Argentina resume their bid to reach the 2026 FIFA World Cup on top of the South American qualification standings (W5, L1), having added a 16th Copa América title to their honours list in the summer. With Lionel Messi unavailable through injury and Angel Di Maria retired, there’s room in head coach Lionel Scaloni’s squad for uncapped forwards Taty Castellanos, Giuliano Simeone and Matías Soulé as well as midfielder Ezequiel Fernández.
There’s still plenty of experienced players involved to help the reigning world champions try to extend an 11-match winning streak, although they lost their last competitive home fixture 2-0 to Uruguay in November. That was La Albiceleste’s first World Cup qualifying loss at home since October 2016 (W10, D5) and remarkably, all ten of those wins were accompanied by a clean sheet.
One of those victories (1-0, March 2017) was against next opponents Chile, who currently occupy eighth place in the standings (W1, D2, L3), a position which would see them miss out on the finals. Like their hosts, they are approaching the next phase of qualifying without big names, as goalkeeper Claudio Bravo has retired and record scorer Alexis Sánchez is not involved.
Bravo inspired Chile to two Copa América successes against Argentina in 2015 and 2016, but they haven’t won a H2H since (D3, L4), highlighting the scale of the task ahead. While they might be happy enough with a fourth consecutive H2H draw on foreign soil, even that seems unlikely when you consider La Roja have won just one of their last 18 fixtures outside of Chile (D5, L12).
Players to watch: Lautaro Martínez was the top scorer at the summer’s Copa América, with four of his five goals in that tournament arriving after the 85th minute, including the game’s only goal against Chile. Eduardo Vargas was the last player to score for Chile back in June, and he could be dangerous here given that four of his last five international strikes came on foreign soil, including one against Argentina in 2021 (D 1-1).
Hot streak: None of Argentina’s last nine home World Cup qualifiers has seen both teams on the scoresheet (W7, D1, L1).
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