removed from the list and replaced by Thiago Almada and Ángel Correa.
Argentina was drawn in group C, with Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Poland. For the first game against Arabia, Scaloni decided to bet on the champion base with Emiliano Martínez; Nahuel Molina, Cristian Romero, Nicolás Otamendi and Nicolás Tagliafico; Rodrigo De Paul, Leandro Paredes and Alejandro Gomez; Angel Di Maria, Lautaro Martinez and Lionel Messi. The match began with a 1-0 win for Albiceleste with a penalty from Messi at minute 9, after a hold on Paredes in the area on a set piece. Before the break, Argentina was able to increase the advantage, but offsides prevented it three times, first to Messi and then twice to Lautaro Martínez. However, as the minutes passed, the team made two mistakes, and in a bad start at the start of the second half, Saudi Arabia turned the game around with a cross shot by Saleh Al-Shehri at 48' minute. and a parable from Salem Al Dawsari at 53'. From there, the team showed fatigue, the product of having finished the European leagues a week before the start of the World Cup, added to a weak emotional response to tie the game, which resulted in a historic defeat. Argentina lost the undefeated record of 36 games, and in turn, was left with no margin of error to be able to go to the next round, having to not lose its two remaining games.
In the second match against Mexico, and the first final, Argentina made five changes: Gonzalo Montiel for Molina, Lisandro Martínez for Cuti Romero, Marcos Acuña for Tagliafico, Guido Rodríguez for Paredes and Alexis Mac Allister by Papu Gomez. The Mexican team, led by Tata Martino, put on an uncomfortable game, pressing the Argentine exit, going to the locker room without clear chances for both. In the second half, at minute 64, Argentina had their first space, Messi received from Di María and shot from outside the area to goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa's lower left corner, who could do nothing. With the inclusion of Julián Álvarez, Nahuel Molina and Enzo Fernández, plus a line of five defenders along with Lisandro Martínez, Argentina achieved the necessary stability, and the final 2-0 reached 87'. when Enzo Fernández received at the top of the area and took a shot with a jump rope that was nailed to the corner.
For the third game against Poland, Scaloni started the outstanding players of the game against Mexico: Julián Álvarez and Enzo Fernández. That confidence translated into more play and less physicality, trying to find the goal on the wings, and Messi, who surpassed Maradona by being the Argentine with the most matches played in World Cups. La Albiceleste opened the scoring in the second half with Molina pressing down the right flank, giving a pass to Mac Allister, who finished off Wojciech Szczęsny's right post. The second would come after a pass from Enzo Fernández to Julián Álvarez, who scrambled through the central defenders to score. With the match under control, Argentina won 2-0 and went through as first group.
In the round of 16, the Albiceleste faced the second in group D, Australia. The socceroos started with possession of the ball, but Argentina played counter-attack, based on touch and touch tactics, making it difficult for Australia to leave. 35 minutes into the first half, the goal came after a triangular play with Mac Allister, and a pass from Otamendi, which La Pulga Messi took advantage of to score the first goal. In the second half, at 57', after a mistake in the start by goalkeeper Mathew Ryan, he lost the ball under pressure from De Paul, which Julián Álvarez took advantage of, scoring 2-0 to an empty goal. However, Australia found the discount in minute 76 after a strong shot from Craig Goodwin, deflected by Enzo Fernández. The kangaroos had two more chances to tie the game, but the interventions of Lisandro Martínez, at 80', with a providential closing at the door of the small area before the individual play of Aziz Behich, and a drain from the Dibu Martínez at the last minute after a shot by Garang Kuol, who beat Tagliafico in close combat and defined, they avoided it, finishing 2-1 in favor of Argentina, and moving on to the next round.
In the quarterfinals, the team faced the Netherlands. The first minutes of the game were close, with both teams measuring themselves, Messi once again breaking parity, with a pass between the lines for Nahuel Molina, who scored 1-0 at 34'. In the second half, Argentina stretched the advantage with a penalty committed against Acuña, scored by Messi, reaching Gabriel Batistuta's record from 1998 as the top Argentine scorer in World Cups, with ten goals. La Albiceleste seemed to have the game under control, but the Dutch stalking the rival area with tall forwards and crosses into the six-yard box resulted in a tie, with two goals from Wout Weghorst, first with a powerful header at 83', and the second, after the controversial Spanish referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz added ten minutes, a foul by Germán Pezzella produced a free kick at the door of the area, the Dutch team made a set play, with a pass from Steven Berghuis under the wall to Weghorst, who received and defined before the departure of Dibu Martínez, scoring 2-2. In extra time, played with pure nervousness, there were clear chances to define the game, such as Lautaro Martínez's shot that was blocked by the goalkeeper, Di María's almost Olympic goal, and Enzo Fernández's shot at the post from midrange in the last play of the game, but it was finally decided on penalties. Emiliano Martínez once again became a hero by stopping Virgil van Dijk and Berghuis's shots, while Messi, Paredes, Montiel and Lautaro Martínez scored for the Albiceleste, finishing in a 4-3 win, reaching the semifinals and entering the best 4 teams in the world.
On December 13, Argentina played the semifinal against Croatia, who had just eliminated Brazil on penalties. Once again, the rival started with control of the ball and long balls into the area, which the Argentine defense managed to neutralize, without creating dangerous situations. In the first counterattack, Enzo Fernández put in a pass from midfield and Julián Álvarez went in front of goalkeeper Dominik Livaković, who had a last resort free kick in the area, marking the Italian referee Daniele Orsato a penalty in favor of Argentina, that Messi, changed for a goal in the 35th minute. Despite the fact that the Croats tried to recover, Julián Álvarez made a memorable run, and after a series of rebounds, he passed the European defensive line and scored the second at 39'. In the second half, Argentina was applied in the mark, with the overtaking of the full-backs Molina and Tagliafico, and in the 68th minute the goal was reached. Messi misled Joško Gvardiol from the mark on the right wing and after leaving him standing, he gave the pass to Julián Álvarez to score the final 3-0. Thus Argentina reached a world cup final for the sixth time, the second in eight years.
On December 18, 2022, at the Iconic Stadium in Lusail, Argentina played the final against defending champions France. Both teams were looking for their third title, and in turn, Les Bleus had outstanding performances with their star player Kylian Mbappé, along with Antoine Griezmann and Olivier Giroud. The initial dominance of the Albiceleste was absolute during the first half, taking advantage of the spaces and individual errors of the rival defense, and blocking the balls towards Mbappé, who was damaging due to his speed. The first goal would come at minute 23, after a foul inside the area by Ousmane Dembélé in an individual action by Ángel Di María, a penalty that Messi scored, opening the scoring. The second, at 36', a counterattack born in the Argentine zone, with triangulations between Messi, Mac Allister and Julián Álvarez, to leave Mac Allister to Di María only in the area, which he defined towards the left post before the exit of the goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. The French technical director Didier Deschamps did not wait until halftime to make changes, and with the entry of Marcus Thuram and Randal Kolo Muani, the French began to have more possession, and with a more liberated Mbappé with the entry of Marcos Acuña for Di María, the tie came at the end of the game with two isolated plays. In the 80th minute, Nicolás Otamendi brought down Kolo Muani in the area, the referee awarded a penalty, and Mbappé made it 2-1 with a cross shot. In the next play, at minute 81, a collective play ended at 2-2, with a header from Thuram to Mbappé, who volleyed to score.
After a difficult start in extra time, Argentina recovered from the shock and once again created scoring chances during the first 15 minutes. At 108', Lautaro Martínez took a shot from inside the area, Lloris left a rebound, so that Messi pushed the ball and Argentina went ahead again 3-2. However, at 118', a shot by Mbappé from outside the area hit the hand of Gonzalo Montiel, who was inside the area. Referee Szymon Marciniak took the maximum penalty, which Mbappé traded for a goal, returning to a 3-3 draw. France's victory could have been on the last play, with an error by Otamendi, which left only Kolo Muani in front of the goal, but Emiliano Martínez extended his foot at the exact moment to save the Albiceleste and go to penalties. There, after Mbappé converted the first, he once again became a hero by saving Kingsley Coman's second, while Aurélien Tchouaméni deflected his. On the Argentine side, Messi, Paulo Dybala, Leandro Paredes, and finally Gonzalo Montiel scored theirs. With the score 4-2, Argentina was crowned world champion after 36 years of the last title. Lionel Messi won the Ballon d'Or awards, as the best player, and the Silver Boot, as the second top scorer; while Emiliano Martínez obtained the Golden Glove for the best goalkeeper and Enzo Fernández the prize for the best young player of the tournament.
- World Champion Plant 2022
|
Recent matches and upcoming matches
Here is a list of the latest and upcoming matches that the Albiceleste will have.
| F | A | Date | Place | Competition | Local | Outcome | Visitor | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1056 | 1016 | 29/03/2022 |  Guayaquil
| Global rankings 2022 |  | EcuadorEcuador
| 1:1 (0:1) | ArgentinaArgentina
|
| 1057 | 1017 | 01/06/2022 |  London
| Finalissima |  | Italy Italy
| 0:3 (0:2) | ArgentinaArgentina
|
| 1058 | 1018 | 05/06/2022 |  Pamplona
| Friendly Party | | ArgentinaArgentina
| 5:0 (2:0) | Estonia Estonia
|
| 1059 | 1019 | 23/09/2022 |  Miami
| Friendly Party | | ArgentinaArgentina
| 3:0 (2:0) | Honduras Honduras
|
| 1060 | 1020 | 27/09/2022 | Harrison
| Friendly Party | | Jamaica Jamaica
| 0:3 (0:1) | ArgentinaArgentina
|
| 1061 | 1021 | 16/11/2022 |  Abu Dhabi
| Friendly Party | | United Arab Emirates
| 0:5 (0:4) | ArgentinaArgentina
|
| 1062 | 1022 | 22/11/2022 |  Lusail
| World Cup Soccer 2022 |  | ArgentinaArgentina
| 1:2 (1:0) | Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia
|
| 1063 | 1023 | 26/11/2022 | Lusail
| World Cup Soccer 2022 | | ArgentinaArgentina
| 2:0 (0:0) | Mexico Mexico
|
| 1064 | 1024 | 30/11/2022 | Doha
| World Cup Soccer 2022 | | Poland Poland
| 0:2 (0:0) | ArgentinaArgentina
|
| 1065 | 1025 | 03/12/2022 | Rayán
| World Cup Soccer 2022 | | ArgentinaArgentina
| 2:1 (1:0) | Australia.svg){kind=small} Australia
|
| 1066 | 1026 | 09/12/2022 | Lusail
| World Cup Soccer 2022 | | Netherlands Netherlands
| 2:2 (3:4 p.m.) | ArgentinaArgentina
|
| 1067 | 1027 | 13/12/2022 | Lusail
| World Cup Soccer 2022 | | ArgentinaArgentina
| 3:0 (2:0) | Croatia Croatia
|
| 1068 | 1028 | 18/12/2022 | Lusail
| World Cup Soccer 2022 | | ArgentinaArgentina
| 3:3 (4:2 p.m.) | France.svg){kind=small} France
|
| 1069 | 1029 | 23/03/2023 | Buenos Aires
| Friendly Party | ArgentinaArgentina
| -: | Panama Panama
| |
| 1070 | 1030 | 28/03/2023 | Santiago del Estero
| Friendly Party | ArgentinaArgentina
| -: | Curacao Curacao
|
Clothing
Uniform
The uniform of the Argentine national team consists of a white shirt with two light blue stripes (protruding both in front and back), jet black shorts with vertical light blue and white lines, and white socks with light blue details; In addition, a seal inspired by the Coat of Arms of the Republic rests on one of its sleeves. The alternate uniform is made up of a completely purple set, with gray details and shades of lilac, forming patterns of flames from the base of the shirt to the middle of the torso and the team crest in a shiny silvery grey.
For the 2010 Soccer World Cup, and coinciding with the national bicentennial, the Adidas brand redesigned the uniform. The Argentine designer Martín Tibabuzo was in charge of the new design that has numerous tributes to historical designs, especially the model used in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.
     First equipment |      (See evolution) |      Current Equipment |
Suppliers
| Period | Supplier |
|---|---|
| 1901-1924 | .svg){kind=small} Saint Margaret
|
| 1925-1958 | Gath " Chaves
|
| 1958-1963 | Lanús Industry
|
| 1964-1965 | Noceto Sports
|
| 1966 | Sportland
|
| 1967-1974 | Lanús Industry
|
| 1974-1979 |  Adidas
|
| 1980-1989 | Le Coq Sportif
|
| 1990-1999 | Adidas
|
| 1999-2001 | Reebok
|
| 2001-act. | Adidas
|
Sponsors
Official sponsors
YPF
Coca-Cola
Binance
Official clothing
Adidas
Official Partners
- Sancor Seguros
- Beer Schneider
- McDonald's
- Primefin
- Paramount+/Pluto TV[chuckles]required]
- Toro
- Naldo
Nissan
Official providers
- Public Television / Telefé / TyC Sports
- Konami
- Gillette
Kavak- Noblex
Easy
Orders already
TV broadcast
- Football World Cup (since 1978): Telefe (1982, 1994-1998, 2006-2010), El Trece (1982, 1994-1998, 2006), El Nueve (1982, 2006), América TV (1982, 1994-2006), Televisión Pública (1978-1994, 2002, 2010-presente), TyC Sports (1998-presente), DirecTV Sports (2006-presente), DeporTV (2014-presente)
- Copa América (since 1999): Telefe (2011), El Trece (1999, 2007), América TV (2004), Televisión Pública (2011-present)
- FIFA Confederations Cup: Telefe (1995), El Trece (2005), El Nueve (1992), América TV (2005), Fox Sports (2005)
- Conmebol-UEFA Champions Cup: El Trece (1993), ESPN (2022)
Facilities
Antonio Vespucci Liberti Stadium (Monumental)
The Argentine national team plays most of its home games at the Antonio Vespucio Liberti Stadium, also known as “El Monumental”, owned by Club Atlético River Plate. It is located in the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, and has a maximum capacity for 72,054 seated spectators, although there have been matches in which that number was exceeded. It was inaugurated on May 25, 1938. There it has obtained very favorable results over time, and remained undefeated for almost 20 years without being defeated, since 1995 in a friendly against Brazil 0-1 until October 2015 by the qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup against Ecuador, by 0-2. Although Argentina has rotated its headquarters in some friendlies or in the qualifiers, the Monumental Stadium is the one that hosted the most matches in its history.
Many soccer events have been held there, such as the 1946 South American Championship, the 1959 South American Championship, the 1978 Soccer World Cup, and two editions of the Copa América: 1987 and 2011.
Ezeiza sports housing complex
The Argentine national team has a 48-hectare property located in Ezeiza, in the province of Buenos Aires. The property has three high-level complexes: one of them is used by the senior team, another by youth teams, and the third for logistical support.
The property makes available to the players and coaches nine stadiums, of which seven have the regulatory measures and the other two with reduced measures. In addition, a field was recently built to be used by the beach soccer team. Its facilities also have everything necessary for the accommodation of the campuses, with rooms, kitchens, dining rooms, changing rooms, gyms, medical offices, conference rooms, video rooms and micro-cinema.
Rivalries
The Argentine national team maintains a great soccer rivalry with its Brazilian counterpart, being without a doubt, to this day, the greatest classic in the world of soccer at the national team level. Also, the rivalry with England is notorious, especially after the Falklands War and the 1986 World Cup, where Argentina eliminated the English in the quarterfinals with two memorable goals from its then top star, Diego Armando. Maradona: the Goal of the Century and the Hand of God. Another duel that the Albiceleste maintains is with Uruguay, with whom they dispute the traditional Clásico of the Río de la Plata, the oldest outside the British Isles since it dates from the first international match between the two teams, in 1901.
It also has an intense rivalry with the German team, which has grown over the years due to the Albiceleste victory in the final against the Teutons in 1986, and due to the defeats suffered against the Germans in the finals of the 1990 and 2014 World Cups, and also the quarterfinal eliminations in Germany 2006 and South Africa 2010, respectively. It should be noted that the classic Germany-Argentina is the most repeated in World Cup finals, since it took place on three occasions: 1986, 1990 and 2014.
Hand-to-hand records with the other world champions in World Cups
The Argentine soccer team is one of the eight teams that (at the Qatar 2022 World Cup) have had the privilege of being proclaimed world soccer champions, having been proclaimed as such three times.
Its participation in world championships, it has also had episodes of crosses with the other teams that have had the possibility of proclaiming themselves world champions, having important histories with some of them, being the matches against the teams of Germany, Italy and England the ones that have had the most episodes. Likewise, it is noteworthy that together with Germany they have the honor of having been the two teams that have played the most world finals against each other, defining the World Cups in Mexico 1986, Italy 1990 and Brazil 2014. On the other hand, they are noteworthy the World Cup editions of the South American classic with Brazil, and the rivalry with England, the latter also arising from political disputes.
The following table details the different crossings and some comments.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
History of official matches recognized by FIFA
| Rival | PJ | PG | PE | P | GF | GC | Dif PJ | Last game |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Versus selections of CONMEBOL | 690 | 368 | 173 | 149 | 1318 | 732 | +219 | |
BOL Bolivia | 41 | 29 | 5 | 7 | 107 | 36 | +22 | 09-09-2021: V: 3 - 0 Eliminatory 2022 |
BRA Brazil | 109 | 41 | 26 | 42 | 154 | 155 | -1 | 16-11-2021: E: 0 - 0 Eliminatory 2022 |
CHI Chile | 90 | 58 | 26 | 6 | 187 | 73 | +52 | 27-01-2022: V: 2 - 1 Eliminatory 2022 |
COL Colombia | 40 | 21 | 10 | 9 | 71 | 39 | +12 | 01-02-2022: V: 1 - 0 Eliminatory 2022 |
| ECUEcuador | 38 | 22 | 11 | 5 | 96 | 35 | +17 | 29-03-2022: E: 1 - 1 Eliminatory 2022 |
PAR Paraguay | 97 | 49 | 33 | 15 | 192 | 99 | +34 | 07-10-2021: V: 0 - 0 Eliminatory 2022 |
PER Peru | 53 | 34 | 14 | 5 | 105 | 45 | +29 | 18-11-2020: V: 2 - 0 Eliminatory 2022 |
| URUUruguay | 195 | 91 | 46 | 58 | 316 | 232 | +33 | 12-11-2021: V: 1 - 0 Eliminatory 2022 |
VEN Venezuela | 27 | 23 | 2 | 2 | 90 | 18 | +21 | 25-03-2022: V: 3 - 0 Eliminatory 2022 |
| Versus selections of CONCACAF | 69 | 47 | 16 | 6 | 162 | 47 | +41 | |
CAN Canada | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | +1 | 24-05-2010: V: 5 - 0 Friendly International |
CRC Costa Rica | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 5 | +5 | 11-07-2011: V: 3 - 0 Copa América 2011 |
SLV El Salvador | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | +2 | 28-03-2015: V: 2 - 0 Friendly International |
| USAUnited States | 11 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 33 | 9 | +5 | 22-06-2016: V: 4 - 0 Copa América Centenario |
WATER Guatemala | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | +2 | 08-09-2018: V: 3 - 0 Friendly International |
HAI Haiti | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 1 | +3 | 29-05-2018: V: 4 - 0 Friendly International |
| HONHonduras | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 | +3 | 23-09-2022: V: 3 - 0 Friendly International |
| JAMJamaica | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 1 | +4 | 27-09-2022: V: 3 - 0 International friendly |
| MEXMexico | 32 | 16 | 12 | 4 | 53 | 28 | +12 | 26-11-2022: V: 2 - 0 World Catar 2022 |
NCA Nicaragua | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | +1 | 08-06-2019: V: 5 - 1 Friendly International |
| PANELPanama | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 1 | +2 | 10-06-2016: V: 5 - 0 Copa América Centenario |
TRI Trinidad and Tobago | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | +1 | 05-06-2014: V: 3 - 0 Friendly International |
| Versus CAF selections | 25 | 19 | 3 | 3 | 52 | 24 | +16 | |
ANG Angola | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | +1 | 30-05-2006: V: 2 - 0 Friendly International |
ALG Algeria | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 02-06-2007: V: 4 - 3 Friendly International |
CMR Cameroon | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 27-03-2002: E: 2 - 2 Friendly International |
CIV Ivory Coast | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | +2 | 10-06-2006: V: 2 - 1 Germany 2006 |
EGY Egypt | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | +2 | 26-03-2008: V: 2 - 0 Friendly International |
GHA Ghana | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | +1 | 01-10-2009: V: 2 - 0 Friendly International |
LBY Libya | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | +1 | 30-04-2003: V: 3 - 1 Friendly International |
MAR Morocco | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | +3 | 26-03-2019: V: 1 - 0 Friendly International |
NGA Nigeria | 9 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 15 | 13 | +4 | 26-06-2018: V: 2 - 1 World Cup Russia 2018 |
RSA South Africa | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | +1 | 25-05-1998: V: 2 - 0 Friendly International |
TUN Tunisia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 15-06-2005: V: 2 - 1 FIFA Confederations 2005 |
| Versus selections of the AFC | 33 | 25 | 4 | 4 | 75 | 21 | +21 | |
| KSASaudi Arabia | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 5 | +1 | 22-11-2022: D: 1 - 2 World Catar 2022 |
| AUSAustralia | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 8 | +5 | 03-12-2022: V: 2 - 1 World Catar 2022 |
CHN China | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 20-01-1984: D: 0 - 1 Friendly International |
KOR South Korea | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2 | +3 | 17-06-2010: V: 4 - 1 South Africa 2010 |
| UAEUnited Arab Emirates | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | +5 | 16-11-2022: V: 5 - 0 Friendly International |
HKG Hong Kong | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | +1 | 14-10-2014: V: 7 - 0 Friendly International |
IND India | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 14-01-1984: V: 1 - 0 Friendly International |
IRN Iran | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 21-06-2014: V: 1 - 0 Brazil 2014 |
IRQ Iraq | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | +4 | 11-10-2018: V: 4 - 0 Friendly International |
JPN Japan | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 4 | +5 | 08-10-2010: V: 1 - 0 Friendly International |
| QATQatar | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | +2 | 23-06-2019: V: 2 - 0 Copa America 2019 |
SIN Singapore | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | +1 | 13-06-2017: V: 6 - 0 Friendly International |
| Versus UEFA selections | 219 | 107 | 58 | 54 | 346 | 234 | +53 | |
ALB Albania | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | +1 | 20-06-2011: V: 4 - 0 Friendly International |
| GERGermany | 23 | 10 | 6 | 7 | 34 | 33 | +3 | 09-10-2019: E: 2 - 2 Friendly International |
DDR Democratic Germany | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | +1 | 03-07-1974: E: 1 - 1 Germany 1974 |
AUT Austria | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 | +1 | 03-05-1990: V: 1 - 1 Friendly International |
BEL.svg){kind=small} Belgium | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 4 | +3 | 05-07-2014: V: 1 - 0 Brazil 2014 |
BLR Belarus | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20-08-2008: E: 0 - 0 Friendly International |
BIH Bosnia and Herzegovina | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 1 | +3 | 16-06-2014: V: 2 - 1 Brazil 2014 |
BUL Bulgaria | 9 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 18 | 6 | +7 | 10-03-1998: V: 2 - 0 Friendly International |
TCH Czechoslovakia | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 10 | +1 | 09-03-1982: E: 0 - 0 Friendly International |
| CROCroatia | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 7 | +1 | 13-12-2022: V: 3 - 0 World Catar 2022 |
DEN Denmark | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | -1 | 13-01-1995: D: 0 - 2 FIFA Confederations 1995 |
SCO Scotland | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | +1 | 19-11-2008: V: 1 - 0 Friendly International |
SVK Slovakia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | +1 | 23-06-1995: V: 6 - 0 Friendly International |
SVN Slovenia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | +1 | 07-06-2014: V: 2 - 0 Friendly International |
| ESPSpain | 14 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 19 | 18 | 0 | 27-03-2018: D: 1 - 6 Friendly International |
| ESTEstonia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | +1 | 05-06-2022: V: 5 - 0 Friendly International |
| FRAFrance | 13 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 18 | 14 | +3 | 18-12-2022: E: 3 - 3 (4-2) World Catar 2022 |
WAL Wales | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 13-02-2002: E: 1 - 1 Friendly International |
GRE Greece | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | +2 | 22-06-2010: V: 2 - 0 South Africa 2010 |
HUN Hungary | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 6 | +4 | 17-08-2005: V: 2 - 1 Friendly International |
| ENGEngland | 14 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 18 | 22 | -3 | 12-11-2005: D: 2 - 3 Friendly International |
IRL Ireland | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | +5 | 11-08-2010: V: 1 - 0 Friendly International |
NIR.svg){kind=small} Northern Ireland | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | +1 | 11-06-1958: V: 3 - 1 World Sweden |
ISL Iceland | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 16-06-2018: E: 1 - 1 World Cup Russia 2018 |
ISR Israel | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 5 | +2 | 15-04-1998: D: 1 - 2 Friendly International |
| ITAItaly | 16 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 18 | 22 | -1 | 01-06-2022: V: 3 - 0 Finalissima 2022 |
LTU Lithuania | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26-06-1999: E: 0 - 0 Friendly International |
NOR Norway | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | -2 | 22-08-2007: D: 1 - 2 Friendly International |
| NEDNetherlands | 10 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 15 | -3 | 09-12-2022: E: 2 - 2 (4-3) World Catar 2022 |
| POLPoland | 12 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 20 | 12 | +5 | 30-11-2022: V: 2 - 0 World Catar 2022 |
BY Portugal | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 13 | 7 | +3 | 18-11-2014: D: 0 - 1 Friendly International |
ROU Romania | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 5 | +5 | 05-03-2014: E: 0 - 0 Friendly International |
RUS Russia | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 11-11-2017: V: 1 - 0 Friendly International |
.svg){kind=small} Serbia and Montenegro | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | +1 | 16-06-2006: V: 6 - 0 Germany 2006 |
SWE Sweden | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 06-02-2013: V: 3 - 2 Friendly International |
SUI Switzerland | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 15 | 3 | +5 | 01-07-2014: V: 1 - 0 Brazil 2014 |
USSR Soviet Union | 11 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 11 | 10 | +1 | 13-06-1990: V: 2 - 0 Global Italy 1990 |
YUG.svg){kind=small} Yugoslavia | 9 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 15 | 14 | +1 | 24-02-1998: V: 3 - 1 Friendly International |
| TOTAL | 1036 | 566 | 254 | 216 | 1953 | 1058 | +350 |
Contains data on: FIFA World Cup, World Cup Qualifiers, FIFA Confederations Cup, Copa América, Conmebol-UEFA Champions Cup, Pan American Championship, Amsterdam 1928 Olympic Games and International Friendly Games.
In italics the countries currently missing. According to FIFA:
- Germany includes the selection of Federal Germany, but not its pair of Democratic Germany, which is currently part of unified Germany.
- Czech Republic is successor to Czechoslovakia.
- Russia is successor to the Soviet Union.
- Serbia is a successor to Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro.
- While Australia is an oceanic country, it belongs to AFC since 2006, after having left OFC.
Updated to the last match: December 18, 2022 - Argentina 3-3 (4:2) France (Final of the Qatar World Cup 2022).
Coaches
Players
Last call
- List of players champions of the 2022 World Cup Soccer.
| N.o | Name | Position | Age | Parties | Goles | Equipment | Debut |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Franco Armani |  | 36 years | 18 | 0 | River Plate
| Railway West
|
| 12 | Geronimo Rulli | | 30 years | 4 | 0 | Ajax de Amsterdam
| Students of La Plata
|
| 23 | Emiliano Martínez | | 30 years | 26 | 0 | Aston Villa
| Oxford United
|
| 2 | Juan Foyth |  | 25 years | 17 | 0 | Villarreal
| Students of La Plata
|
| 3 | Nicolás Tagliafico | | 30 years | 48 | 0 | Olympique Lyonnais
| Banfield
|
| 4 | Gonzalo Montiel | | 26 years | 22 | 0 | Sevilla
| River Plate
|
| 6 | Germán Pezzella | | 31 years | 35 | 2 | Real Betis
| River Plate
|
| 8 | Marcos Acuña |  | 31 years | 49 | 0 | Sevilla
| Railway West
|
| 13 | Cristian Romero | | 24 years | 19 | 1 | Tottenham Hotspur
| Belgrano
|
| 19 | Nicolas Otamendi | | 35 years | 100 | 4 | Benfica
| Vélez Sarsfield
|
| 25 | Lisandro Martínez | | 25 years | 15 | 0 | Manchester United
| Newell's Old Boys
|
| 26 | Nahuel Molina | | 24 years | 27 | 1 | Atletico de Madrid
| Boca Juniors
|
| 5 | Leandro Paredes | | 28 years | 51 | 4 | Juventus
| Boca Juniors
|
| 7 | Rodrigo de Paul | | 28 years | 51 | 2 | Atletico de Madrid
| Racing Club
|
| 14 | Exequiel Palacios | | 24 years | 23 | 0 | Bayer 04 Leverkusen
| River Plate
|
| 16 | Thiago Almada | | 21 years | 2 | 0 | Atlanta United
| Vélez Sarsfield
|
| 17 | Alejandro Gómez | | 35 years | 17 | 3 | Sevilla
| Arsenal
|
| 18 | Guido Rodríguez | | 28 years | 27 | 1 | Real Betis
| River Plate
|
| 20 | Alexis Mac Allister | | 24 years | 14 | 1 | Brighton & Hove Albion
| Argentinos Juniors
|
| 24 | Enzo Fernández | | 22 years | 10 | 1 | Chelsea
| River Plate
|
| 9 | Julian Alvarez |  | 23 years | 19 | 7 | Manchester City
| River Plate
|
| 10 | Lionel Messi  | | 35 years | 172 | 98 | Paris Saint-Germain
| Barcelona
|
| 11 | Angel Di Maria | | 35 years | 129 | 28 | Juventus
| Central Rosary
|
| 15 | Angel Correa | | 28 years | 23 | 3 | Atletico de Madrid
| San Lorenzo
|
| 21 | Paulo Dybala | | 29 years | 36 | 3 | Rome
| Institute
|
| 22 | Lautaro Martínez | | 25 years | 46 | 21 | Inter de Milan
| Racing Club
|
| Lionel Scaloni |  | 44 years |
| Technical body | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Coach: | Lionel Scaloni
| Assistants: | Walter Samuel Roberto Ayala Pablo Aimar
|
Greater number of presences
- Source: RSSSF
- Updated on 18 December 2022.
- In bold, players currently active.
| # | Player | Period | Parties | Goles | Average | Titles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lionel Messi | Since 2005 | 172 | 98 | 0.57 |    |
| 2 | Javier Mascherano | 2003-2018 | 147 | 3 | 0.02 | |
| 3 | Javier Zanetti | 1994-2011 | 145 | 5 | 0.03 | |
| 4 | Angel Di Maria | Since 2008 | 129 | 28 | 0.22 | |
| 5 | Roberto Ayala | 1994-2007 | 116 | 7 | 0.06 | |
| 6 | Diego Simeone | 1988-2002 | 108 | 11 | 0.1 |  |
| 7 | Sergio Agüero | 2006-2021 | 101 | 42 | 0.42 | |
| 8 | Nicolas Otamendi | Since 2009 | 100 | 4 | 0.04 | |
| 9 | Oscar Ruggeri | 1983-1994 | 97 | 7 | 0.07 | |
| 10 | Sergio Romero | 2009-2018 | 96 | 0 | 0 | |
| 11 | Diego Maradona | 1977-1994 | 91 | 34 | 0.37 | |
| 12 | Ariel Ortega | 1993-2010 | 88 | 17 | 0.19 | |
| 13 | Gabriel Batistuta | 1991-2002 | 78 | 54 | 0.69 | |
| 14 | Juan Pablo Sorín | 1996-2006 | 76 | 12 | 0.16 | |
| Carlos Tévez | 2004-2015 | 76 | 13 | 0.17 | ||
| 16 | Juan Sebastián Verón | 1996-2010 | 75 | 10 | 0.13 | |
| Gonzalo Higuaín | 2009-2018 | 75 | 32 | 0.43 | ||
| 18 | Américo Gallego | 1975-1982 | 73 | 3 | 0.04 |
|
| Gabriel Heinze | 2003-2010 | 73 | 3 | 0.04 | ||
| 20 | Daniel Passarella | 1976-1986 | 70 | 23 | 0.33 | |
| Players with more than 50 presences | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Player | Period | Parties | Goles | Average | Titles | ||||||
| 21 | Éver Banega | 2008-2018 | 65 | 7 | 0.11 | |||||||
| 22 | Hernan Crespo | 1995-2007 | 64 | 35 | 0.55 | |||||||
| 23 | Osvaldo Ardiles | 1975-1982 | 63 | 8 | 0.13 | | ||||||
| 24 | Alberto Tarantini | 1974-1982 | 61 | 1 | 0.02 | | ||||||
| Fernando Gago | 2007-2017 | 61 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Red Marcos | 2011-2019 | 61 | 3 | 0.05 | ||||||||
| 27 | Jorge Olguín | 1976-1982 | 60 | 0 | 0 | | ||||||
| Roberto Sensini | 1987-2000 | 60 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| 29 | Jorge Burruchaga | 1983-1990 | 59 | 13 | 0.22 | | ||||||
| 30 | Rogelio Domínguez | 1957-1962 | 58 | 0 | 0 | | ||||||
| Ubaldo Fillol | 1974-1985 | 58 | 0 | 0 | | |||||||
| Claudio López | 1995-2003 | 58 | 14 | 0.24 | ||||||||
| Pablo Zabaleta | 2005-2016 | 58 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Lucas Biglia | 2011-2018 | 58 | 1 | 0.02 | ||||||||
| 35 | Walter Samuel | 1999-2011 | 57 | 5 | 0.09 | |||||||
| Maximiliano Rodríguez | 2003-2015 | 57 | 16 | 0.28 | ||||||||
| 37 | Cristian González | 1995-2005 | 56 | 10 | 0.18 | |||||||
| 38 | René Houseman | 1973-1979 | 55 | 13 | 0.24 | | ||||||
| 39 | Ricardo Giusti | 1983-1990 | 53 | 0 | 0 | | ||||||
| Pablo Aimar | 1999-2009 | 53 | 8 | 0.15 | ||||||||
| 41 | Esteban Cambiasso | 2000-2011 | 52 | 5 | 0.1 | |||||||
| 42 | Juan Román Riquelme | 1997-2008 | 51 | 17 | 0.33 | |||||||
| Ezequiel Lavezzi | 2007-2016 | 51 | 9 | 0.18 | ||||||||
| Leandro Paredes | Since 2017 | 51 | 4 | 0.08 | | |||||||
| Rodrigo de Paul | Since 2018 | 51 | 2 | 0.04 | | |||||||
| Martín Demichelis | 2005-2016 | 51 | 2 | 0.04 | ||||||||
| 47 | Claudio Caniggia | 1987-2002 | 50 | 16 | 0.32 | | ||||||
Greater number of titles won in the senior team
They have the record of 4 titles with the absolute team:
Oscar Ruggeri (1 World Cup, 2 Copa América and 1 FIFA Confederations Cup).
Luis Islas (1 World Cup, 1 Copa América, 1 FIFA Confederations Cup and 1 Conmebol-UEFA Champions Cup).
Diego Simeone, Sergio Goycochea, Gabriel Batistuta, Leonardo Rodríguez, Sergio Vázquez, Ricardo Altamirano and Néstor Craviotto (2 Copas América, 1 FIFA Confederations Cup and 1 Conmebol-UEFA Champions Cup).
Greater number of World Cups won by the senior team
Daniel Passarella holds the record with 2 World Cup wins.
Greater number of Copa América won in the senior team
Mario Boyé, Bartolomé Colombo, Vicente de la Mata, Félix Loustau, Norberto Méndez, Adolfo Pedernera, Natalio Pescia, René Pontoni, José Salomón and Manuel Seoane hold the record with 3 Copa América wins.
American and world champion soccer players with the senior national team
Until 2022, Oscar Ruggeri and Luis Islas were the only Argentine soccer players to win the Soccer World Cup and the Copa America; After the World Cup in Qatar, those named were joined by Marcos Acuña, Julián Álvarez, Franco Armani, Rodrigo De Paul, Ángel Correa, Ángel Di María, Alejandro Gómez, Emiliano Martínez, Lautaro Martínez, Lisandro Martínez, Lionel Messi, Nahuel Molina, Gonzalo Montiel, Nicolás Otamendi, Exequiel Palacios, Leandro Paredes, Germán Pezzella, Guido Rodríguez, Cristian Romero and Nicolás Tagliafico.
Greater number of finals played with the senior team
Lionel Messi has the record of 7 finals played with the senior team (4 in Copas América, 2 in the World Cup and 1 in the Conmebol-UEFA Champions Cup).
Greater number of titles won in the national team
Counting the titles achieved with the youth and Olympic teams, Lionel Messi and Ángel Di María have the record of 5 titles (1 U-20 World Cup, 1 Olympic Gold Medal, 1 Copa América, 1 Conmebol-UEFA Champions Cup and 1 World Cup).
Soccer players with world titles with the senior team and in lower categories
Diego Maradona and Alejandro Gómez (1 U-20 World Cup); and Lionel Messi and Ángel Di María (1 U-20 World Cup and 1 U-23 Olympic Gold Medal); They are the only footballers who came out world champions with the senior team and in lower categories.
Soccer players with world titles as player and coach
Sergio Batista (1 World Cup as a player and 1 U-23 Olympic Gold Medal as a coach) and Lionel Scaloni (1 U-20 World Cup as a player and 1 World Cup as a coach), are the only footballers who have won titles worldwide in both functions.
Most number of matches won
Official totals: the record is held by Lionel Messi with 106, followed by Javier Mascherano with 84. In World Cups: Lionel Messi with 16 wins.
Most number of matches as captain
Official totals: the record is held by Lionel Messi with 111. In World Cups: Lionel Messi holds the world record with 19 matches.
Most matches in World Cups
Lionel Messi holds the (absolute) record with 26 appearances, followed by Diego Maradona with 21 and Javier Mascherano with 20.
Most minutes played in World Cups
Lionel Messi holds the (absolute) record with 2315 minutes, followed by Javier Mascherano with 1950 and Diego Maradona with 1938.
Most World Cups played
Lionel Messi holds the record (shared absolute) with 5.
More matches in Copa América
The record (absolutely shared) is held by Lionel Messi with 34, followed by Javier Mascherano with 26.
Most matches in World Cup Qualifiers
The record is held by Lionel Messi with 60, followed by Javier Zanetti with 50.
More games in the Confederations Cup
The record is held by Javier Zanetti with 8.
More official friendly matches
It is held by Javier Mascherano and Javier Zanetti with 54 matches. Lionel Messi follows with 51.
Most games without counting friendlies
Taking into account the games in official competitions only (World Cups, Confederations Cups, Americas Cups and playoffs) the record is held by Lionel Messi with 121 games, followed by Javier Mascherano with 94.
Top scorers
Next, the top scorers with the absolute team.
- Source: RSSSF
- Updated on 18 December 2022.
- In bold, players currently active in clubs.
.jpg)
| # | Player | Period | Goles | Parties | Average | Titles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lionel Messi (list) | 2005 - present | 98 | 172 | 0.57 | |
| 2 | Gabriel Batistuta | 1991 - 2002 | 54 | 78 | 0.69 | |
| 3 | Sergio Agüero | 2006 - 2021 | 42 | 101 | 0.42 | |
| 4 | Hernan Crespo | 1995 - 2007 | 35 | 64 | 0.55 | |
| 5 | Diego Maradona | 1977 - 1994 | 34 | 91 | 0.37 | |
| 6 | Gonzalo Higuaín | 2009 - 2018 | 32 | 75 | 0.43 | |
| 7 | Angel Di Maria | 2008 - present | 28 | 129 | 0.22 | |
| 8 | Luis Artime | 1961 - 1967 | 24 | 25 | 0.96 | |
| 9 | Daniel Passarella | 1976 - 1986 | 23 | 70 | 0.33 | |
| 10 | Leopoldo Jacinto Luque | 1975 - 1981 | 22 | 45 | 0.49 | |
| 11 | Masantonio Hermini | 1931 - 1945 | 21 | 19 | 1.11 | |
| José Sanfilippo | 1956 - 1962 | 21 | 29 | 0.72 | | |
| Lautaro Martínez | 2018 - Presente | 21 | 46 | 0.46 | | |
| 14 | Mario Alberto Kempes | 1973 - 1982 | 20 | 43 | 0.47 | |
| Players up to 10 goals | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Player | Period | Goles | Parties | Average | Titles | ||||||
| 13 | René Pontoni | 1942 - 1948 | 19 | 19 | 1 | | ||||||
| Norberto Méndez | 1945 - 1956 | 19 | 31 | 0.61 | | |||||||
| José Manuel Moreno | 1936 - 1950 | 19 | 34 | 0.56 | | |||||||
| 14 | Domingo Tarasconi | 1922 - 1929 | 18 | 25 | 0.72 |  | ||||||
| Orestes Corbatta | 1956 - 1962 | 18 | 43 | 0.42 | | |||||||
| 15 | Angel Labruna | 1942 - 1958 | 17 | 37 | 0.46 | | ||||||
| Miguel Angel Brindisi | 1969 - 1974 | 17 | 46 | 0.37 | ||||||||
| Juan Román Riquelme | 1997 - 2008 | 17 | 51 | 0.33 | ||||||||
| Ariel Ortega | 1993 - 2010 | 17 | 88 | 0.19 | ||||||||
| 16 | Marcelo Gallardo | 1994 - 2003 | 16 | 45 | 0.36 | |||||||
| Claudio Caniggia | 1987 - 2002 | 16 | 50 | 0.32 | | |||||||
| Maximiliano Rodríguez | 2003 - 2015 | 16 | 57 | 0.28 | ||||||||
| 17 | Rinaldo Martino | 1942 - 1946 | 15 | 20 | 0.75 | | ||||||
| 18 | Claudio López | 1995-2003 | 14 | 58 | 0.24 | |||||||
| 19 | Roberto Cherro | 1926 - 1937 | 13 | 16 | 0.81 | | ||||||
| René Houseman | 1973 - 1979 | 13 | 55 | 0.24 | | |||||||
| Jorge Burruchaga | 1983 - 1990 | 13 | 59 | 0.22 | | |||||||
| Carlos Tévez | 2004 - 2015 | 13 | 76 | 0.17 | ||||||||
| 20 | Humberto Maschio | 1956-1957 | 12 | 12 | 1 | | ||||||
| Carlos Peucelle | 1928-1940 | 12 | 29 | 0.41 | | |||||||
| Daniel Bertoni | 1974-1982 | 12 | 31 | 0.39 | | |||||||
| Rodolfo Fischer | 1967-1972 | 12 | 35 | 0.34 | ||||||||
| Juan Pablo Sorín | 1998-2006 | 12 | 76 | 0.16 | ||||||||
| 21 | Antonio Angelillo | 1956-1957 | 11 | 11 | 1 | | ||||||
| Rubén Héctor Sosa | 1959-1962 | 11 | 18 | 0.61 | | |||||||
| Manuel Ferreira | 1927-1930 | 11 | 21 | 0.52 | | |||||||
| Jorge Valdano | 1975-1990 | 11 | 22 | 0.5 | | |||||||
| Ruben Ayala | 1971-1974 | 11 | 25 | 0.44 | ||||||||
| Ermindo Onega | 1960-1967 | 11 | 30 | 0.37 |  | |||||||
| Abel Balbo | 1989-1998 | 11 | 37 | 0.3 | ||||||||
| Javier Saviola | 2000-2006 | 11 | 40 | 0.28 | ||||||||
| Diego Simeone | 1988-2002 | 11 | 108 | 0.1 | | |||||||
| 22 | Rodolfo Micheli | 1953-1956 | 10 | 14 | 0.71 | | ||||||
| Manuel Seoane | 1924-1929 | 10 | 18 | 0.56 | | |||||||
| Ramón Díaz | 1979-1982 | 10 | 24 | 0.42 | ||||||||
| Felix Loustau | 1945-1952 | 10 | 27 | 0.37 | | |||||||
| Oscar More | 1965-1972 | 10 | 37 | 0.27 | ||||||||
| Cristian González | 1995-2005 | 10 | 56 | 0.18 | ||||||||
Most headed goals
Gabriel Batistuta holds the record, with 9 headed goals.
Most goals without counting friendlies
Taking goals in official competitions into account only (World Cups, Confederations Cups, Americas Cups and playoffs) the record is held by Lionel Messi with 54 goals, followed by Gabriel Batistuta with 38 goals.
Most penalty goals
Lionel Messi holds the record with 25 goals from penalty kicks, followed by Gabriel Batistuta with 8. Likewise, Messi holds the record for most missed penalties (not counting penalty shootouts) with 5, followed by Martín Palermo and Marcelo Gallardo with 3.
Most Free Kick Goals
Lionel Messi holds the record, with 9 goals from free kicks. Juan Román Riquelme and Diego Maradona follow with 6 and 4 goals respectively.
More triplets
Lionel Messi holds the record for the most games he scored "hat-tricks", on 8 occasions (against the following teams: Switzerland, Brazil, Guatemala, Panama, Ecuador, Haiti, Bolivia and Estonia). In the case of Estonia, on June 5, 2022, he scored 5 goals in a friendly match.
Most goals in finals
Ángel Di María holds the record by converting in 3 different finals with the senior team: against Brazil in the 2021 Copa América, Italy in the 2022 Finalissima, and France in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar., with the U-23 team converted in the final against Nigeria at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Best Goal Average
Herminio Masantonio holds the record (among players with at least 10 goals in the national team), with 21 goals in 19 games, an average of 1.11 (more than one goal per game). In World Cups the record is Guillermo Stábile with 8 goals in 4 games, for an average of 2 goals per game.
World Cup Scorers
- In bold, players currently active.
| # | Player | Goles | Parties | Worlds disputed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lionel Messi | 13 | 26 | 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022
|
| 2° | Gabriel Batistuta | 10 | 12 | 1994, 1998, 2002
|
| 3° | Guillermo Stábile | 8 | 4 | 1930
|
| Diego Maradona | 8 | 21 | 1982, 1986, 1990 1994
| |
| 5° | Mario Alberto Kempes | 6 | 18 | 1974, 1978, 1982
|
| 6° | Gonzalo Higuaín | 5 | 14 | 2010, 2014, 2018
|
| 7° | Leopoldo Jacinto Luque | 4 | 5 | 1978
|
| Julian Alvarez | 4 | 7 | 2022
| |
| Hernan Crespo | 4 | 8 | 1998, 2002 2006
| |
| Jorge Valdano | 4 | 9 | 1982, 1986
| |
| Claudio Caniggia | 4 | 10 | 1990 1994, 2002
| |
| Daniel Bertoni | 4 | 11 | 1978, 1982
| |
| René Houseman | 4 | 12 | 1974, 1978
| |
| 14th | Oreste Omar Corbatta | 3 | 3 | 1958
|
| Carlos Peucelle | 3 | 4 | 1930
| |
| Luis Artime | 3 | 4 | 1966
| |
| Carlos Tévez | 3 | 8 | 2006, 2010
| |
| Maxi Rodríguez | 3 | 12 | 2006, 2010, 2014
| |
| Daniel Passarella | 3 | 12 | 1978, 1982, 1986
| |
| Jorge Burruchaga | 3 | 14 | 1986, 1990
| |
| Angel Di Maria | 3 | 18 | 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022
|
| Players to a goal | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Player | Goles | Parties | Disputed World | ||||||||
| 22nd | Adolfo Zumelzú | 2 | 1 | 1930
| ||||||||
| Héctor Yazalde | 2 | 3 | 1974
| |||||||||
| Luis Monti | 2 | 4 | 1930
| |||||||||
| Red Marcos | 2 | 9 | 2014, 2018
| |||||||||
| Ariel Ortega | 2 | 11 | 1994, 1998, 2002
| |||||||||
| Sergio Agüero | 2 | 12 | 2010, 2014, 2018
| |||||||||
| 28° | Alejandro Scopelli | 1 | 1 | 1930
| ||||||||
| Ernesto Belis | 1 | 1 | 1934
| |||||||||
| Alberto Galateo | 1 | 1 | 1934
| |||||||||
| Martín Palermo | 1 | 1 | 2010
| |||||||||
| Ludovico Avio | 1 | 2 | 1958
| |||||||||
| José Sanfilippo | 1 | 2 | 1962
| |||||||||
| Héctor Facundo | 1 | 2 | 1962
| |||||||||
| Pedro Pasculli | 1 | 2 | 1986
| |||||||||
| Norberto Menéndez | 1 | 3 | 1958
| |||||||||
| Héctor Pineda | 1 | 3 | 1998
| |||||||||
| Javier Saviola | 1 | 3 | 2006
| |||||||||
| Gabriel Mercado | 1 | 3 | 2018
| |||||||||
| Mario Evaristo | 1 | 4 | 1930
| |||||||||
| Francisco Varallo | 1 | 4 | 1930
| |||||||||
| Ermindo Onega | 1 | 4 | 1966
| |||||||||
| Miguel Brindisi | 1 | 4 | 1974
| |||||||||
| Ramón Díaz | 1 | 4 | 1982
| |||||||||
| Pedro Monzón | 1 | 4 | 1990
| |||||||||
| Carlos Babington | 1 | 5 | 1974
| |||||||||
| Esteban Cambiasso | 1 | 5 | 2006
| |||||||||
| Ruben Ayala | 1 | 6 | 1974
| |||||||||
| Ramón Heredia | 1 | 6 | 1974
| |||||||||
| Pedro Troglio | 1 | 6 | 1990
| |||||||||
| Alexis Mac Allister | 1 | 6 | 2022
| |||||||||
| José Luis Brown | 1 | 7 | 1986
| |||||||||
| Abel Balbo | 1 | 7 | 1990 1994, 1998
| |||||||||
| Enzo Fernández | 1 | 7 | 2022
| |||||||||
| Nahuel Molina | 1 | 7 | 2022
| |||||||||
| Claudio Javier López | 1 | 8 | 1998, 2002
| |||||||||
| Javier Zanetti | 1 | 8 | 1998, 2002
| |||||||||
| Gabriel Heinze | 1 | 8 | 2006, 2010
| |||||||||
| Martín Demichelis | 1 | 8 | 2010, 2014
| |||||||||
| Roberto Ayala | 1 | 10 | 1998, 2006
| |||||||||
| Osvaldo Ardiles | 1 | 11 | 1978, 1982
| |||||||||
| Alberto Tarantini | 1 | 12 | 1978, 1982
| |||||||||
| Oscar Ruggeri | 1 | 16 | 1986, 1990 1994
| |||||||||
| a.g. | Park Chu-Young | 1 | 1 | 2010
| ||||||||
| Sead Kolašinac | 1 | 1 | 2014
| |||||||||
Scorers in Conmebol qualifiers
Lionel Messi is the top scorer for the Conmebol World Cup qualifiers (28) at the national team level.
| # | Player | Goles | Elimination |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.° | Lionel Messi | 28 | 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022 |
| 2.° | Hernan Crespo | 19 | 1998, 2006 |
| 3
° | Gabriel Omar Batistuta | 11 | 1994, 1998 |
| Gonzalo Higuaín | 11 | 2010, 2018 | |
| 5.° | Sergio Agüero | 9 | 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022 |
| 6.° | Angel Di Maria | 8 | 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022 |
| 7. | Ariel Ortega | 7 | 1998, 2002 |
| Claudio Javier López | 7 | 1998, 2002 | |
| Lautaro Martínez | 7 | 2022 | |
| Juan Román Riquelme | 7 | 2006, 2010 | |
| 11. | Oreste Corbatta | 6 | 1958, 1962 |
| Juan Sebastián Verón | 6 | 1998, 2002, 2006 | |
| 14.° | Ruben Ayala | 5 | 1974 |
| Marcelo Gallardo | 5 | 1998, 2002 | |
| Juan Pablo Sorín | 5 | 1998, 2006 |
Scorers in Copa América
| # | Player | Goles | Matched Cups |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Norberto Méndez | 17 | 1945, 1946, 1947 |
| 2° | José Manuel Moreno | 13 | 1941, 1942, 1945, 1946, 1947 |
| Gabriel Omar Batistuta | 1991, 1995 | ||
| Lionel Messi | 2007, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2021 | ||
| 4° | Masantonio Hermini | 11 | 1935, 1937, 1939, 1941, 1942 |
| 5° | Angel Labruna | 10 | 1946, 1949, 1955, 1956 |
| 7° | Humberto Maschio | 9 | 1957 |
| Sergio Agüero | 2011, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2021 | ||
| 9° | Manuel Seoane | 8 | 1925, 1927, 1929 |
| René Pontoni | 1945, 1946, 1947 | ||
| Rodolfo Micheli | 1955 | ||
| Antonio Angelillo | 1957 | ||
| 13° | Felix Loustau | 7 | 1945, 1946, 1947 |
| José Sanfilippo | 1957, 1959 | ||
| Gonzalo Higuaín | 2011, 2016 | ||
| 16° | Gabino Sosa | 6 | 1921, 1924, 1926 |
| Alfredo Di Stéfano | 1947 | ||
| Claudio Caniggia | 6 | 1987, 1989, 1991 |
Top scorer in the Confederations Cup
The record is held by Gabriel Batistuta and Luciano Figueroa with 4 goals.
Top scorer in friendly matches
The record is held by Lionel Messi with 44 goals.
Goal to more different countries
The record is held by Lionel Messi with 36 different countries scoring goals.
Most goals in a calendar year
The record is held by Lionel Messi with 18 goals (in 2022, to date), followed by Gabriel Batistuta (in 1998) and Messi himself (in 2012) with 12 goals.
Maximum attendees
| # | Player | Assistance | Parties | Average | World | Elimination | Copa America | Friendly | Confederations / Champions Conmebol-UEFA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lionel Messi | 55 | 172 | 0.32 | 8 | 11 | 17 | 17 | 2 |
| 2 | Diego Maradona | 28 | 91 | 0.31 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 13 | - |
| 3 | Angel Di Maria | 28 | 129 | 0.22 | 1 | 10 | 6 | 11 | - |
| 4 | Ariel Ortega | 27 | 88 | 0.31 | 3 | 10 | 2 | 11 | 1 |
| 5 | Juan Román Riquelme | 21 | 51 | 0.41 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 1 |
Captains
|
Notes
The record for the most matches with the national team using the captain's ribbon is held by Lionel Messi with 111. The record for the most matches using the captain's ribbon in the World Cups is held by Lionel Messi with 19.
Contributions from clubs to the Argentine national team
| Club | Presences | Players |
|---|---|---|
| River Plate | 1459 | 148 |
| Boca Juniors | 1013 | 111 |
| Independent | 837 | 105 |
| Racing Club | 794 | 101 |
| San Lorenzo | 592 | 89 |
| Hurricane | 426 | 52 |
| Newell's Old Boys | 372 | 65 |
| Students of La Plata | 350 | 74 |
| Vélez Sarsfield | 325 | 77 |
| Central Rosary | 277 | 55 |
*The number of appearances contributed and players varies according to each club, but following any of the two criteria, the podium of the first 10 clubs is the same
Goal contribution by club
| Clubs | Goles | Players with goals |
|---|---|---|
| River Plate | 228 | 49 |
| Boca Juniors | 117 | 38 |
| Hurricane | 114 | 24 |
| San Lorenzo | 112 | 32 |
| Racing Club | 106 | 25 |
| Independent | 103 | 35 |
| Barcelona | 77 | 4 |
| Newell's Old Boys | 65 | 24 |
| Central Rosary | 56 | 20 |
| Students of La Plata | 52 | 22 |
| Fiorentina | 51 | 3 |
| Real Madrid | 37 | 5 |
| Valencia | 34 | 8 |
| Atletico de Madrid | 33 | 6 |
| Napoli | 29 | 7 |
| Vélez Sarsfield | 26 | 15 |
| Inter de Milan | 24 | 8 |
| Rome | 19 | 4 |
| Villarreal | 17 | 5 |
Statistics
Soccer World Cup
| World Cup Soccer | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | Position | PJ | PG | PE | P | GF | GC | Dif. | Goleador |
| 1930
| Subfield | 2.° | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 18 | 9 | +9 | Guillermo Stábile: 8 |
.svg){kind=small} 1934
| Final Octavos | 9.° | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -1 | Belis and Galateo: 1 |
| 1938
| He declined to participate as a protest | |||||||||
| 1950
| ||||||||||
| 1954
| ||||||||||
| 1958
| First phase | 13. | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 10 | -5 | Orestes Corbatta: 3 |
| 1962
| First phase | 10.° | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -1 | Facundo and Sanfilippo: 1 |
| 1966
| Final rooms | 5.° | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | +2 | Luis Artime: 3 |
| 1970
| Not classified | |||||||||
| 1974
| Phase two | 8.° | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 12 | -3 | René Houseman: 3 |
| 1978 | Champion | 1.° | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 4 | +11 | Mario Kempes: 6 |
| 1982
| Phase two | 11. | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 7 | +1 | Maradona, Bertoni and Passarella: 2 |
| 1986 | Champion | 1.° | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 5 | +9 | Diego Maradona: 5 |
| 1990
| Subfield | 2.° | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 4 | +1 | Claudio Caniggia: 2 |
| 1994
| Final Octavos | 10.° | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 6 | +2 | Gabriel Batistuta: 4 |
| 1998
| Final rooms | 6.° | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 4 | +6 | Gabriel Batistuta: 5 |
| 2002
| First phase | 18. ° | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | Batistuta and Crespo: 1 |
| 2006
| Final rooms | 6.° | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 3 | +8 | Rodriguez and Crespo: 3 |
| 2010
| Final rooms | 5.° | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 6 | +4 | Gonzalo Higuaín: 4 |
| 2014
| Subfield | 2. | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 4 | +4 | Lionel Messi: 4 |
| 2018
| Final Octavos | 16. | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 9 | -3 | Sergio Agüero: 2 |
| 2022 | Champion | 1.° | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 15 | 8 | +7 | Lionel Messi: 7 |
.svg){kind=small} 2026
| To dispute | |||||||||
| Total | 18/22 | 3.° | 88 | 47 | 17 | 24 | 152 | 101 | +51 | Lionel Messi: 13 |
- In bold the tournament scorers.
World Cup Qualification
| Globalist Eliminators | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edition | Outcome | Position | PJ | PG | PE | P | GF | GC | DG | Goleador |
| Eliminatory 1930 | Classified | Guest | ||||||||
| Elimination 1934 | Classified | Guest after the resignations of other selections | ||||||||
| Elimination 1938 | Withdrawal | |||||||||
| Eliminatory 1950 | ||||||||||
| Termination 1954 | ||||||||||
| 1958 | Classified | 1.° Group 2 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 2 | +8 | Corbatta and Menéndez: 3 |
| 1962 | Classified | 1.° Group 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 3 | +8 | Corbatta and Sanfilippo: 3 |
| Termination 1966 | Classified | 1.° Group 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 2 | +7 | Ermindo Onega: 3 |
| Elimination 1970 | Not classified | 3.° Group 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | -2 | Rafael Albrecht: 2 |
| Deletion 1974 | Classified | 1.° Group 2 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 2 | +7 | Reuben Ayala: 5 |
| Elimination 1978 | Classified | Host | ||||||||
| Termination 1982 | Classified | Defendant champion | ||||||||
| 1986 | Classified | 1.° Group 1 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 6 | +6 | Diego Maradona: 3 |
| Elimination 1990 | Classified | Defendant champion | ||||||||
| 1994 | Classified | 2.° Group A | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 10 | -1 | Ramón Medina Bello: 4 |
| 1998 | Classified | 1.° | 16 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 23 | 13 | +10 | Ariel Ortega: 4 |
| Elimination 2002 | Classified | 1.° | 18 | 13 | 4 | 1 | 42 | 15 | +27 | Hernan Crespo: 9 |
| 2006 | Classified | 2.° | 18 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 29 | 17 | +12 | Hernan Crespo: 7 |
| Eliminating 2010 | Classified | 4.° | 18 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 23 | 20 | +3 | Riquelme, Messi and Agüero: 4 |
| Eliminatory 2014 | Classified | 1.° | 16 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 35 | 15 | +20 | Lionel Messi: 10 |
| Eliminating 2018 | Classified | 3.° | 18 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 19 | 16 | +3 | Lionel Messi: 7 |
| Eliminator 2022 | Classified | 2.° | 17 | 11 | 6 | 0 | 27 | 8 | +19 | Lautaro Martínez and Lionel Messi: 7 |
| Eliminator 2026 | To dispute | |||||||||
| Total | 18/22 | 1.° | 153 | 86 | 42 | 25 | 262 | 135 | +127 | Lionel Messi: 28 |
- In bold the tournament scorers.
FIFA Confederations Cup
| Year | Round | Position | PJ | PG | PE | P | GF | GC | Dif. | Goleador |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992
| Champion | 1.o | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 | +6 | Gabriel Batistuta: 2 |
| 1995
| Subfield | 2. | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | +2 | Gabriel Batistuta: 2 |
| 1997
| Not classified | |||||||||
| 1999
| ||||||||||
| 2001
| ||||||||||
| 2003
| ||||||||||
| 2005
| Subfield | 2. | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 10 | 0 | Luciano Figueroa: 4 |
| 2009
| Not classified | |||||||||
| 2013
| ||||||||||
| 2017
| ||||||||||
| Total | 3/10 | 7. | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 22 | 14 | +8 | Batistuta and Figueroa: 4 |
- In bold the tournament scorers.
America's Cup
| Year | Round | Position | PJ | PG | PE | P | GF | GC | Dif. | Goleador |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1916
| Subfield | " fake fake fake fake expose+2.° | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | " fake fake fake fake expose+7 | " fake fake fake fake expose+2 | +5 | Brown, Marcovecchio and Ohaco: 2 |
| 1917
| Subfield | " fake fake fake fake expose+2.° | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | " fake fake fake fake expose+5 | " fake fake fake fake expose+3 | +2 | Alberto Ohaco: 2 |
.svg){kind=small} 1919
| Third post | " fake fake fake fake expose+3.° | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | " fake fake fake fake expose+7 | " fake fake fake fake expose+7 | 0 | Clarke and Izaguirre: 3 |
| 1920
| Subfield | " fake fake fake fake expose+2.° | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | " fake fake fake fake expose+4 | " fake fake fake fake expose+2 | +2 | Raúl Echeverría: 2 |
| 1921
| Champion | " fake fake fake fake expose+1.° | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | " fake fake fake fake expose+5 | " fake fake fake fake expose+0 | +5 | July Libonatti: 3 |
| 1922
| Fourth | " fake fake fake fake expose+4.° | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | " fake fake fake fake expose+6 | " fake fake fake fake expose+3 | +3 | July France: 4 |
| 1923
| Subfield | " fake fake fake fake expose+2.° | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | " fake fake fake fake expose+6 | " fake fake fake fake expose+6 | 0 | Vicente Aguirre: 3 |
| 1924
| Subfield | " fake fake fake fake expose+2.° | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | " fake fake fake fake expose+2 | " fake fake fake fake expose+0 | +2 | Sosa and Loyarte: 1 |
| 1925
| Champion | " fake fake fake fake expose+1.° | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | " fake fake fake expose+11 | " fake fake fake fake expose+4 | +7 | Manuel Seoane: 6 |
| 1926
| Subfield | " fake fake fake fake expose+2.° | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | " fake fake fake expose+14 | " fake fake fake fake expose+3 | +11 | Gabino Sosa: 5 |
.svg){kind=small} 1927
| Champion | " fake fake fake fake expose+1.° | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | " fake fake fake expose+15 | " fake fake fake fake expose+4 | +11 | Carricaberry and Moon: 3 |
| 1929
| Champion | " fake fake fake fake expose+1.° | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | " fake fake fake fake expose+9 | " fake fake fake fake expose+1 | +8 | Lionel Fernández: 3 |
| 1935
| Subfield | " fake fake fake fake expose+2.° | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | " fake fake fake fake expose+8 | " fake fake fake fake expose+5 | +3 | Masantonio: 4 |
| 1937
| Champion | " fake fake fake fake expose+1.° | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | " fake fake fake expose+14 | " fake fake fake fake expose+5 | +9 | Alberto Zozaya: 5 |
| 1939
| No. | |||||||||
| 1941
| Champion | " fake fake fake fake expose+1.° | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | " fake fake fake expose+10 | " fake fake fake fake expose+2 | +8 | Juan Marvezzi: 5 |
| 1942
| Subfield | " fake fake fake fake expose+2.° | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | " fake fake fake expose+21 | " fake fake fake fake expose+6 | +15 | Masantonio and Moreno: 7 |
| 1945
| Champion | " fake fake fake fake expose+1.° | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | " fake fake fake expose+22 | " fake fake fake fake expose+5 | +17 | Norberto Méndez: 6 |
| 1946
| Champion | " fake fake fake fake expose+1.° | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | " fake fake fake expose+17 | " fake fake fake fake expose+3 | +14 | Labruna and Méndez: 5 |
.svg){kind=small} 1947
| Champion | " fake fake fake fake expose+1.° | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | " fake fake fake expose+28 | " fake fake fake fake expose+4 | +24 | Di Stefano and Méndez: 6 |
| 1949
| No. | |||||||||
| 1953
| ||||||||||
| 1955
| Champion | " fake fake fake fake expose+1.° | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | " fake fake fake expose+18 | " fake fake fake fake expose+6 | +12 | Rodolfo Micheli: 8 |
| 1956
| Third post | " fake fake fake fake expose+3.° | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | " fake fake fake fake expose+5 | " fake fake fake fake expose+3 | +2 | Angel Labruna: 2 |
| 1957
| Champion | " fake fake fake fake expose+1.° | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | " fake fake fake expose+25 | " fake fake fake fake expose+6 | +19 | Humberto Maschio: 9 |
| 1959
| Champion | " fake fake fake fake expose+1.° | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | " fake fake fake expose+19 | " fake fake fake fake expose+5 | +14 | Rubén Héctor Sosa: 4 |
| 1959
| Subfield | " fake fake fake fake expose+2.° | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | " fake fake fake fake expose+9 | " fake fake fake fake expose+9 | 0 | José Sanfilippo: 6 |
| 1963
| Third post | " fake fake fake fake expose+3.° | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | " fake fake fake expose+15 | " fake fake fake expose+10 | +5 | Mario Rodríguez: 5 |
| 1967
| Subfield | " fake fake fake fake expose+2.° | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | " fake fake fake expose+12 | " fake fake fake fake expose+3 | +9 | Luis Artime: 5 |
 1975
| First round | " fake fake fake fake expose+5.° | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | " fake fake fake expose+17 | " fake fake fake fake expose+4 | +13 | Leopoldo Luque: 4 |
| 1979
| First round | " fake fake fake fake expose+8.° | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | " fake fake fake fake expose+7 | " fake fake fake fake expose+6 | +1 | Daniel Passarella: 2 |
| 1983
| First round | " fake fake fake fake expose+6.° | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | " fake fake fake fake expose+5 | " fake fake fake fake expose+4 | +1 | Jorge Burruchaga: 3 |
| 1987
| Fourth | " fake fake fake fake expose+4.° | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | " fake fake fake fake expose+5 | " fake fake fake fake expose+4 | +4 | Diego Maradona: 3 |
.svg){kind=small} 1989
| Third post | " fake fake fake fake expose+3.° | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | " fake fake fake fake expose+2 | " fake fake fake fake expose+4 | -2 | Claudio Caniggia: 2 |
| 1991
| Champion | " fake fake fake fake expose+1.° | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | " fake fake fake expose+16 | " fake fake fake fake expose+6 | +10 | Gabriel Batistuta: 6 |
| 1993
| Champion | " fake fake fake fake expose+1.° | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | " fake fake fake fake expose+6 | " fake fake fake fake expose+4 | +2 | Gabriel Batistuta: 3 |
| 1995
| Final rooms | " fake fake fake fake expose+5.° | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | " fake fake fake fake expose+8 | " fake fake fake fake expose+6 | +2 | Gabriel Batistuta: 4 |
| 1997
| Final rooms | " fake fake fake fake expose+6.° | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | " fake fake fake fake expose+4 | " fake fake fake fake expose+3 | +1 | Marcelo Gallardo: 3 |
.svg){kind=small} 1999
| Final rooms | " fake fake fake fake expose+8.° | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | " fake fake fake fake expose+6 | " fake fake fake fake expose+6 | 0 | Martín Palermo: 3 |
| 2001
| Withdrawal | |||||||||
| 2004
| Subfield | " fake fake fake fake expose+2.° | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | " fake fake fake expose+16 | " fake fake fake fake expose+6 | +10 | Saviola and González: 3 |
| 2007
| Subfield | " fake fake fake fake expose+2.° | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | " fake fake fake expose+16 | " fake fake fake fake expose+6 | +10 | Juan Román Riquelme: 5 |
| 2011
| Final rooms | " fake fake fake fake expose+7. | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | " fake fake fake fake expose+5 | " fake fake fake fake expose+2 | +3 | Sergio Agüero: 3 |
| 2015
| Subfield | " fake fake fake fake expose+2.° | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | " fake fake fake expose+10 | " fake fake fake fake expose+3 | +7 | Sergio Agüero: 3 |
| 2016
| Subfield | " fake fake fake fake expose+2.° | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 2 | +16 | Lionel Messi: 5 |
| 2019
| Third post | " fake fake fake fake expose+3.° | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 6 | +1 | Lautaro Martínez y Sergio Agüero: 2 |
| 2021
| Champion | " fake fake fake fake expose+1.° | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 3 | +9 | Lionel Messi: 4 |
| 2024
| To dispute | |||||||||
| Total | 43/47 | 1.° | 202 | 127 | 42 | 33 | 474 | 182 | +292 | Norberto Méndez: 17 |
- In bold the tournament scorers.
Olympic Football Tournament
| Year | Round | Position | PJ | PG | PE | P | GF | GC | Dif. | Goleador |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1908
| No. | |||||||||
| 1912
| ||||||||||
| 1920
| ||||||||||
| 1924
| ||||||||||
| 1928
| Subfield | 2. | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 24 | 7 | +17 | Domingo Tarasconi: 11 |
.svg){kind=small} 1936
| No. | |||||||||
| 1948
| ||||||||||
| The 1948 Olympic Games were the last contested by absolute selections | ||||||||||
| Total | 1/7 | - | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 24 | 7 | +17 | Domingo Tarasconi: 11 |
- In bold the tournament scorers.
Conmebol-UEFA Champions Cup
| Year | Round | Position | PJ | PG | PE | P | GF | GC | Dif. | Goleador |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985
| Not classified | |||||||||
| 1993
| Champion | 1.o | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Claudio Caniggia: 1 |
| 2022
| Champion | 1.o | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | +3 | Martinez, Di Maria and Dybala: 1 |
| Total | 2/3 | 1.° | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | +3 | Caniggia, L. Martínez, Di María, Dybala: 1 |
Pan American Soccer Championship
| Year | Round | Position | PJ | PG | PE | P | GF | GC | Dif. | Goleador |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1952
| No. | |||||||||
| 1956
| Subfield | 2. | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 5 | +4 | Omar Sivori: 5 |
| 1960
| Champion | 1.o | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 4 | +5 | Raul Bethlehem and Osvaldo Nardiello: 3 |
| Total | 2/3 | 2.° | 11 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 18 | 9 | +9 | Omar Sivori: 5 |
FIFA Ranking
Ranking
| Institution | Ranking current | Better. ranking | Worse ranking | X! ! {displaystyle {overline {X}}} | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | V | Puntaje | Date | Position | V | Puntaje | Date | Position | V | Puntaje | Date | ||
| FIFA | 2. |  | 1838.38 | 22 December 2022 | 1.o | | 1646 | 16 September 2016 | 24. |  9
| 50 | 28 August 1996 | 6.o |
| Elo1 | 1.o | | 2143 | 18 December 2022 | 1.o | | 2143 | 18 December 2022 | 28.o | 6
| 1716 | 8 June 1990 | 5.° |
1The Elo ranking only measures the score of class "A" of all the soccer teams in its history.
| Year/month | January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Without FIFA Classification | 5.o (56) | 12.o (55) | 9.o (56) | 9.o (55) | 8.o (55) | ||||||
| 1994 | -- | 9.o (55) | 8.o (55) | 10.o (54) | 6.o (55) | 8.o (55) | 9.o (57) | -- | 9.o (56) | 9.o (56) | 9.o (57) | 10.o (56) |
| 1995 | -- | 7.o (59) | -- | 8.o (58) | 8.o (57) | 10.o (57) | 5.o (57) | 5.o (57) | 9.o (56) | 7.o (57) | 7.o (56) | 7.o (56) |
| 1996 | 7.o (57) | 8.o (55) | -- | 8.o (55) | 8.o (56) | -- | 15.o (53) | 24.o (50) | 22.o (51) | 17.o (53) | 19.o (53) | 22.o (52) |
| 1997 | -- | 18.o (52) | -- | 19.o (54) | 21.o (53) | 16.o (55) | 13.o (57) | 13.o (57) | 10.o (59) | 13.o (58) | 19.o (57) | 17.o (57) |
| 1998 | -- | 17.o (56) | 7.o (59) | 7.o (58) | 6.o (60) | -- | 5.o (65) | 5.o (65) | 5.o (65) | 5.o (65) | 5.o (66) | 5.o (66) |
| 1999 | 6.o (733) | 6.o (732) | 6.o (731) | 7.o (732) | 7.o (729) | 8.o (716) | 6.o (719) | 6.o (715) | 7.o (717) | 8.o (713) | 7.o (715) | 6.o (721) |
| 2000 | 6.o (721) | 6.o (718) | 7.o (714) | 6.o (720) | 5.o (728) | 5.o (726) | 5.o (744) | 3.o (749) | 3.o (752) | 3.o (764) | 3.o (762) | 3.o (773) |
| 2001 | 3.o (771) | 3.o (769) | 3.o (771) | 3.o (770) | 3.o (763) | 3.o (771) | 3.o (764) | 3.o (783) | 3.o (794) | 3.o (796) | 2.o (798) | 2.o (802) |
| 2002 | 2.o (801) | 2.o (799) | 2.o (793) | 3.o (786) | 3.o (784) | -- | 2.o (784) | 2.o (781) | 5.o (760) | 5.o (753) | 5.o (741) | 5.o (751) |
| 2003 | 5.o (750) | 4.o (768) | 4.o (761) | 6.o (750) | 5.o (753) | 4.o (754) | 6.o (746) | 6.o (744) | 4.o (750) | 4.o (747) | 4.o (750) | 5.o (744) |
| 2004 | 5.o (744) | 6.o (741) | 6.o (735) | 5.o (740) | 5.o (741) | 5.o (733) | 11.o (722) | 4.o (774) | 4.o (775) | 3.o (778) | 3.o (784) | 3.o (785) |
| 2005 | 3.o (785) | 3.o (783) | 3.o (777) | 3.o (780) | 3.o (778) | 3.o (785) | 2.o (787) | 2.o (782) | 3.o (778) | 4.o (778) | 4.o (774) | 4.o (772) |
| 2006 | 4.o (772) | 4.o (769) | 4.o (765) | 8.o (753) | 9.o (746) | -- | 3.o (1472) | 3.o (1479) | 3.o (1492) | 4.o (1446) | 3.o (1551) | 3.o (1551) |
| 2007 | 3.o (1551) | 3.o (1535) | 1.o (1616) | 2.o (1594) | 3.o (1520) | 5.o (1373) | 2.o (1476) | 2.o (1491) | 2.o (1451) | 1.o (1533) | 1.o (1523) | 1.o (1523) |
| 2008 | 1.o (1523) | 1.o (1518) | 1.o (1556) | 1.o (1519) | 1.o (1520) | 1.o (1559) | 6.o (1298) | 7.o (1219) | 7.o (1230) | 7.o (1200) | 6.o (1181) | 6.o (1180) |
| 2009 | 6.o (1180) | 6.o (1181) | 6.o (1219) | 6.o (1201) | 6.o (1195) | 7.o (1203) | 8.o (1091) | 8.o (1080) | 8.o (1113) | 6.o (1103) | 8.o (1085) | 8.o (1085) |
| 2010 | 8.o (1082) | 9.o (1087) | 9.o (1075) | 7.o (1084) | 7.o (1076) | -- | 5.o (1289) | 5.o (1288) | 5.o (1351) | 5.o (1320) | 5.o (1353) | 5.o (1338) |
| 2011 | 5.o (1338) | 5.o (1367) | 4.o (1412) | 5.o (1276) | 5.o (1267) | 10.o (979) | 10.o (1012) | 9.o (1017) | 10.o (1024) | 10.o (1030) | 10.o (1067) | 10.o (1067) |
| 2012 | 10.o (1067) | 11.o (1081) | 8.o (1102) | 10.o (1066) | 9.o (1076) | 7.o (1137) | 7.o (1095) | 7.o (1098) | 7.o (1121) | 4.o (1208) | 3.o (1349) | 3.o (1290) |
| 2013 | 3.o (1290) | 3.o (1281) | 3.o (1309) | 3.o (1292) | 3.o (1296) | 3.o (1287) | 4.o (1204) | 4°(1210) | 2.o (1263) | 3.o (1266) | 3.o (1251) | 3.o (1251) |
| 2014 | 3.o (1251) | 3.o (1255) | 3.o (1234) | 6° (1174) | 7° (1178) | 5° (1175) | 2.o (1606) | 2.o (1604) | 2.o (1631) | 2.o (1565) | 2.o (1538) | 2.o (1538) |
| 2015 | 2.o (1538) | 2.o (1534) | 2.o (1577) | 2.o (1490) | 2.o (1494) | 3.o (1496) | 1.o (1473) | 1.o (1425) | 1.o (1442) | 1.o (1419) | 3.o (1383) | 2.o (1455) |
| 2016 | 2.o (1455) | 2.o (1455) | 2.o (1457) | 1.o (1532) | 1.o (1532) | 1.o (1503) | 1.o (1585) | 1.o (1585) | 1.o (1646) | 1.o (1621) | 1.o (1634) | 1.o (1634) |
| 2017 | 1.o (1634) | 1.o (1635) | 1.o (1644) | 2.o (1603) | 2.o (1603) | 2.o (1626) | 3.o (1413) | 3.o (1399) | 4.° (1325) | 4.° (1445) | 4.° (1348) | 4.° (1348) |
| 2018 | 4.o (1348) | 4.o (1348) | 4.o (1359) | 5.o (1254) | 5.o (1254) | 5.o (1241) | -- | 11.o (1574) | 11.o (1575) | 12.o (1573) | 11.o (1582) | 11.o (1582) |
| 2019 | -- | 11.o (1582) | -- | 11.o (1580) | -- | 11.o (1582) | 10.o (1610) | -- | 10.o (1614) | 9.o (1617) | 9.o (1623) | 9.o (1623) |
| 2020 | -- | 9.o (1623) | -- | 9.o (1623) | -- | 9.o (1623) | 9.o (1623) | -- | 9.o (1623) | 8.o (1636) | 7.o (1642) | 7.o (1642) |
| 2021 | -- | 7.o (1642) | -- | 8.o (1642) | 8.o (1642) | -- | -- | 6.o (1714) | 6.o (1725) | 6.o (1739) | 5.o (1751) | 5.o (1751) |
| 2022 | -- | 4.o (1766) | 4.o (1765) | -- | -- | 3.o (1770) | -- | 3.o (1770) | -- | 3.o (1773) | -- | 2.o (1838) |
| 2023 | -- | -- | ||||||||||
| Average position since the creation of the FIFA World Classification: 6.a position | ||||||||||||
Source: Argentina file on FIFA Archived January 30, 2018, at the Wayback Machine. and FIFA Statistics Archived 2012-06-08 at the Wayback Machine
Colors: Gold = 1.er position; Silver = 2.do post; Bronze = 3.er position.
Records and notes
- Major goleada in favor:
- 12-0 to Ecuador, in the Copa América 1942.
- Greatest fight:
- 1-6 with Czechoslovakia, in the 1958 World Cup of Football on June 15, 1958.
- 1-6 with Bolivia, South Africa 2010 on April 1, 2009.
- 1-6 with Spain, in FIFA Date on March 27, 2018.
- Match with more goals:
- Victoria 11-2 against the United States at the 1928 Olympic Games on May 29.
- Parties without receiving goals: 254
- Parties without turning goals: 133
- Matches without goals: 54
- Party with goleadas in favor: 116
- Matches with goleadas against: 24
- Major undefeated series:
- 36 matches (2019-2022) (25 won and 11 tied)
- Major invicta local series:
- 42 matches (1996-2009) (32 wins and 10 tied)
- Major undefeated visitor series:
- 14 matches (1990-1993) (7 wins and 7 tied)
- Major invicta neutral series:
- 26 matches (1941-56) (23 wins and 3 tied)
- The Classic of the Rio de la Plata, in front of Uruguay, is the second oldest in the world among selections (after the classic between England and Scotland). It is also the classic among the most often contested selections in the world.
- The first football match between selections outside the British Islands was played by Argentina and Uruguay.
- As a curiosity, in those early years of the Rio de la Plata Classic, Argentina was playing with an all-white shirt (such as the current one in Uruguay) and Uruguay was doing it with an entirely white shirt. Around 1910, Argentina began using the traditional blue-coloured and white vertical striped casca and Uruguay adopted the celestial garment.
- Argentinian selection is positioned fourth in the world by number of contested parties, after England, Sweden and Hungary.
- Together with France are the only selections in the world that have won the World Cup, the Confederations Cup, the Intercontinental Cup of Selections (Artemio Franchi), and their respective regional tournament (Copa América and Eurocopa, respectively). It should be added that both selections also won the Olympic Games, but did so with the Olympic football selection and not with absolute.
- It was the first selection to win the FIFA Confederations Cup in 1992.
- Only three world champion selections got to be twice Olympics champions in the football section: Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. England could be the fourth selection to claim such honor but did so under the banner of Great Britain. Hungary has the Olympic record of three golden preseas but has not been able to be a champion of the world.
- He played with France the second match in the history of the world, and the first match for Argentina in the same tournament. In this game Argentina won France for 1-0.
- Guillermo Stábile was the top scorer of the first edition of the World Cup of Football, in 1930.
- It was the first selection to come to a final of the World Cup, together with Uruguay (World Cup of 1930).
- It is the selection that most times organized the American Cup (nine times).
- Diego Maradona marked the so-called Gol of the Century, before England in the final quarters of the 1986 World Cup of Football.
- Norberto Méndez is the highest scorer in the history of the American Cup.
- Esteban Cambiasso and the selection of Argentina had the record of having made the best goal of collective play in the history of the World Cup of Football in the match against Serbia and Montenegro after a 26-touch play with the ball, without touching it any rival, marking Cambiasso the second goal of the score 6-0 in the World Cup of 2006 until the World Cup of the year 2022 where in the third win
- In male football at the Olympic Games, Argentina marches second in the historical medallero, with 4 medals in total: two gold and two silver, behind Brazil (7; 2 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze).
- In a friendly match against Uruguay (Argentina 2 - Uruguay 1), on 2/10/1924 in Buenos Aires, Cesáreo Onzari turned a direct goal from a corner looting, which although it was not the first in history, it was the one that gave rise to the term "Gol olympic"for having been converted against the champion selection of the 1924 Paris Olympics. From there comes also the term "Olympic", since the party disputed at the stadium of Sportivo Barracas required the same to control the many souls there present.
- As an illustrative note of the Argentine cartel in the World Cup in Uruguay in 1930, the presence of the brothers Juan and Mario Evaristo was highlighted. Juan was a defender and Mario was a swift front. They played 3 games together in the World Cup.
- Argentina only took 18 players to the 1934 World Cup in Italy.
- The Argentine team is one of the few selections that got to be world champions having lost a match (1978 and 2022). The other world champions who were in the same situation were Germany (1954 and 1974) and Spain (2010), all the other champions have been undefeated.
- He came out undefeated champion at the 1986 Football World Cup.
- In the Swedish World Cup of 1958, Argentina debuted against Federal Germany, having to change for the first time in its history the classic blue and white uniform to batons, using the yellow cottage of the small club IFK Malmö.
- He played alongside Germany the end of the 2014 World Cup, this being the third final that these two teams disputed and formed the most repeated end of the story.
- The meeting between the Netherlands and Argentina, played on December 9, 2022 at the World Catar Cup, is the match with the most yellow cards in the history of the competition, with 17 yellow cards taken out.
Contested Finals
This list includes only final matches played by world, intercontinental, and official continental tournaments at senior team level. Excluded are tournaments where a final was not played, as in the case of most of the South American Championships or Pan American Soccer Championships, which were played under the league system of all against all matches in one or two wheels. In the Copa América, this system changed in 1975, and from that edition until 1987, a final was played to define the champion. In 1989 and 1991 it was played in groups, and the first two classified in each group played a final round-robin to decide the champion, but without a final match. As of the 1993 edition, the system changed again, and the qualifiers of each group play the quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final match to define the champion of the continent.
The tiebreakers of the South American Championships are taken into account, where the champion should have been defined in a final.
Olympic finals are excluded, except those disputed by senior teams (from the first Olympics up to and including the 1948 edition).
- 1928: End of the Amsterdam Olympic Games 1928: Uruguay 2 - Argentina 1
- 1930: World Cup Final 1930: Uruguay 4 - Argentina 2
- 1937: South American Championship Performance Party 1937: Argentina 2 - Brazil 0
- 1978: World Cup Final 1978: Argentina 3 - Netherlands 1
- 1986: World Cup Final 1986: Argentina 3 - Germany 2
- 1990: World Cup Final 1990: Germany 1 - Argentina 0
- 1992: Final de la Copa Confederaciones 1992: Saudi Arabia 1 - Argentina 3
- 1993: Final de la Copa Artemio Franchi 1993: Argentina 1 - Denmark 1 (Argentina wins 5:4 for criminals)
- 1993: American Cup Final 1993: Argentina 2 - Mexico 1
- 1995: Final de la Copa Confederaciones 1995: Denmark 2 - Argentina 0
- 2004: American Cup Final 2004: Brazil 2 - Argentina 2 (Brazil wins 4:2 for criminals)
- 2005: Final de la Copa Confederaciones 2005: Brazil 4 - Argentina 1
- 2007: Copa América Final 2007: Brazil 3 - Argentina 0
- 2014: World Cup Final 2014: Germany 1 - Argentina 0
- 2015: American Cup Final 2015: Chile 0 - Argentina 0 (Chile wins 4:1 for criminals)
- 2016: Final de la Copa América Centenario: Argentina 0 - Chile 0 (Chile wins 4:2 for criminals)
- 2021: American Cup Final 2021: Brazil 0 - Argentina 1
- 2022: Champions Cup CONMEBOL-UEFA 2022: Italy 0 - Argentina 3
- 2022: World Cup Final 2022: Argentina 3 - France 3 (Argentina wins 4:2 for criminals)
Total: 19 finals: 9 won (2 on penalties), 10 lost (3 on penalties).
Honours of Prizes
Titles
The Argentine team is the most successful national team in the world, having obtained a total of twenty-two official titles. Argentina is one of the seven teams that have been proclaimed champions in the two main national team tournaments —the World Cup and its respective regional cup—.
Argentina is one of the eight world champion teams along with Germany, Brazil, Spain, France, England, Italy and Uruguay. It was proclaimed as such at home in 1978, in Mexico 1986 and in Qatar 2022.
At the time when the senior teams were responsible for representing their country in the football tournament of the Olympic Games (from 1908 to 1936), the Argentines achieved their first great achievement by finishing runners-up and winning the medal of silver at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam. Subsequently, the U-23 team finished Olympic champion after two consecutive gold medals in Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008, the category also won the silver medal in Atlanta 1996.
The first official title in its history was achieved as host in the 1921 South American Championship, in what was the fifth edition of the tournament, beating Uruguay in a packed Sportivo Barracas Stadium. After that title he would win another fourteen, the last one obtained in the 2021 Copa América in Brazil.
It also won the "King Fahd Cup" in 1992 (renamed and made official as of 1997 as the FIFA Confederations Cup), the Pan-American Soccer Championship in 1960, and the Conmebol-UEFA Champions Cup (previously called the Artemio Franchi Cup) in 1993 and 2022. Thus, the only senior team in history to win at least one world, continental and interconfederate title, as well as an Olympic medal when played by senior teams.
| Competition | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Titles | Subcamponatos | Third place | |
| World Cup Soccer | 3 (1978, 1986 and 2022) | 3 (1930, 1990 and 2014) | - |
| Copa America1 | 15 (1921, 1925, 1927, 1929, 1937, 1941, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1991, 1993 and 2021) | 14 (1916, 1917, 1920, 1923, 1924, 1926, 1935, 1942, 1959, 1967, 2004, 2007, 2015 and 2016) | 5 (1919, 1956, 1963, 1989 and 2019) |
| Conmebol-UEFA Champions Cup2 | 2 (1993 and 2022) | - | - |
| FIFA Confederations Cup | 1 (1992) | 2 (1995 and 2005) | - |
| Pan American Football Championship | 1 (1960) | 1 (1956) | - |
| Football Olympic Tournament | - | 1 (1928) | - |
| Total | 22 titles | 21 | 5 |
1 It is the team that has the most titles in this competition along with Uruguay.
2 It is the team that has the most titles in this competition.
Timeline of Titles
| Headquarters | Tournament | Year | N.o |
|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina | Copa America | 1921 | 1.o |
| Argentina | Copa America | 1925 | 2. |
| Peru | Copa America | 1927 | 3.o |
| Argentina | Copa America | 1929 | 4.o |
| Argentina | Copa America | 1937 | 5.o |
| Chile | Copa America | 1941 | 6.o |
| Chile | Copa America | 1945 | 7. |
| Argentina | Copa America | 1946 | 8. |
| Ecuador | Copa America | 1947 | 9. |
| Chile | Copa America | 1955 | 10. |
| Peru | Copa America | 1957 | 11. |
| Argentina | Copa America | 1959 | 12. |
| Costa Rica | Pan American Championship | 1960 | 13. |
| Argentina | FIFA World Cup | 1978 | 14.o |
| Mexico | FIFA World Cup | 1986 | 15. |
| Chile | Copa America | 1991 | 16. |
| Saudi Arabia | FIFA Confederations Cup | 1992 | 17. |
| Argentina | Conmebol-UEFA Champions Cup | 1993 | 18. |
| Ecuador | Copa America | 1993 | 19. |
| Brazil | Copa America | 2021 | 20. |
| England | Conmebol-UEFA Champions Cup | 2022 | 21. |
| Qatar | FIFA World Cup | 2022 | 22. |
Friendly/unofficial titles
- Lipton Charity Cup (18): 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1913, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918, 1937, 1942, 1945, 1957, 1962, 1968, 1971, 1976 and 1992.
- Newton Cup (17): 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1911, 1916, 1918, 1924, 1927, 1928, 1937, 1942, 1945, 1957, 1973, 1975 and 1976.
- Argentine Honor Cup (7): 1909, 1911, 1913, 1914, 1918, 1919 and 1920.
- May Revolution Centenary Cup (1): 1910.
- Montevideo Cup (1): 1912.
- Sáenz Peña Cup (1): 1913.
- Copa Honor Uruguayo (5): 1915, 1916, 1917, 1923 and 1924.
- Press Circle Cup (1): 1916.
Roca Cup (4): 1923, 1939, 1940 and 1971.
Copa Rosa Chevallier Boutell (13): 1924, 1925, 1926, 1931, 1939, 1940, 1943, 1945, 1950, 1956, 1963, 1964 and 1971.- Cup Chamber of Deputies of Argentina (1): 1929.
- Uruguay Automobile Center Cup (1): 1929.
- Copa Juan R. Mignaburu (5): 1935, 1936, 1938, 1940 and 1943.
- Copa Héctor Gómez (3): 1935, 1938 and 1943.
- Chilean President Cup (1): 1940.
- President of Argentina Cup (1): 1941.
- Raúl Colombo Cup (1): 1956.
- Carlos Dittborn Pinto Cup (8): 1962, 1964, 1965, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1974 and 1976.
- United Nations Cup (1): 1964.
Copa Mariscal Ramón Castilla (3): 1973, 1976 and 1978.
Toulon Hope Tournament (2): 1975 and 1998.
Cornelio Saavedra Cup (1): 1975.- José Félix Bogado Cup (1): 1976.
FIFA 75th Anniversary Cup (1): 1979.- Kirin World Annual Cup (2): 1992 and 2003.
- A.F.A. Centenary Cup (1): 1993.
Cup Jump (1): 1994.
Nelson Mandela Challenge Cup (1): 1995.
Buenos Aires Province Cup (1): 1995.- Copa Municipalidades de Córdoba (1): 1995.
Copa Banco de Mendoza (1): 1998.- Coca-Cola Cup (1): 1999.
- Reebok Cup (1): 2000.
Provincial Lottery Cup (1): 2010.- Chaco Cup (1): 2011.
Times Of India Cup (1): 2011.
Copa Francisco (1): 2013.- Friendship Cup (1): 2015.
- Superclassic of the Americas (2): 2017 and 2019.
- Adidas Cup (2): 2018.
San Juan Cup (1): 2019.
Awards and distinctions
| Distinction | Year |
|---|---|
| FIFA Fair Play Award | 1978 |
| FIFA team award | 2007 |
| FIFA team award | 2016 |
Lower Categories
The lower categories are the set of teams regulated by the Argentine Football Association, collectively made up of players between the ages of 15 and 23, who represent Argentina in different international tournaments grouped into different age categories, and which constitute to the different previous formations for the absolute selection.
Olympic team
| Competition | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Titles | Subcamponatos | Third place | |||
| Football Olympic Tournament | 2 (2004 and 2008) | 1 (1996) | - | ||
| Pre-Olympic Tournament | 5 (1960, 1964, 1980, 2004 and 2020) | 2 (1988 and 1996) | 3 (1972, 1976 and 2000) | ||
| Total | 7 titles | Selection sub-23 | |||
Under-22 team
| Competition | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Titles | Subcamponatos | Third place | |||
| Pan American Games1 | 7 (1951, 1955, 1959, 1971, 1995, 2003 and 2019) | 2 (1963 and 2011) | 3 (1975, 1979 and 1987) | ||
| Total | 7 titles | Sub-22 selection | |||
Under-20 team
| Competition | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Titles | Subcamponatos | Third place | |||
| World Cup Soccer Sub-201 | 6 (1979, 1995, 1997, 2001, 2005 and 2007) | 1 (1983) | - | ||
| South American Championship Sub-20 | 5 (1967, 1997, 1999, 2003 and 2015) | 7 (1958, 1979, 1991, 1995, 2001, 2007 and 2019) | 8 (1971, 1975, 1981, 1983, 1987, 1988, 2005 and 2011) | ||
| Total | 11 titles | Sub-20 selection | |||
Under-19 team
| Competition | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Titles | Subcamponatos | Third place | |||
| South American Games | 2 (1982 and 1986) | 1 (2014) | - | ||
| Total | 2 titles | Selection sub-19 | |||
Under-17 team
| Competition | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Titles | Subcamponatos | Third place | |||
| World Cup Soccer Sub-17 | - | - | 3 (1991, 1995 and 2003) | ||
| South American Championship Sub-17 | 4 (1985, 2003, 2013 and 2019) | 6 (1988, 1995, 1997, 2001, 2009 and 2015) | 4 (1991, 1993, 2007 and 2011) | ||
| Total | 4 titles | Sub-17 selection | |||
Under-15 team
| Competition | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Titles | Subcamponatos | Third place | |||
| South American Championship Sub-15 | 1 (2017) | 2 (2005 and 2019) | 5 (2004, 2007, 2011, 2013 and 2015) | ||
| Total | 1 title | Sub-15 selection | |||
1It is the team that has the most titles in this competition.
Contenido relacionado
Pau Gasol
Real Aviles Football Club
London 2012 Olympic Games