Argentina - Mexico: Time for Tango to 'change its rhythm'

After a 1-2 defeat to Saudi Arabia in their opening match, Argentina are in a difficult position. If they want to advance, the Tango team cannot show such a graceful face anymore. They must "change the rhythm", switch to strong and decisive football to win, starting with the match against Mexico tonight.

Force

Lionel Scaloni's team entered the match against Mexico with questions about the fitness of superstar Lionel Messi. During yesterday's training session of the Tango team, the greatest striker in the history of the Argentine national team had to practice separately. It is known that he has a sore left foot.

Messi is likely to start tonight. Barring any surprises, the 35-year-old will pair up with Angel Di Maria and Lautaro Martinez in Argentina’s three-man front line. With that trio, Scaloni’s team will have hope of scoring against Mexico.

This attacking trio alone has scored 6 goals against Mexico in previous confrontations between the two teams. Of which, Messi and Lautaro each have 3 goals, only Di Maria has never celebrated when facing the representative of the CONCACAF region.

In this match, Mexico will have the return of striker Raul Jimenez. This means that coach Tata Martino will have a full squad to play against Argentina. However, Jimenez is unlikely to be put on the field. It is likely that Mexico's attack in the second match of the 2022 World Cup will include Alexis Vega, Henry Martín and Hirving Lozano.

EXPECTED LINEUP

Form

Argentina had a disappointing performance in their opening match of the 2022 World Cup. Although they were considered a candidate for the championship, they lost to the small team Saudi Arabia, on the day that striker Messi "opened" the campaign with an early goal from the penalty spot. If they continue to lose points against Mexico tonight, the possibility of winning the right to the next round for coach Scaloni and his team is very low. Therefore, the team from the land of Tango will have to do everything to win 3 points at Lusail Iconic.

Argentina have reason to believe that they will defeat Mexico to continue their hope of prolonging their adventure in Qatar. They have the support of history. Statistics show that in the last 10 encounters between the two teams, Argentina has dominated with a record of 6 wins and 4 draws. Of which, they have won all 3 recent confrontations without allowing the North American team to score a consolation goal.

In particular, Mexico's form is not much better than Scaloni's team. Mexico drew goalless with Poland in their first match at the 2022 World Cup, on the day goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa played brilliantly with a successful save of a penalty kick from Poland's striker Robert Lewandowski.

Before disappointing in the opening match of the 2022 World Cup, Mexico was also not in good form, winning only 3 out of 9 consecutive matches.

Therefore, Argentina has every right to hope to continue to defeat Mexico to escape the bottom position of Group C.

Recent results Argentina vs Mexico

Notable statistics Argentina vs Mexico

Argentina have won all three of their most recent matches, all in friendly tournaments. The two teams met at the 2010 World Cup, with Argentina winning 3-1. Argentina are unbeaten in their last seven matches, with six wins. Argentina ended their 36-match unbeaten streak and five-match winning streak with a surprising defeat to Saudi Arabia. Mexico were held to a draw by Poland in their opening match of the World Cup. According to Asian handicap, Mexico have lost three of their last four matches. If they score a goal in tonight's match against Mexico, Argentina will reach the 100-goal mark under coach Lionel Scaloni. On average, each match that Scaloni has been on the bench has seen the team from the land of Tango score 1.9 goals.

Messi scored 2 or more goalsBookmakers are betting on superstar Lionel Messi to shine in tonight's match against Mexico. According to Oddschecker, the odds for this scenario are 7/1 (bet 1 win 7). Messi has scored 1 goal at the 2022 World Cup, which was a successful penalty kick to open the score in Argentina's 1-2 loss to Saudi Arabia. He has always been Argentina's brightest star. This player takes all the free kicks, and he is also Argentina's star with the biggest ability to make a difference. Therefore, it is possible to believe that if a goal comes, it will be associated with the name Messi.

The Asian exchange recorded the handicap of Argentina at 0:1. This is also the ratio that appeared in the match between the two teams at the 2010 World Cup, the match in which the South American team won 3-1. Looking further, in the last 4 matches between Argentina and Mexico, similar odds appeared, Lionel Messi and his teammates successfully overcame the handicap in 3 matches. This scenario can completely repeat itself in the match between the two teams.