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World Champions Argentina have played their second and the last FIFA Friendly in March today. Following their dominating win against El Salvador, the Albiceleste faced off against Costa Rica today and secured a 3-1 victory in the USA.
However, Argentina conceded first against Costa Rica but responded well in the second half. They scored three more goals in the second half to secure the match.
Match Repor
Argentine boss Lionel Scaloni made six changes compared to the squad that played against El Salvador. Alejandro Garnacho, who has become one of the key players for Manchester United, got his first start for Argentina today. He played in front along with Julian Alvarez and Angel Di Mariya. Meanwhile, the Costa Rica boss played his team in a defensive 5-4-1 formation.
The match started with Argentina dominating Costa Rica, keeping more possession under them. Mac Allister and Enzo Fernandez repeatedly supplied the ball in the front. However, the Albiceleste could have scored a goal in the 20th minute, but Costa Rica’s goalkeeper Keylor Navas made a double save to deny Alejandro Garnacho and Mac Allister’s shots.
However, Costa Rica surprised the World Champions when striker Manfred Ugalde scored a goal in the 34th minute. Argentina, however, tried hard to find the equalizer but failed. As a result, the first half ended with Costa Rica taking a 1-0 lead.
Coming back from the break, Argentine golden boy Angel Di Mariya brought the equalizer with an eye-catching free kick. His clever shot outside from the box found the right corner of the net, beating Keylor Navas in the 52nd minute.
This goal was a massive boost for the Albiceleste, leading them to score another one within a few minutes. This time, Liverpool’s midfielder Alexis Mac Allister gave Argentina the lead with a beautiful header in the 56th minute.
Argentina took full control of the match after their second goal. Due to their continuous attack, Costa Rica became unstable in the final 20 minutes. As a result, Argentina took that advantage and scored another goal in the 77th minute. This time, Lautaro Martinez scored with the help of Rodrigo de Paul. In the end, the Albiceleste won the match by a 3-1 margin and completed their Friendlies of March.
Scaloni on Winning
Lionel Scaloni shared his thoughts on winning the match against Costa Rica. He said, “We are satisfied with the tour, with how the games went. In the end, it was seen that there is no easy rival and that everyone makes things difficult . In the second game it helped us a lot, I saw a very mature team because we found ourselves in difficulty, with the game down, and the team played a very good 25 minutes in the second half. I am happy about that, we are going to find many games like that and it helps us.”
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