Argentina vs Zambia – News and Probable Lineups

Argentina will carry on with their preparations for the 2026 World Cup as they host Zâmbia at La Bombonera for an international friendly on Tuesday.

The current world champions narrowly defeated Mauritânia last Friday, while the upcoming match represents Zâmbia’s first appearance of the 2026 campaign.

Match overview

Up until now, Argentina’s international window has not unfolded as expected, mainly due to the cancellation of the 2026 Finalissima.

The Copa America champions were supposed to meet Euro 2024 champions Espanha in Catar, which would have allowed Argentina a shot at retaining the trophy they won with a 3-0 victory over Itália at Wembley in 2022.

Nevertheless, the ongoing situation in the Middle East ruled out Catar as a venue, and stakeholders were unable to agree on an alternative location. This led to the cancellation and a rapid arrangement of friendlies against Mauritânia and Zâmbia.

The winners of the 2022 World Cup struggled in their 2-1 win over Mauritânia, a team currently ranked 115th globally.

Goals from Enzo Fernandez and Nico Paz in the first half helped them secure the friendly victory, but goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez captured the lackluster performance, noting it was a “good thing” the Finalissima was canceled as “if we played like that, we would have lost.”

With under three months remaining until they kick off their World Cup title defense against Argélia, Lionel Scaloni’s squad will be eager to deliver a stronger performance in their initial encounter with Zâmbia, aiming for a fifth consecutive win following their defeat to Equador in the last World Cup qualifier.

Conversely, Zâmbia will miss out on the 2026 World Cup in North America after finishing fourth in their qualifying group.

A total of only nine points from eight matches left Zâmbia trailing behind Tanzânia, Níger, and group winners Marrocos.

They could not uplift the morale at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, concluding at the bottom of Group A with just two points across three games.

Draws with Mali and Comores were followed by a heavy 3-0 loss to the tournament hosts, Marrocos, resulting in a second consecutive group stage exit at AFCON.

These outcomes extended Moses Sichone’s winless run as Zâmbia coach to five matches, marking seven matches without victory since their triumph over Tanzânia in World Cup qualifying last October.

Having failed to find the back of the net in four of their last seven fixtures, the visitors on Tuesday will face a challenging task to breach the defense of the reigning world champions in Buenos Aires.

Team News

Gonzalo Montiel of River Plate and Leonardo Balerdi from Marseille had to withdraw from the Argentina squad due to injuries sustained prior to the international window.

Strasbourg forward Joaquin Panichelli will miss out on the World Cup after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury during Argentina’s training session on Thursday.

Lionel Messi, who participated as a substitute on Friday, might return to the starting lineup as one of several alterations for Tuesday’s game.

Nicolas Otamendi, Rodrigo De Paul, Leandro Paredes, and Giuliano Simeone are also contenders for starting roles against Zâmbia.

In the meantime, Willard Mwanza is expected to be the choice in goal, facing a challenging night against Argentina’s diverse attacking options.

The 28-year-old will hope for solid defensive support from his backline, which might include Kondwani Chiboni, Brian Chilimina, Dominic Chanda, and Tinklar Sinkala.

At the opposite end of the pitch, Leicester City’s Patson Daka could emerge as one of Zâmbia’s primary threats, having netted 21 goals in 46 international appearances.

Argentina probable starting XI:

Martinez; Molina, Romero, Otamendi, Rojas; Simeone, Paredes, De Paul, Almada; Messi, Alvarez

Zâmbia probable starting XI:

Mwanza; Chiboni, Chilimana, Chanda, Sinkala; Chisala, Chaiwa; Mulambia, Daka, Kangwanda; Sakala

Argentina will be determined to deliver an enhanced performance compared to Friday’s underwhelming result against Mauritânia, and we anticipate they will exhibit their quality to conclude the March international window with a comfortable win.