Argentine national soccer team / world championships

Argentina
Argentina

World Cup record goalscorer:	Gabriel Batistuta (10)
World Cup record players:	Diego Maradona (21)
Rank :	4th
Organizer:	1978
Balance sheet
81 World Cup games 43 wins 15 draws 23 defeats 137: 93 goals
statistics
First World Cup game Argentina 1-0 France Montevideo ( URU ); July 15, 1930
Biggest World Cup victories Argentina 6-0 Peru Rosario ( ARG ); June 21, 1978 Argentina 6-0 Serbia & Montenegro Gelsenkirchen ( DEU ); June 16, 2006
Biggest World Cup defeat Argentina 1: 6 Czechoslovakia Helsingborg ( SWE ); June 15, 1958
successes
World Championship
Participation in the finals	17 ( first : 1930 )
Best results	World champion 1978 , 1986
Best placements in the countries that host the FIFA World Cup
(As of June 30, 2018 )

The article contains a detailed description of the Argentine national soccer team at world championships :

overview

Argentina have reached the World Cup finals 16 times and so far failed to qualify once. Argentina became world champions twice.

year	Host country	Participation until ...	Last opponents	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
1930	Uruguay	final	Uruguay	2nd place	Francisco Olazar
1934	Italy	Round of 16	Sweden	9.	Felipe Pascucci	The World Cup, carried out in the knockout system, began directly with the round of 16
1938	France	withdrawn	---	---	---	Withdrawn in qualifying before the games against Brazil
1950	Brazil	withdrawn	---	---	---	Withdrawn in qualifying before the games against Bolivia and Chile
1954	Switzerland	no participation	---	---	---
1958	Sweden	Preliminary round	Germany, Northern Ireland, Czechoslovakia	13.	Guillermo Stábile	First game against Germany, biggest defeat (against Czechoslovakia)
1962	Chile	Preliminary round	Bulgaria, England, Hungary	10.	Juan Carlos Lorenzo
1966	England	Quarter finals	England	5.	Juan Carlos Lorenzo
1970	Mexico	not qualified	---	---	---	Failed in qualification to Peru
1974	Germany	Intermediate round	Brazil, GDR, Netherlands	8th.	Vladislao cap
1978	Argentina	final	Netherlands	1st place	César Luis Menotti	1st world title
1982	Spain	Intermediate round	Brazil, Italy	11.	César Luis Menotti	Loss in the opening game. Maradona was sent off in the game against Brazil
1986	Mexico	final	Germany	1st place	Carlos Bilardo	Hand of God
1990	Italy	final	Germany	2nd place	Carlos Bilardo	Another defeat in the opening game
1994	United States	Round of 16	Romania	10.	Alfio Basile	Last game by Maradona (suspended for doping)
1998	France	Quarter finals	Netherlands	6th	Daniel Passarella
2002	South Korea / Japan	Preliminary round	England, Nigeria, Sweden	18th	Marcelo Bielsa
2006	Germany	Quarter finals	Germany	6th	José Pekerman	Only defeat on penalties
2010	South Africa	Quarter finals	Germany	5.	Diego Maradona	Biggest defeat (0: 4) against Germany
2014	Brazil	final	Germany	2nd place	Alejandro Sabella	3rd final against Germany, 0-1 in extra time
2018	Russia	Round of 16	France	16.	Jorge Sampaoli	First World Cup defeat against France (3: 4).

Statistics (data including 2018: 21 World Championships; percentages are rounded)

• Not qualified: 1 × (5%; 1970)
• No participation: 3 × (14%; 1938, 1950, 1954)

• Athletic qualification (including participation as defending champion): 14 × (67% or 93% of the attempts)
• Participated without qualification (including automatic qualification as host): 3 × (14%; 1930, 1934, 1978)
  • Preliminary round: 3 × (14%; 1958, 1962 and 2002)
  • Round of 16 or first round: 3 × (14%; 1934, 1998 and 2018)
  • Last twelve: 1 × (5%; 1982)
  • Last eight, quarter-finals or intermediate round: 5 times (24%; 1966, 1974, 1998, 2006 and 2010)
  • Final: 5 × (24%; 1930, 1978, 1986, 1990 and 2014)
    • World Champion: 2 × (10%; 1978, 1986)

Most frequent last opponent: Germany (5 ×, only won once)

World Championship 1930

The Argentine team before the game against Mexico

The Argentine Ball of the Final

At the first World Cup in neighboring Uruguay, at the instigation of Argentinian Adrian Beccar Varela took place there and did not have to qualify for which Argentina due to the small number of participants, Argentina reached after preliminary round victories against Chile , Mexico and France , as well as the semi-final victory against the United States the final against the hosts Uruguay . Both had faced each other two years earlier at the Olympic Games in the final, which could only be won by Uruguay in the replay, while Argentina won the South American Championship a year earlier . For the finale, numerous spectators had traveled by ship from Argentina. The Belgian referee John Langenus demanded that the 60,000 spectators be checked for weapons, whereupon a total of 1,600 pistols were confiscated. Since both teams could not agree on which ball to play with, the referee decided that the Argentine and Uruguayan ball should be played for one half each. Argentina took a 2-1 lead in the first half, while their neighbors turned the game around in the second half and became the first world champions with 4-2. For Argentina the title of top scorer remained: Guillermo Stábile , 1958 World Cup coach Argentina, had scored the most goals of the tournament with eight goals. Four players who had won the silver medal at the Olympic Games two years earlier played in the final: Juan Evaristo , Manuel Ferreira , Luis Monti and Fernando Paternóster .

World Championship 1934

At the World Cup in Italy, Argentina was one of the only South American teams alongside Brazil (four years earlier, seven teams from South America had participated). Since Chile did not qualify, no qualifying games were necessary. Argentina arrived as South American champions from 1929 and vice world champions, but since only the amateur federation was a member of FIFA out of two competing associations, they only sent one amateur team to the tournament. As an outsider, they did surprisingly well against Sweden at first , but then lost just 3-2, their first defeat against a European team. The tournament ended after only one game for Argentina at the World Cup, which was carried out entirely in the knockout system. It was the only game of the Argentines under Felipe Pascucci and it wasn't until 24 years later that Argentina would take part in a World Cup again.

World Championships in 1938, 1950 and 1954

Argentina did not take part in these three world championships. In 1938 Argentina had applied to host the event, but was defeated in the vote by France, and then, like in 1950, withdrew the team after registration. In 1954 there was no registration.

World Championship 1958

Argentina traveled to the World Cup in Sweden as the South American champion . a. Brazil was beaten 3-0 and was considered one of the favorites. In qualifying , the team prevailed against Bolivia and Chile , but lost to Bolivia for the first time at the height of La Paz . But coach Guillermo Stábile had to do without Antonio Angelillo , Rogelio Domínguez , Humberto Maschio and Omar Sívori , who moved to Europe after winning the South American Championship, which is why the association refused to nominate them. In addition, football in Europe had changed. Some coaches had reacted to the flood of goals four years earlier at the World Cup in Switzerland and introduced sideways straddling after the ball. In the first game, Argentina faced reigning world champions Germany , who had already successfully started with this new style of play in 1954. The Argentines had to play in yellow IFK Malmö jerseys on the instructions of the referee , as their blue and white striped jerseys were too similar to the white ones of the German team - at least with the quality of the television broadcast at the time. They were able to take the lead in the third minute, but had to accept two goals by the only 21-year-old Uwe Seeler and the World Cup hero Helmut Rahn before the break . When Rahn made it 3-1 in the second half, the game was decided. In the second game Argentina won 3: 1 against Northern Ireland , but in the final game the Argentinians suffered their highest defeat to date with a 1: 6 against Czechoslovakia and were eliminated from the bottom of the group. Upon arrival at the airport in Buenos Aires , the players were pelted with coins and insulted as traitors to the fatherland.

World Championship 1962

Since in addition to hosts Chile and defending champions Brazil, who were automatically qualified, only seven South American teams had registered for three places, these places were played in two-legged matches between two teams and Paraguay had to play against the winners of the North and Central America qualifiers . Argentina met Ecuador and won both games. Coach Juan Lorenzo had only taken over two months before the World Cup and did not survive the World Cup, because Argentina ended the preliminary round in 1962. After a 1-0 win against the Bulgarians who took part for the first time , Argentina lost 3-1 to England , which started the Argentine-English football rivalry. Due to the final 0-0 draw against Hungary , Argentina only managed to get 3rd place due to the poorer goal difference for the first time. The departure of the Argentine team was also a disadvantage for hosts Chile , as they had expected an influx of spectators from the neighboring country, which then did not materialize .

World Championship 1966

Game scene from the preliminary round against Germany with Luis Artime and Wolfgang Weber

Argentina qualified for the World Cup in England by playing against Paraguay and Bolivia and was even able to win for the first time at La Paz against Bolivia, which had won the Copa America there two years earlier . At the World Cup, two victories against Switzerland and European champions Spain as well as a 0-0 win against eventual runner-up Germany were enough to make it into the quarter-finals against hosts England. In an extremely tough game, in which Antonio Rattín was sent off by German referee Rudolf Kreitlein , England prevailed 1-0. The fact that Rattin could only be led off the field by English police officers after he was sent off led to the introduction of red and yellow cards to avoid linguistic misunderstandings.

World Championship 1970

Argentina failed for the first and to date last time in the World Cup qualification . The Peruvian team , trained by the former Brazilian world champion Didi , qualified for the World Cup for the first time and left Bolivia, which won against both at La Paz , and Argentina behind.

1974 World Cup

Scene from the preliminary round match against Poland with Ramón Heredia and Grzegorz Lato

After Argentina surprisingly failed to qualify for the 1970 World Cup, they did not return to a World Cup until 1974. In the qualification , Argentina prevailed against Paraguay and Bolivia and was able to win again in La Paz , but coach Omar Sívori ended his activity with the last qualifying game and was replaced by Vladislao Cap two months before the World Cup . In the first game of the preliminary round, to their surprise, they quickly fell 2-0 against the underestimated " state amateurs " of the Olympic champion and later third Poland , but were able to fight for a 2: 3 in the second half. After a 1-1 draw against Italy , a 4-1 win against World Cup newcomers Haiti was enough for them to reach the second round due to the more goals scored than second in the group. There they met the best team of the tournament in the first game and went down 4-0 against the Dutch . Argentina also suffered a defeat in their second game against arch rivals Brazil. The last game against the newcomer to the World Cup GDR was meaningless and ended with 1: 1. After the World Cup, César Luis Menotti took over the coaching position and began to rebuild.

World Championship 1978

Lineups in the 1978 final

The World Cup in their own country , for which Argentina was automatically qualified, began for the Argentinians trained by César Luis Menotti , who competed without Diego Maradona , who made his international debut on February 27, 1977 at the age of 16, with two 2: 1 wins against Hungary and France . In the final game for group victory, however, they lost 1-0 to Italy . Argentina had to make it into the intermediate group with Brazil, Peru (which had blocked their way to Mexico eight years earlier) and Poland . After a 2-0 win against Poland and a 0-0 win against Brazil, they had to win the last game against Peru by at least four goals. In the end it was a 6-0 and the second final for Argentina. In Brazil in particular, allegations of bribery were raised. The Peruvian goalkeeper admitted several decades later that they deliberately lost big. In the final they met again the Dutch, who had humiliated them in 1974 and were already in the final in 1974, but now competed without their star Johan Cruyff . In a heated game, Argentina took the lead through Mario Kempes in the 38th minute and then had to fend off the attacks of the Dutch, which only succeeded until the 80th minute. In the following overtime, the Argentines had the greater reserves of strength. Kempes with his 6th tournament goal, which made him the top scorer of the tournament, and Daniel Bertoni with the goal to make it 3-1, ensured Argentina's first World Cup title.

World Championship 1982

Argentina continued to work with Menotti, who four years later tried to defend the title. He hadn't used the young Maradona in 1978 so as not to burn it up. In 1979 Menotti watched the Argentine junior team at the Junior Football World Cup , which Argentina won. An outstanding Maradona had led the team and he should be the playmaker of the national team, with which Menotti wanted to defend the title in 1982. At the end of 1980 / beginning of 1981 Argentina took part in the Mundialito in Uruguay. There they defeated European champions Germany and played a draw against the Brazilians. Because of the poorer goal difference, they were eliminated undefeated.

At the 1982 World Cup in Spain, for which Argentina was automatically qualified as defending champion, Argentina took on the same defensive line as in 1978. The offensive department had been renewed with Maradona, Juan Barbas , Ramón Díaz and Jorge Valdano . The tournament was very unfortunate for the Argentines. The tournament and preparation for the tournament were overshadowed by the Falklands War , which Argentina lost and in which 655 Argentinians died. The World Cup began on June 13th and Argentina signed the deed of surrender on June 14th.

Argentina was the first world champion to lose the opening game of a World Cup. Argentina found no means against the offside trap perfected by the vice European champions Belgium with the new star Diego Maradona and had to accept the 0-1 in the 62nd minute, which was enough for the Belgians to win. After victories against Hungary and El Salvador , however, it was enough for second place and entry into the intermediate round. Here Argentina met Brazil again and the Italians, who struggled to get into this round, lost both games (1: 2 against Italy and 1: 3 against Brazil). Italy put the man marker Claudio Gentile on Maradona, who took him out of the game with legal and illegal means. Argentina had no chance in the game against Brazil and lost Maradona to a dismissal.

1986 World Championship

The Argentine team before the opening game against South Korea

Starting line-ups in the 1986 final (later on Rudi Völler came on in the 46th minute for Allofs, Dieter Hoeneß in the 62nd minute for Magath and Marcelo Trobbiani in the 90th minute for Burruchaga)

After the World Cup in Spain Menotti had led the team for another year, but did not play any games during that time, and then passed responsibility to Carlos Bilardo . This had initiated a change and successfully led Argentina against Peru, Colombia and Venezuela through the World Cup qualification . From the 1978 team only Daniel Passarella was left, but he was no longer used. Next to Maradona, striker Jorge Valdano was the only real star on the team. The rest consisted of very solid, tactically disciplined technicians who worked for the director Maradona. Jorge Burruchaga in particular should be one of the positive surprises of the tournament. The 1986 World Cup then became the Maradonas World Cup. No other player had dominated a tournament like this before or later. He was directly or indirectly involved in almost all goals of the Albiceleste and led Argentina sovereignly through the preliminary and knockout rounds into the final, but he committed an unsporting behavior in the quarter-finals against England: He played the ball with his hand ( the "Hand of God" ) over the English goalkeeper Peter Shilton to 1-0 into the goal. His solo run to the subsequent 2-0 was later voted World Cup goal of the century. In the semi-finals, opponents Belgium never had a real chance, Maradona scored two dream goals and secured the final. In the final against Germany he was less dominant because he was consistently put under man marking by Lothar Matthäus . But when Germany was able to equalize a 2-0 deficit shortly before the end and pressed for the winning goal, Maradona managed the decisive pass to Burruchaga, which Burruchaga was able to complete with the 3-2 winner. Maradona was consequently awarded the Golden Ball for the second time as the best player of the tournament.

World Cup 1990

Argentina was automatically qualified as the defending champion and was led back to the World Cup by Carlos Bilardo . Again Argentina lost the opening game of the second World Cup in Italy , again 0-1, this time against Cameroon , which was the first time Argentina lost to an African team. After a victory against the Soviet Union and a draw against Romania , it was only possible to reach the second round as third in the group. Here they met the World Cup favorites Brazil , who had survived the preliminary round without losing points but not convincingly. In this game the Brazilians showed their best tournament performance, but bit their teeth against the Argentine defense. Shortly before the end, Maradona managed a stroke of genius, which led to the 1-0 winner by Claudio Caniggia . Argentina then survived the quarter and semi-finals against Yugoslavia and hosts Italy on penalties , so that the final against Germany was repeated. In this Maradona was largely neutralized by Guido Buchwald , which earned Buchwald the nickname "Diego". Argentina didn't get a single chance to score and one could assume that Argentina were looking for the penalty shoot-out again, especially since they had a penalty killer in Sergio Goycochea who had saved two penalties in each of the previous rounds. They also managed to survive several good scoring chances for the German team and they were initially lucky with the referee's decisions. It was not until the 85th minute after a controversial attack against Rudi Völler that a penalty against Argentina was decided, which Andreas Brehme was able to convert to a 1-0 win for Germany. Shortly afterwards, Gustavo Dezotti, the second Argentine, was sent off; Pedro Monzón had already been hit in the 64th minute , causing Argentina to lose the first player in a World Cup final to being sent off. Carlos Bilardo's term of office ended with the lost final.

World Championship 1994

Even if vice world champion Argentina was the last team to qualify for the World Cup in the intercontinental qualification against Australia , Argentina traveled to the tournament in the USA as one of the favorites. In 1991 and 1993 they had won the Copa America and with Gabriel Batistuta one of the best strikers in the world in the team. The World Cup in the USA began for Argentina, who played again with Maradona, who had not played any international matches between the lost World Cup final in 1990 and February 1993, with a convincing 4-0 against World Cup newcomers Greece . Against the other newcomer, Africa champion Nigeria , it was just enough to a 2-1, but in the final group game they lost 2-0 to the strengthening Bulgarians , who survived the preliminary round of a World Cup for the first time in 1994 and ended up fourth. Nevertheless, third place in the group was enough to make it to the round of 16. However, Maradona was convicted of ephedrine doping after the game against Bulgaria and was excluded from the tournament. Since Argentina only had a two-day break before the round of 16, it was not enough to advance. Romania retained the upper hand 3-2 . After the World Cup, Alfio Basile was replaced as coach, who had taken over after the lost World Cup final in 1990.

World Championship 1998

In qualifying for the second World Cup in France , for which Brazil was automatically qualified as defending champion, all nine remaining CONMEBOL members competed for the first time in every-against-everyone games, in which Argentina prevailed as the best team, with only in the high stadiums of Quito and La Paz against Ecuador and Bolivia respectively.

Argentina survived the preliminary round against the first-time qualified teams from Jamaica , Japan and Croatia (surprisingly third in the World Cup) without losing points or conceding a goal. In the round of 16, a new chapter in the Argentine-English rivalry was written, in which Argentina could rely on the weakness of the English on penalties . In the quarter-finals against the Netherlands , it looked like an extra time for a long time, but shortly before the end of the game, Dennis Bergkamp scored the 2-1 winner for the Dutch.

World Championship 2002

The 10 South American teams competed again in an everyone-against-everyone qualification , which Argentina won with a 12 point lead over the runner-up. Only the game in Brazil was lost. But the 1999 Copa America failed to make it through the quarter-finals, and in 2001 Argentina did not take part due to threats from terrorists. At the first World Cup in Asia , Argentina had to give up in the preliminary round for the first time since 1962. After a 1-0 win against Nigeria , a 0-1 win against England and a 1-1 draw against Sweden , it was only enough for third place, which has not been enough for the round of 16 since 1998.

World Championship 2006

Supporter of the Argentine national team at the 2006 World Cup preliminary round against Serbia and Montenegro

For the second World Cup in Germany , Argentina had equal points with Brazil, which had to qualify as the defending champion for the first time, prevailed in the again held every-against-everyone qualification and was in the "death group" with the Netherlands, Ivory Coast (second of African Championship 2006 ) with Didier Drogba and Serbia & Montenegro , for whom the World Cup games were the last of this confederation. In one of the best tournament games Argentina won 2-1 against Ivory Coast and after a 6-0 win against Serbia & Montenegro, a 0-0 win against the Dutch was enough to win the group. In the second round, however, the extra time and a goal by Maxi Rodríguez had to serve to win against Mexico 2-1 and to reach the quarter-finals against Germany . Here Argentina led 1-0 from the 49th minute and looked like the sure winner for a long time. As Germany stepped up their offensive efforts, coach Pekerman switched his best players Juan Román Riquelme and Hernán Crespo in the 72nd and 79th minutes to strengthen the defensive. This proved to be a mistake, as a goal from Miroslav Klose in the 80th minute brought extra time, which remained goalless. Since the goalkeeper had to be replaced with an injury, Lionel Messi could not be substituted on either. So it came to the penalty shootout in which Germany won 4-2, as the German goalkeeper Jens Lehmann was able to save two penalties while the German shooters converted everyone. After the final whistle, Argentine players started a fight with the German players. Torsten Frings , who fought back, was then banned from the semi-finals by FIFA . Coach José Pekerman , national coach since October 2004 and under whom the U-20 team had won three U-20s , resigned immediately after the end.

World Championship 2010

Scene from the quarterfinals with Lionel Messi and Lukas Podolski

In the qualification for the World Cup , Argentina had long-term problems. It was only after Diego Maradona took over as coach that Argentina managed to turn things around, but suffered one of its greatest defeats against Bolivia with a 1: 6 in the 3600 m high stadium in La Paz . In fourth place, Argentina only just managed to qualify directly by winning 1-0 against arch rivals Uruguay on the last day of the match , which meant that they had to qualify via the intercontinental qualification .

The World Cup in South Africa showed some parallels to the previous World Cup: Argentina again survived the preliminary round in a sovereign manner, this time with victories against Nigeria , South Korea and Greece and Mexico was again beaten in the round of 16 . Argentina, for example, reached the quarter-finals as favorites, in which Germany was waiting again , but fell behind in the third minute due to the future top scorer Thomas Müller . As a result, the German team dominated the game and came up with more opportunities, but they were missed. It was only towards the end of the first and the beginning of the second half that Argentina could find their way into the game and put Germany under pressure. But since no chance could be used, the game turned again in the middle of the second half, with the difference that Germany could now take advantage of the opportunities presented and in the end could win the highest win against Argentina 4-0. After the World Cup, Diego Maradona was sacked and the coaching position was taken over by Sergio Batista , with whom he had become world champion in 1986. He was no longer in office at the next World Cup.

World Championship 2014

→ Main article : Football World Cup 2014 / Argentina

The finalists before the final

Scene from the final with Gonzalo Higuaín, Manuel Neuer and Mats Hummels

Argentina had disappointed at their home Copa in 2011 and was only able to win against Costa Rica , but the qualification for the World Cup in Brazil under the new coach Alejandro Sabella was completed with confidence. After the quarter-finals at the Copa, Sabella took over as coach from Sergio Batista and made Lionel Messi captain. Already ahead of schedule, on September 10, 2013, the team secured their place in the field of World Cup participants.

In the group stage of the finals, Argentina met Bosnia-Herzegovina (2-1) and Iran (1-0) for the first time at a World Cup and, as in 2010, Nigeria (3-2). In the round of 16, the team defeated Switzerland 1-0 nV with a goal from Ángel Di María in the 118th minute of the game. In the quarter-finals they also prevailed 1-0, this time against Belgium . Gonzalo Higuaín scored the goal after 8 minutes. Argentina reached the semi-finals for the first time since 1990 and met the Netherlands team . As in 2006, neither team scored a goal, not even in extra time. For example, Argentina was the first team to have to look for the decision on penalties for the fifth time at a World Cup and could rely on goalkeeper Sergio Romero , who was the third Argentine goalkeeper to save two penalties in a World Cup penalty shoot-out, while the first four Argentines safely converted, so that the fifth Argentine no longer had to compete. In the final, Argentina met Germany for the seventh time at a World Cup and third time in the final and lost 1-0 on a n. With the lost World Cup final, the term of office of Alejandro Sabella , who resigned 16 days after the final, ended.

World Championship 2018

In the qualification all 10 CONMEBOL members joined from October 2015 again in home and away matches against each other. The best four teams qualified directly, the fifth must play against a member of another confederation in playoff games. Argentina started with a home game against Ecuador. A home game against Ecuador was lost for the first time with 0: 2 and in the next game in Paraguay the Argentinians were without a goal, but at least they did not concede a goal. After a 1-1 draw against Brazil, the 1-0 win in Colombia, which last lost a home game against Argentina 5 years ago, was the first victory. In the four games, the Argentines, who have been coached by Gerardo Martino since 2014, had to do without the injured Lionel Messi . After the final defeat at the Copa América Centenario 2016 , Messi announced his resignation from the national team and Martino resigned as national coach. His successor Edgardo Bauza was able to persuade Messi to make a comeback. Under Bauza only three of the next eight qualifying games could be won, so that the Argentines were only in fifth place in the table before the last four games, which entitles them to playoff games against a team from another confederation. The Argentinians also feared that Messi would be suspended for the next four qualifying matches following a decision by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee following an insult to an assistant referee in the match against Chile on March 23. The decision of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee was overturned by the FIFA Appeal Committee on May 5, so that Messi could be used in the final qualifying matches. In April 2017, coach Bauza was dismissed, who then became coach of the United Arab Emirates in May. He was succeeded by Jorge Sampaoli , who won the 2015 Copa America against Argentina with the Chilean team . Under him, the Argentines played in each of the following three qualifying games, so that they were only in sixth place before the last game. This game took the Argentines to Quito , 2850 meters high , where they last won a game against Ecuador in 2001, but then lost and drew twice. Ecuador, which had started the qualification with four wins, then slacked off considerably and even before this game had no chance to qualify for the World Cup. In the game, which was only decisive for the Argentines, they fell behind after 37 seconds. In the 11th minute, Messi was able to equalize, in the 18th minute put the Argentines in the lead and in the 62nd minute made the 3-1 final score. In addition, since the teams from Colombia and Peru that were placed in front of them drew in the parallel games and Chile lost in Brazil, Argentina jumped to third place and qualified directly for the World Cup finals. With a total of 21 goals in World Cup qualifiers, Lionel Messi is now together with Luis Suárez the best South American World Cup qualifying scorer . They replaced the Argentine Hernán Crespo as the best South American in this qualification , who had scored a total of 18 goals in the qualifications of the 1998, 2002 and 2006 World Cups.

In Russia, Argentina only drew 1-1 in their first group match against World Cup newcomers Iceland as the Icelandic goalkeeper saved a penalty from Lionel Messi in the 64th minute . In the second game they lost against Croatia after a goalless first half with 0: 3. So the Argentines had to win in the last game against Nigeria to reach the round of 16. Messi gave his team the lead after 14 minutes, but they equalized with a penalty in the 51st minute. This would mean that Nigeria, which had also lost against Croatia but won against Iceland, would have reached the round of 16 as second in the group. In the 87th Marcos Rojo scored the 2-1 winner. In the first round of 16 of the tournament, the Argentines faced France and it was the knockout game with the highest number of goals in the World Cup. The French took the lead in the 13th minute when Antoine Griezmann converted a penalty kick. In the 41st minute, Ángel Di María was able to equalize with a shot from around 27.6 meters and shortly after the break Argentina even took the lead. Nine minutes later, Benjamin Pavard was able to equalize with the late goal of the tournament and Kylian Mbappé , the tournament's best young professional, scored two more goals. Substitute Sergio Agüero only managed to hit the next goal in stoppage time. Two weeks after the World Cup ended, the association terminated the contract with coach Sampaoli after initially saying he could continue working.

player

Ranking of the Argentine World Cup players with the most appearances

01. Diego Maradona - 21 appearances in 4 tournaments (4th place on the record list)

02. Javier Mascherano - 20 appearances in 4 tournaments

03. Lionel Messi - 19 appearances in 4 tournaments

04. Mario Kempes - 18 appearances in 3 tournaments

05. Oscar Ruggeri - 17 appearances in 4 tournaments

06. Jorge Burruchaga and Gonzalo Higuaín - 14 appearances in 2 and 3 tournaments respectively

08. Ángel Di María , Ubaldo Fillol - 13 appearances in 3 tournaments

10. Sergio Agüero , Gabriel Batistuta , Jorge Olguín , Julio Olarticoechea , Luis Galván , René Houseman , Daniel Passarella , Maxi Rodríguez , Sergio Romero and Alberto Tarantini - 12 appearances each in 2 and 3 (Batistuta, Di María, Rodríguez) tournaments

20. Américo Gallego , Ariel Ortega , Daniel Bertoni , Diego Simeone , Juan Verón , Osvaldo Ardiles , Ricardo Giusti and Sergio Batista - 11 appearances in 2 and 3 (Agüero, Ortega, Simeone, Veron, Rodríguez) tournaments

28. Claudio Caniggia and Roberto Ayala - 10 appearances each in 2 and 3 (Caniggia) tournaments

Ranking of the Argentine World Cup players with the most goals

1. Gabriel Batistuta - 10 goals (8th place on the leaderboard)

2. Guillermo Stábile , Diego Maradona - 8 goals each

4. Mario Kempes , Lionel Messi - 6 goals each

6. Gonzalo Higuaín - 5 goals

7. Hernán Crespo , Leopoldo Luque , René Houseman , Jorge Valdano , Claudio Caniggia , Daniel Bertoni - 4 goals each

World Cup captains

• 1930: Manuel Ferreira , Ángel Bossio (2nd group game)
• 1934: Alfredo De Vincenzi
• 1958: Pedro Dellacha
• 1962: Rubén Navarro , Martín Pando (3rd game)
• 1966: Antonio Rattín
• 1974: Roberto Perfumo (1st to 4th game), Miguel Brindisi (5th game), Enrique Wolff (6th game)
• 1978, 1982: Daniel Passarella
• 1986, 1990, 1994: Diego Maradona , Óscar Ruggeri (3rd group match and round of 16 1994, as Maradona suspended for doping)
• 1998: Diego Simeone
• 2002: Juan Sebastián Verón
• 2006: Juan Pablo Sorín , Roberto Ayala (3rd group game)
• 2010: Javier Mascherano , Lionel Messi (3rd group game)
• 2014, 2018: Lionel Messi

Share of players playing abroad in the World Cup squad

No "legionnaires" were deployed up to and including 1966. In 1958, the players Antonio Angelillo , Rogelio Domínguez , Humberto Maschio and Omar Sívori , who moved to Europe after winning the South American Championship in 1957 , were dispensed with . It was not until 1974 that players working abroad were increasingly appointed to the squad and, with the exception of 1994, from 1990 legionaries made up the majority of the squad.

Year (games)	Number (countries)	Players (stakes)
1930-1934	0
1958-1966	0
1974 (6)	6 (1 in Brazil, 1 in France, 1 in Portugal, 3 in Spain)	Roberto Perfumo (4); Ángel Bargas (3); Héctor Yazalde (3); Rubén Ayala (6), Daniel Carnevali (5), Ramón Heredia (6)
1978 (7)	1 (Spain)	Mario Kempes (7)
1982 (5)	4 (1 in England, 2 in Italy, 1 in Spain)	Osvaldo Ardiles (5); Daniel Bertoni (5), Daniel Passarella (5); Jorge Valdano (2)
1986 (7)	7 (1 in France, 3 in Italy, 1 in Mexico, 2 in Spain)	Jorge Burruchaga (7); Diego Maradona (7), Pedro Pasculli (2) Daniel Passarella (0); Hector Zelada (0); Marcelo Trobbiani (1), Jorge Valdano (7)
1990 (7)	14 (1 in Germany, 2 in France, 7 in Italy, 1 in Colombia, 1 in Mexico, 2 in Spain)	José Basualdo (7); Jorge Burruchaga (7), Gabriel Calderon (5); Abel Balbo (1), Claudio Caniggia (6), Gustavo Dezotti (3), Néstor Lorenzo (3), Diego Maradona (7), Roberto Néstor Sensini (2), Pedro Troglio (6); Sergio Goycochea (6); Edgardo Bauza (0); Nery Pumpido (2); Oscar Ruggeri (5)
1994 (4)	11 (1 in Chile, 1 in Germany, 5 in Italy, 1 in Japan, 3 in Spain)	Sergio Vazquez (0); Leonardo Rodríguez (1); Abel Balbo (4), Gabriel Batistuta (4), Claudio Caniggia (3), José Chamot (4), Roberto Néstor Sensini (3); Ramon Medina Bello (2); Fernando Cáceres (4), Fernando Redondo (4), Diego Simeone (4)
1998 (5)	16 (11 in Italy, 1 in Switzerland, 4 in Spain)	Matías Almeyda (5), Roberto Ayala (5), Abel Balbo (2), Gabriel Batistuta (5), José Chamot (4), Hernán Crespo (1), Héctor Pineda (3), Roberto Néstor Sensini (3), Diego Simeone (5), Juan Sebastián Verón (5), Javier Zanetti (5); Nelson Vivas (4); Claudio López (5), Ariel Ortega (5), Pablo Paz (1), Carlos Roa (5)
2002 (3)	21 (1 in Brazil, 1 in Germany, 1 in England, 2 in France (including Monaco), 8 in Italy, 1 in Scotland, 7 in Spain)	Juan Pablo Sorin (3); Diego Placente (2); Juan Sebastián Verón (3); Marcelo Gallardo (0), Mauricio Pochettino (3); Matías Almeyda (1), Gabriel Batistuta (3), José Chamot (1), Hernán Crespo (3), Claudio López (3), Walter Samuel (3), Diego Simeone (2), Javier Zanetti (3); Claudio Caniggia (0); Pablo Aimar (3), Roberto Ayala (0), Roberto Bonano (0), Germán Burgos (0), Pablo Cavallero (3), Kily González (3), Gustavo López (0)
2006 (5)	20 (2 in Brazil, 3 in England, 4 in Italy, 1 in Portugal, 10 in Spain)	Javier Mascherano (5), Carlos Tévez (4); Hernán Crespo (4), Gabriel Heinze (4), Lionel Scaloni (1); Nicolás Burdisso (3), Esteban Cambiasso (5), Julio Cruz (2), Leandro Cufré (1), Luis González (3); Pablo Aimar (3), Roberto Ayala (5), Fabricio Coloccini (2), Leonardo Franco (1), Lionel Messi (3), Gabriel Milito (1), Juan Román Riquelme (5), Maxi Rodríguez (5), Javier Saviola (3), Juan Pablo Sorín (4)
2010 (5)	17 (1 in Germany, 4 in England, 1 in France, 6 in Italy, 1 in the Netherlands, 1 in Portugal, 3 in Spain)	Martín Demichelis (5); Javier Mascherano (3), Jonás Gutiérrez (3), Maxi Rodríguez (5), Carlos Tévez (4); Gabriel Heinze (4); Mariano Andújar (0), Mario Bolatti (2), Nicolás Burdisso (5), Diego Milito (2), Javier Pastore (3), Walter Samuel (2); Sergio Romero (5); Sergio Agüero (3), Ángel Di María (5); Gonzalo Higuaín (4), Lionel Messi (5)
2014 (7)	20 (3 in England, 2 in France, 7 in Italy, 1 in Mexico, 3 in Portugal, 4 in Spain)	Sergio Agüero (1), Martín Demichelis (3), Pablo Zabaleta (7); Ezequiel Lavezzi (7), Sergio Romero (7); Ricardo Álvarez (1), Mariano Andújar (0), Lucas Biglia (6), Hugo Campagnaro (1), Federico Fernández (4), Gonzalo Higuaín (7), Rodrigo Palacio (5); José María Basanta (2); Ezequiel Garay (7), Enzo Pérez (3), Marcos Rojo (6); Ángel Di María (5), Augusto Fernández (0), Javier Mascherano (7), Lionel Messi (7)
2018 (4)	20 (1 in China, 4 in England, 2 in France, 5 in Italy, 1 in Mexico, 1 in the Netherlands, 2 in Portugal, 3 in Spain)	Javier Mascherano (4); Sergio Agüero (4), Willy Caballero (2), Nicolás Otamendi (4), Marcos Rojo (3); Ángel Di María (3), Giovani Lo Celso ; Cristian Ansaldi , Lucas Biglia (1), Paulo Dybala (1), Federico Fazio (1), Gonzalo Higuaín (3); Nahuel Guzmán ; Nicolás Tagliafico (4); Marcos Acuña (1), Eduardo Salvio (2); Éver Banega (3), Gabriel Mercado (3), Lionel Messi (4)

Players banned from World Championships

• 1966: In the group game against Germany, José Albrecht was the first Argentine to be sent off and was suspended for the last group game against Switzerland. In the quarter-finals, captain Antonio Rattín was sent off for insulting the referee by the German referee Rudolf Kreitlein . Rattín did not understand the referee's gestures and refused to leave the field for 8 minutes until FIFA officials were finally able to convince him to do so. This was one of the reasons for the introduction of yellow and red cards in the following tournaments.
• 1974: Carlos Babington was suspended for the first intermediate round match because he had received three yellow cards in the preliminary round. After receiving the second yellow card in the first intermediate round match , captain Roberto Perfumo was suspended for the second intermediate round match.
• 1982: Américo Gallego received the red card in the second round match against Italy and was suspended for the second round match against Brazil. In this, Diego Maradona also received the red card and would have been suspended for a semi-final. With two defeats Argentina was eliminated in the second round.
• 1986: Oscar Garré received the second yellow card in the round of 16 and was suspended for the quarter-finals. The second yellow card that goalkeeper Nery Pumpido received in the final had no effect.
• 1990: José Serrizuela was suspended for the round of 16 against Brazil after two yellow cards in the group stage, Pedro Monzón was suspended for the quarter-finals against Yugoslavia after two yellow cards and Sergio Batista , Claudio Caniggia and Julio Olarticoechea received the second yellow card in the semi-finals and like Ricardo Giusti , who received the red card in the semi-finals, were banned from the final. Gustavo Dezotti and Pedro Monzón received the red card in the final. The second yellow cards that Diego Maradona and Pedro Troglio received in the final had no effect. The bans for the final prompted FIFA to ignore individual yellow cards received in the preliminary round for the knockout round in the following finals.
• 1994: Diego Maradona tested positive for drugs after the second group game and was excluded from the tournament.
• 1998: Ariel Ortega received the red card in the lost quarter-final game against the Netherlands, which had no further effect in the tournament due to the elimination.
• 2002: Claudio Caniggia received the red card in the last group game against Sweden - sitting on the bench - for insulting the referee. Since Argentina did not survive the preliminary round, the card had no further significance for the tournament.
• 2006: Captain Juan Pablo Sorín received a yellow card in both the last sixteen and quarter-finals and Leandro Cufré was the first player in World Cup history to receive a red card after the end of the game in the lost quarter-finals. As Argentina failed to reach the semi-finals, the cards had no effect on the tournament. Cufré was suspended for four competitive games.
• 2010: Jonás Gutiérrez was suspended for the last group game after two yellow cards in the first two group matches. Captain Javier Mascherano received the second yellow card in the quarter-finals, as Argentina lost the quarter-finals and eliminated it had no effect.
• 2014: Marcos Rojo was banned from the quarter-finals after two yellow cards.

Games

Argentina has played 81 World Cup games against 38 different opponents so far. The last new opponent is Iceland, which was played for the first time in 2018. Only Germany (109/46), Brazil (109/48) and Italy (83/39) have played more World Cup games, played against more different opponents and participated in more finals. 43 games were won, 23 lost (only Mexico lost more) and 15 ended in a draw. Eight draw games had to be extended because a winner had to be determined, twice against Germany. Only two games were regularly won in extra time, plus four games on penalties. One game was lost on penalties, one game in extra time - both against Germany. Argentina took part in the opening game of the World Cup twice (1982, 1990) and lost both as defending champions. So far, the Argentine team had seven home games at world championships and had to play four times against the hosts, once in the final (1930) and in the semi-finals (1990) and twice in the quarter-finals (1966 and 2006).

Argentina played three times against the defending champions: in 1958 against Germany in the preliminary round, in 1974 against Brazil in the intermediate round and in 1986 against Italy in the preliminary round. No game could be won. Argentina have played against the eventual world champions five times so far: in the final against Uruguay in 1930, against England in the quarter-finals in 1966, against Germany in the final in 1990 and 2014 and against France in the last 16 in 2018.

Argentina met World Cup newbies 13 times: 1934 / Sweden, 1958 / Northern Ireland, 1962 / Bulgaria, 1974 / Haiti and GDR, 1994 / Nigeria and Greece, 1998 / Japan, Croatia and Jamaica, 2006 / Ivory Coast, 2014 / Bosnia- Herzegovina and 2018 Iceland.

The most frequent opponents were Germany (7 times) as well as England, Italy, the Netherlands and Nigeria (5 times each). Against the first three teams, only three games could be won "regularly" (one of them by an irregular goal ) and two on penalties.

Argentina has played in 52 World Cup cities so far, most often (5 times each) in Montevideo and Mexico City .

Argentina and Spain are the only world champions who have never been in the official game for third place.

All World Cup games
No.	date	Result	opponent		venue	occasion	Remarks
1	07/15/1930	1-0	France	*	Montevideo ( URU )	Preliminary round	First World Cup game First international game against France
2	07/19/1930	6: 3	Mexico	*	Montevideo ( URU )	Preliminary round	First international match against Mexico
3	07/22/1930	3: 1	Chile	*	Montevideo ( URU )	Preliminary round
4th	07/26/1930	6: 1	United States	*	Montevideo ( URU )	Semifinals
5	07/30/1930	2: 4	Uruguay	A.	Montevideo ( URU )	final	Last international match under Francisco Olazar and Juan José Tramutola
6th	May 27, 1934	2: 3	Sweden	*	Bologna ( ITA )	Round of 16	Only international game under Felipe Pascucci. First international game of a South American team against Sweden. First loss against a European team
7th	06/08/1958	1: 3	BR Germany	*	Malmo ( SWE )	Preliminary round	First international match against Germany
8th	06/11/1958	3: 1	Northern Ireland	*	Halmstad ( SWE )	Preliminary round	First international game for a South American team against Northern Ireland
9	06/15/1958	1: 6	Czechoslovakia	*	Helsingborg ( SWE )	Preliminary round	One of Argentina's four biggest defeats, Guillermo Stábile , is replaced as coach
10	05/30/1962	1-0	Bulgaria	*	Rancagua ( CHI )	Preliminary round	First international match against Bulgaria
11	06/02/1962	1: 3	England	*	Rancagua ( CHI )	Preliminary round
12	06/06/1962	0-0	Hungary	*	Rancagua ( CHI )	Preliminary round	First international match against Hungary Juan Lorenzo replaced as coach
13	07/13/1966	2: 1	Spain	*	Birmingham ( ENG )	Preliminary round
14th	07/16/1966	0-0	BR Germany	*	Birmingham ( ENG )	Preliminary round
15th	07/19/1966	2-0	Switzerland	*	Sheffield ( ENG )	Preliminary round	First international match against Switzerland
16	07/23/1966	0: 1	England	A.	London ( ENG )	Quarter finals	Last international game under Juan Lorenzo
17th	06/15/1974	2: 3	Poland	*	Stuttgart ( DEU )	1. Final round
18th	06/19/1974	1: 1	Italy	*	Stuttgart ( DEU )	1. Final round
19th	06/23/1974	4: 1	Haiti	*	Munich ( DEU )	1. Final round	First international match against Haiti
20th	06/26/1974	0: 4	Netherlands	*	Gelsenkirchen ( DEU )	2nd final round
21st	06/30/1974	1: 2	Brazil	*	Hanover ( DEU )	2nd final round
22nd	07/03/1974	1: 1	GDR	*	Gelsenkirchen ( DEU )	2nd final round	First international game against the GDR. Last international game under Vladislao Cap
23	06/02/1978	2: 1	Hungary	H	Buenos Aires	1. Final round
24	06/06/1978	2: 1	France	H	Buenos Aires	1. Final round
25th	06/10/1978	0: 1	Italy	H	Buenos Aires	1. Final round
26th	06/14/1978	2-0	Poland	H	Rosario	2nd final round
27	06/18/1978	0-0	Brazil	H	Rosario	2nd final round
28	06/21/1978	6-0	Peru	H	Rosario	2nd final round
29	06/25/1978	3: 1 a.d.	Netherlands	H	Buenos Aires	final	First world title. Only win against the Netherlands
30th	06/13/1982	0: 1	Belgium	*	Barcelona ( ESP )	Opening game	First defeat of a reigning world champion in the World Cup opening game
31	06/18/1982	4: 1	Hungary	*	Alicante ( ESP )	1. Final round
32	06/23/1982	2-0	El Salvador	*	Alicante ( ESP )	1. Final round	First international match against El Salvador
33	06/29/1982	1: 2	Italy	*	Barcelona ( ESP )	2nd final round
34	07/02/1982	1: 3	Brazil	*	Barcelona ( ESP )	2nd final round	Last international match under César Luis Menotti
35	06/02/1986	3: 1	South Korea	*	Mexico City ( MEX )	Preliminary round	First international match against South Korea
36	06/05/1986	1: 1	Italy	*	Puebla ( MEX )	Preliminary round
37	06/10/1986	2-0	Bulgaria	*	Mexico City ( MEX )	Preliminary round
38	06/16/1986	1-0	Uruguay	*	Puebla ( MEX )	Round of 16
39	06/22/1986	2: 1	England	*	Mexico City ( MEX )	Quarter finals	Hand of God
40	06/25/1986	2-0	Belgium	*	Mexico City ( MEX )	Semifinals
41	06/29/1986	3: 2	BR Germany	*	Mexico City ( MEX )	final	Second world title
42	06/08/1990	0: 1	Cameroon	*	Milan ( ITA )	Opening game	First international match against Cameroon
43	06/13/1990	2-0	Soviet Union	*	Naples ( ITA )	Preliminary round
44	06/18/1990	1: 1	Romania	*	Naples ( ITA )	Preliminary round
45	06/24/1990	1-0	Brazil	*	Turin ( ITA )	Round of 16
46	06/30/1990	0: 0 n.v. 3: 2 i. E.	Yugoslavia	*	Florence ( ITA )	Quarter finals
47	07/03/1990	1: 1 a.d. 4: 3 i. E.	Italy	A.	Naples ( ITA )	Semifinals
48	07/08/1990	0: 1	BR Germany	*	Rome ( ITA )	final	Last international match under Carlos Bilardo
49	06/21/1994	4-0	Greece	*	Boston ( USA )	Preliminary round	First international match against Greece
50	06/25/1994	2: 1	Nigeria	*	Boston ( USA )	Preliminary round	First international match against Nigeria
51	06/30/1994	0: 2	Bulgaria	*	Dallas ( USA )	Preliminary round	91st and last international match by Diego Maradona
52	07/03/1994	2: 3	Romania	*	Pasadena ( USA )	Round of 16	Alfio Basile replaced as coach
53	06/14/1998	1-0	Japan	*	Toulouse ( FRA )	Preliminary round
54	06/21/1998	5-0	Jamaica	*	Paris ( FRA )	Preliminary round	First international match against Jamaica
55	06/26/1998	1-0	Croatia	*	Bordeaux ( FRA )	Preliminary round
56	06/30/1998	2: 2 n.v. 4: 3 i. E.	England	*	Saint-Etienne	Round of 16	With this international match ended the longest series of clean sheets (8 games)
57	07/04/1998	1: 2	Netherlands	*	Marseille ( FRA )	Quarter finals	Last international match under Daniel Passarella
58	06/02/2002	1-0	Nigeria	*	Sendai ( JPN )	Preliminary round
59	06/07/2002	0: 1	England	*	Sapporo ( JPN )	Preliminary round	106th and last international match by Diego Simeone
60	06/12/2002	1: 1	Sweden	*	Kashima ( JPN )	Preliminary round	78th and last international match by record goalscorer Gabriel Batistuta (56 goals for Argentina)
61	06/10/2006	2: 1	Ivory Coast	*	Hamburg ( DEU )	Preliminary round
62	06/16/2006	6-0	Serbia and Montenegro	*	Gelsenkirchen ( DEU )	Preliminary round	Only international match against Serbia and Montenegro
63	06/21/2006	0-0	Netherlands	*	Frankfurt ( DEU )	World Cup preliminary round
64	06/24/2006	2: 1 a.d.	Mexico	*	Leipzig ( DEU )	Round of 16
65	06/30/2006	1: 1 n.v. 2: 4 i. E.	Germany	A.	Berlin ( DEU )	Quarter finals	Last international match under José Pekerman. First lost penalty shoot-out at a World Cup
66	06/12/2010	1-0	Nigeria	*	Johannesburg ( RSA )	Preliminary round
67	06/17/2010	4: 1	South Korea	*	Bloemfontein ( RSA )	Preliminary round
68	06/22/2010	2-0	Greece	*	Polokwane ( RSA )	Preliminary round
69	06/27/2010	3: 1	Mexico	*	Johannesburg ( RSA )	Round of 16
70	07/03/2010	0: 4	Germany	*	Cape Town ( RSA )	Quarter finals	Biggest defeat against Germany. Last international game under Diego Maradona 50th international game by Lionel Messi
71	06/15/2014	2: 1	Bosnia and Herzegovina	*	Rio de Janeiro ( BRA )	Preliminary round	First World Cup game against Bosnia and Herzegovina
72	06/21/2014	1-0	Iran	*	Belo Horizonte ( BRA )	Preliminary round	First World Cup game against Iran
73	06/25/2014	3: 2	Nigeria	*	Porto Alegre ( BRA )	Preliminary round
74	07/01/2014	1: 0 a.d.	Switzerland	*	Sao Paulo ( BRA )	Round of 16	First knockout game against Switzerland
75	07/05/2014	1-0	Belgium	*	Brasília ( BRA )	Quarter finals
76	07/09/2014	0: 0 n.v. 4: 2 i. E.	Netherlands	*	Sao Paulo ( BRA )	Semifinals
77	07/13/2014	0: 1 a.d.	Germany	*	Rio de Janeiro ( BRA )	final
78	June 16, 2018	1: 1	Iceland	*	Moscow ( RUS )	Group game	First game against Iceland, Javier Mascherano becomes the sole Argentine national record player with his 144th international match
79	June 21, 2018	0: 3	Croatia	*	Nizhny Novgorod ( RUS )	Group game
80	06/26/2018	2: 1	Nigeria	*	Saint Petersburg ( RUS )	Group game	5th preliminary round match against Nigeria (most common preliminary round pairing)
81	06/30/2018	3: 4	France	*	Kazan ( RUS )	Round of 16

The Argentine team achieved their highest victories against the following countries in World Cup tournaments:

•  Greece : preliminary round 1994 - 4-0
•  Iran : Preliminary round 2014 - 1-0 (only win against Iran)
•  Jamaica : Preliminary round 1998 - 5-0 (highest World Cup defeat for Jamaica)
•  Croatia : Preliminary round 1998 - 1-0 (also a 2-1 in a friendly match)
•  Netherlands : 1978 final - 3-1 (only win against the Netherlands)
•  Northern Ireland : preliminary round 1958 - 3-1 (only game against Northern Ireland)
•  Peru : intermediate round 1978 - 6-0
• Serbia and Montenegro : Preliminary round 2006 - 6-0
•  South Korea : Preliminary round 2010 - 4: 1
•  Soviet Union : preliminary round 1990 - 2-0

The Argentine team suffered their biggest defeats at World Cup tournaments against the following countries:

•  Belgium : preliminary round 1982 - 0-1 (only defeat against Belgium)
•  Bulgaria : preliminary round 1994 - 2-0 (only loss to Bulgaria)
•  Germany : quarter-finals 2010 - 4-0 (biggest defeat for Argentina in a knockout round)
•  England : preliminary round 1962 - 1: 3 (also a 1: 3 in a friendly game)
•  Cameroon : Preliminary round 1990 - 0: 1 (only defeat against Cameroon)
•  Croatia : Preliminary round 2018 - 0: 3
•  Poland : preliminary round 1974 - 2-3
•  Romania : Round of 16 1994 - 3-2 (only loss to Romania)
•  Sweden : Round of 16 1934 - 2: 3 (only loss to Sweden)
•  Czechoslovakia : preliminary round 1958 - 1: 6 (only defeat against Czechoslovakia)

Record against the other world champions at world championships

•  Germany : 7 games (including 3 × finals), 1 win, 2 draws (1 defeat new), 4 defeats, 5:12 goals (2: 4 in good condition)
•  England : 5 games, 1 win, 1 draw (won on penalties), 3 defeats, 5-8 goals (4-3 on pens)
•  Italy : 5 games (including 1 semi-finals), 3 draws (including 1 won on penalties), 2 defeats, 4: 6 goals (4: 3 on pens)
•  Brazil : 4 games, 1 win, 1 draw, 2 defeats, 3: 5 goals
•  France : 3 games, 2 wins, 1 loss, 6-5 goals
•  Uruguay : 2 games (including 1 × final), 1 win, 1 loss, 3: 4 goals
•  Spain : 1 game, 1 win, 2-1 goals

Records

(As of July 2018)

• The youngest coach at a World Cup was the Argentine Juan José Tramutola at the age of 27 (Argentina, 1930).
• From 1930 to 1950 Argentina provided Guillermo Stábile, the record goal scorer with five to eight goals. He was also the first World Cup top scorer.
• With Mario Kempes , Argentina provided another top scorer in 1978.
• The most frequent pairing in the final: Germany - Argentina (3 ×, incl. 2014)
• The most common pairings at World Championships: Germany - Argentina and Brazil - Sweden (7 times each, including the 2014 final)
• Gabriel Batistuta is the only player to have scored three goals in one game at two World Cups (against Greece in 1994 and against Jamaica in 1998).

• Two Argentine players scored World Cup anniversary goals:
  • 0900th goal: Héctor Yazalde - the 1-0 in the 4-1 group game against Haiti on June 23, 1974
  • 1500th goal: Claudio Caniggia - the 1-1 in the 2-1 group game against Nigeria on June 25, 1994

• Argentines have been named the best player of the tournament twice: Diego Maradona in 1986 and Lionel Messi in 2014 . Both are the only players who were also named the best player of the tournament at the U-20 World Cup .

• Most goals in 3 tournaments:
  • 1930: 18 in 4 games
  • 1978: 15 in 7 games (also the Netherlands)
  • 1986: 14 in 7 games

• Argentina were the first opponents of the World Cup most often: 7 times (1934 for Sweden, 1962 for Bulgaria, 1994 for Greece, 1998 for Japan, 2006 for Ivory Coast, 2014 for Bosnia and Herzegovina and 2018 for Iceland)

Negative records

• Argentina was the first South American team to lose a World Cup final against a European team: 1990 against Germany in Rome ( Italy ) and the first South American team to lose a World Cup final against a European team in South America: also against Germany in 2014
• Pedro Monzón received the first red card in a World Cup final in the final against Germany in 1990.
• In 2006, the Argentine Cufré received a dismissal for assault after the end of the game without having been used in the game.
• Most yellow cards in a tournament :
  • 1962: 1 in 3 games
  • 1986: 12 in 7 games
  • 1990: 22 in 7 games (negative World Cup record together with the Netherlands, 2010)

penalties shoot

Argentina had the most penalty shoot-outs at World Cups of any team. The most successful shooters are José Serrizuela , Jorge Burruchaga and Maxi Rodríguez , who scored twice in two penalties. The only lost penalty shoot-out was against Germany, the most successful team in this discipline at world championships (4 out of 4 penalty shoot-outs won).

date	opponent	occasion	output	Successful Argentine shooters	Argentine miss shooters	Successful Argentine goalkeeper	particularities
06/30/1990	Yugoslavia	Quarter finals	3: 2	José Serrizuela , Jorge Burruchaga , Gustavo Dezotti	Diego Maradona , Pedro Troglio	Sergio Goycochea (2 ×)	In addition, a crossbar hit by a Yugoslav player
07/03/1990	Italy	Semifinals	4: 3	José Serrizuela , Jorge Burruchaga , Julio Olarticoechea , Diego Maradona	-	Sergio Goycochea (2 ×)	The 5th Argentine did not have to compete anymore
06/30/1998	England	Round of 16	4: 3	Sergio Berti , Juan Sebastián Verón , Marcelo Gallardo , Roberto Ayala	Hernán Crespo	Carlos Roa (2 ×)
06/30/2006	Germany	Quarter finals	2: 4	Julio Cruz , Maxi Rodríguez	Roberto Ayala , Esteban Cambiasso	-	Since the fifth Argentine couldn't change the result when the score was 2: 4, he didn't have to compete.
07/09/2014	Netherlands	Semifinals	4: 2	Lionel Messi , Ezequiel Garay , Sergio Agüero , Maxi Rodríguez	-	Sergio Romero (2 ×)	The 5th Argentine did not have to compete anymore

See also

Argentina Women's National Football Team / World Championships

Web links

• Football World - Statistics - Argentina on fifa.com
• fifa.com: "Statistical overview: records and milestones"
• fifa.com: "Facts and figures about Argentina's 1986 world championship team"

References and footnotes

1. ↑ Of which 5 games decided on penalties (4 wins, 1 loss)
2. ↑ According to the all-time FIFA World Cup Ranking 1930–2014 [1] (PDF; 200 kB)
3. ^ Spiegel Online: World Cup anecdotes: 1600 revolvers for the final June 19, 2010
4. ↑ dfb.de: "Duels with Argentina: Maradona, Brehme, Götze and more"
5. ^ Historical Football Kits
6. ↑ youtube.com: 1958 (June 8) West Germany 3-Argentina 1 (World Cup)
7. ^ Süddeutsche Zeitung WM-Bibliothek - The Football World Cups - 1958 Sweden, page 37
8. ↑ In 1930 Peru took part in the first World Cup without qualifying
9. ↑ Bribery
10. ↑ [2] Article in the world
11. ↑ Match report Netherlands - Argentina ( Memento from December 17, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
12. ↑ Anger after suspension: Frings attacks Fifa. In: Spiegel Online . July 7, 2006, accessed June 9, 2018 . 
13. ↑ Argentina secures participation in the World Cup. In: fussball-wm-total.de. FOOTBALL World Cup total, September 11, 2013, accessed on September 11, 2013 . 
14. ↑ fifa.com: "Stats of the Day 10th July 2014" ( Memento from July 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
15. ↑ fifa.com: "Lionel Messi suspended for four games"
16. ↑ fifa.com: "Decision of the FIFA Appeal Committee on Lionel Messi"
17. ↑ kicker.de: "After eight games: Argentina's coach Bauza has to go"
18. ↑ fifa.com: "Argentina's ex-coach still wants to go to the World Cup"
19. ↑ fifa.com: Magical football evening for Uruguay, Argentina and Colombia
20. ↑ fifa.com: Magical football evening for Uruguay, Argentina and Colombia
21. ↑ Kicker.de "Well: Sampaoli has to go in Argentina" , July 15, 2018
22. ↑ The game between Spain and Sweden in the final round of the 1950 World Cup was more or less the game for third place, but not an official game for third place.