Four days after claiming a 3-0 victory over El Salvador, Argentina continued their tour in the United States by facing Costa Rica, a team that was believed to be more challenging than El Salvador. The Albiceleste continued to play without Messi in this encounter; yet, it was not too difficult for them to control the match and produce a series of opportunities. Meanwhile, the Central American squad played with a 5-4-1 configuration and lurked in the background. Counterattack is the game.

There is a regulation in football that states that the team that assaults a lot but does not take advantage of the opportunity will be the one to pay the price. This rule is in effect until minute 34. Alvaro Zamora had a powerful shot after a swift counterattack, but he was unable to beat the Argentine goalie. However, the ball bounced back and was booted by Ugalde, which opened the scoring. In addition, that was the final score for the first half of the game.

Di Maria started Argentina’s comeback with a superb free kick

Despite the fact that Argentina was still in the lead after the interval, they were able to make far better most of the opportunity this time around. With a flawless direct free kick in the 52nd minute, Di Maria was the one who kicked off the comeback of the world champions. He sent the ball in a dangerous direction towards the top corner of Keylor Navas’s goal. In the 56th minute, Mac Allister scored a goal, bringing an end to the defensive phase that had been characterized by three consecutive headers.

Mac Allister scored Argentina’s second goal

And in the 77th minute, substitute Lautaro Martinez sealed the 3-1 victory with an escape after De Paul’s assist before finishing from a tight angle. So in the past year, Argentina has won 10/11 matches, losing only 1 match against Uruguay in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. From now until the Copa America kicks off, Argentina will have two more friendly matches with Ecuador (June 9) and Guatemala (June 14)

 

Lineup for Argentina vs Costa Rica

Argentina:  Benitez – Molina, Romero, Otamendi (Pezzella 82), Tagliafico – Di Maria (Carboni 82), Enzo Fernandez (N.Fernandez 82), Mac Allister (Paredes 60) -Alvarez, Lo Celso (De Paul 72), Garnacho (Lautaro 71)

Costa Rica:  Navas – Galo, Calvo, Faerron, Cascante, Cruz – Zamora (Aguilar 80), Aguilera (Rojas 68), Lassiter (Mora 90), Alcocer (Madrigal 68), Ugalde (Contreras 90).

Scored:

Argentina: Di Maria (52′), Mac Allister (56′), Lautaro Martinez (77′)

 

Costa Rica: Ugalde (34′)