Injuries continue to cost the squad, Argentina's core form is excellent, can Messi continue his form
On November 22 at 18:00, Argentina will face the challenge of Saudi Arabia in the first round of this World Cup, and although this group is not too difficult for Argentina, they still need to deal with it carefully. Argentina is definitely the focus of this World Cup because Messi has long said that this is his last World Cup, so his last dance is in the spotlight. Many European football celebrities have expressed their hope that Messi can win this World Cup and have no regrets in his career, but Argentina has recently had some minor problems, which may affect Argentina's final results.
Argentina's squad has suffered back-to-back hits, with Joaquín Correa and Gonzalez withdrawing after Lo Celso was not included in the Argentina squad due to injury. However, Argentina today is very different from the beginning of the century, when Argentina had many stars, but today Argentina is not so generous when it comes to recruiting players. Almeida, which they had just called, even played for Major League Leagues, and could not expect too much from it. Fortunately, several of Argentina's core players have been in good form, with Messi and Di Maria having performed quite well in previous friendly matches.
Argentina have not lost a match since the last Copa America and are unbeaten in South America, although they are second in the South American World Qualifiers. Argentina deserve respect for their crushing of Brazil in the Copa America final, and indeed one of the most hopeful teams to win the title. In the previous Super Cup match against Italy, Argentina defeated Italy 3-0 without bloodshed. They also played a friendly match against the UAE before the start of the main draw, and the team easily beat their opponents 5-0.
Saudi football has indeed improved a lot over the years, and with the top-down investment in their country, football has become a popular sport in Saudi Arabia, and Salman Jr. has bought a Premier League team, not to mention the local tycoons in their country. Of course, almost all of the Saudi players in this Saudi team play in the local league, but today's Saudi league is one of the best in Asia, and in the era of golden dollar football, Saudi clubs have performed very well in the AFC Champions League over the years.
Saudi Arabia's recent friendly performance is very good, they also attach great importance to this World Cup, although they lost to Croatia in the last round of friendly matches, but losing to Croatia is definitely not an unspeakable thing, after all, they were the runners-up in the last World Cup. It's just that their previous opponents are actually a little far away from the World Cup, and in Panama, although teams like Honduras are also in the Americas, their football environment with Argentina is very different.
On the whole, Argentina is definitely much stronger than Saudi Arabia, although the squad is not the strongest, but today's Argentina is very united, although there are not so many stars, but the cohesion of the team is better than ever, around Messi has formed the core of Argentina. This is also the reason why they have been able to win the Copa America after many years, of course, the current Messi is not as impressive as in those years, at the age of 34, his physical function has declined a lot, Di Maria is the same situation, but even so, Messi is still one of the best players in football today. Therefore, this match is more optimistic that Argentina will get a big win, and the goal difference may be more than two.