After several days of waiting, it is finally the turn of the Argentine National Team. At Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, the Albiceleste will face Algeria this Tuesday in their debut in the 2026 World Cup, corresponding to the first match of Group J, with the mission of starting the journey to defend the title won in Qatar 2022.
The team led by Lionel Scaloni arrives at this match as the No. 1 in the FIFA Ranking and with a perfect record in the matches played so far this year. Of their four friendlies played during international windows, the national team won all, although against much lower-level opponents (2-1 against Mauritania, 5-0 against Zambia, 2-0 against Honduras, and 3-0 against Iceland).
On the other side, the team led by Bosnian Vladimir Petković comes off a decent performance in the Africa Cup of Nations, where they reached the quarter-finals (eliminated by Nigeria), and with a good streak of results in their FIFA date appearances. In 2026, “The Desert Foxes” achieved 3 victories, two of them by large margins (7-0 against Guatemala and 4-0 against Bolivia) and one against a European powerhouse (1-0 against the Netherlands away), and 1 draw (0-0 against Uruguay).
Regarding their history, Argentina and Algeria have faced each other on only one occasion, during a friendly in 2007 that ended with a 4-3 victory for the Albiceleste, which included a brace from Lionel Messi, the only active player from that team.
With this match, the National Team will play their 27th match against African countries. In the previous 26, they achieved a total of 20 victories, 2 draws, and 4 losses. Additionally, within that list, there are 6 World Cup matches: 5 against Nigeria (all wins in 1994, 2002, 2010, 2014, and 2018) and 1 against Cameroon (loss in the debut of Italy 1990).
On their part, Algeria has faced CONMEBOL teams on 12 occasions, with a record of 5 victories, 2 draws, and 5 losses. In World Cups, they had two matches, one in Spain 1982 (win against Chile) and another in Mexico 1986 (loss to Brazil).
Time and TV for Argentina vs. Algeria
The National Team's debut in Group J against the Africans will be this Tuesday, June 16 at 22:00 (Argentina time) at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. The match will be broadcast on television through the channels of Telefe, TyC Sports, TV Pública, and Dsports, and on Disney+ Premium, DGO, and Paramount+ for streaming.
Possible Lineups
Argentina (4-3-3):
Goalkeeper: Emiliano Martínez
Defenders: Facundo Medina, Nicolás Otamendi, Cristian Romero, and Gonzalo Montiel
Midfielders: Enzo Fernández, Alexis Mac-Allister, and Rodrigo de Paul
