Argentina vs El Salvador prediction: WORLD: Friendly International betting tips on match 2024-03-22 00:30.
[p]With just under three months to go before they begin their defence of the Copa América title, Argentina take on El Salvador in a friendly at the Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia. However, the FIFA World Cup holders will be without captain Lionel Messi who picked up a hamstring injury while playing for Inter Miami last week, and he joins Pablo Dybala and Exequiel Palacios on the sidelines.[/p]
[p]Lionel Scaloni’s side ought to have the quality to cope though as they’ve won both previous H2Hs 2-0, while they’ve not lost a friendly since March 2019 (W13, D3)! La Albiceleste remain in superb form too having lost just two games of any description since July 2019 (W41, D10) which includes nine clean sheets from their last ten matches (W9, L1)![/p]
[p]Conversely, El Salvador have not won a game since June 2022 (D10, L10), form which saw them finish bottom of the CONCACAF Nations League A with only one point from four games and suffer relegation to League B. They have also not scored in four of their last seven fixtures (D5, L2), so their frontline could be in for a very tough evening against a strong Argentine defence.[/p]
[p]The last three games (D2, L1) have been under new management with 42-year-old Spaniard David DĂłniga taking over in January. He saw the Cuscatlecos come from behind to draw 1-1 with Bonaire, who are not FIFA members, on Wednesday evening but will have his work cut out on Friday as he pits his 81st ranked side in the world, their lowest standing since May 2018, against the number one ranked Argentinians![/p]
[p]Players to watch: With injuries to key Argentina forwards, this game could provide Lautaro MartĂnez a great opportunity to transfer his club form to the international stage. The Inter Milan striker has found the net 23 times in Serie A this season, eight more than any other player. Nelson Bonilla needs one goal to move into outright fourth place in El Salvador’s all-time leading goalscorer list, with his last six goalscoring games seeing the national side win. [/p]
[p]Hot stat: El Salvador have not scored a first-half goal in any of their last seven matches.[/p]