The Argentinian Men’s Football Team has been on a roll since their 2022 FIFA World Cup victory over last year as they have now begun their road to the 2026 FIFA World Cup with a convincing 3-0 win over Bolivia at Estadio Hernando Siles.
What was more notable is that Argentina played this match without Captain Lionel Messi in the lineup. The Argentine legend gave a historic performance in the 2022 FIFA World Cup, where he led his side to their third World Cup victory, scoring seven goals in the tournament including two in the final, thus winning the Golden Ball Award for a record second time.
Messi was replaced by Angel Di Maria as skipper, who delivered a stellar performance, contributing two assists. The first breakthrough came at 31 minutes, when Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez capitalized on a precise cross from Di Maria, finishing with a close-range strike to secure his third international goal, giving Argentina a 1-0 lead.
Tragedy struck Bolivia early in the match when Roberto Fernandez received a red card for a dangerous tackle on Cristian Romero just five minutes later after the first goal by Enzo Fernandez, reducing the Bolivian side to 10 players.
Argentina continued to assert their dominance, with Nicolas Tagliafico scoring the second goal for his side, netting in a header from a free-kick taken by Di Maria in the 42nd minute. This was his maiden goal for the World Champions. The third and final goal for Argentina came in the 83rd minute when Nicolas Gonzalez fired in a powerful strike past the Bolivian keeper to help the World Champions seal an emphatic 3-0 victory.
Lionel Messi, who has currently on a short hiatus from international football for the past few months achieved another milestone back in March this year when he scored a hat-trick in a friendly match against Curaçao in a 7–0 win, the first of which saw him reach 100 international goals, making Messi the third player in history to reach the milestone.
The win was Argentina’s second win in the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers and they are currently on the second spot in the rankings with 6 points, the same as Brazil, who are ahead on goal difference. Argentina will be next facing off against Paraguay on the 13th of October and then against Peru on the 18th of October.
