Before the 2026 World Cup, Argentina will play two friendly matches. On the upcoming Saturday, local time in Bangladesh, Lionel Scaloni’s team will face Mauritania as the hosts. Their second and final friendly will take place on April 1 against Zambia.

In the FIFA rankings, Argentina is second, while Mauritania is 115th and Zambia 91st. This means there is a huge gap in strength between Argentina and these two opponents. This is not the first time Argentina has faced relatively weaker teams in friendlies. Since winning the 2022 World Cup, Argentina has not played against any European team in friendly matches. In fact, they haven’t faced any team ranked in FIFA’s top 20 during this period. Before diving deeper into this, let’s look at Argentina’s performance in friendlies under Scaloni.

Under coach Lionel Scaloni, Argentina has won the World Cup, Copa América, and Finalissima over the past eight years. Beyond these trophies, Scaloni has also strengthened the team’s overall performance, which is clearly reflected in friendly matches. Since taking charge in 2018, Argentina has played 30 friendlies under Scaloni, achieving 24 wins, 4 draws, and only 2 losses. These minimal defeats highlight how Scaloni has instilled a mindset of invincibility among his players—arguably the key to Argentina’s recent success.

Looking at the stats, the two losses came early in Scaloni’s tenure: a 3-1 defeat against Venezuela in March 2019 and a 1-0 loss to rival Brazil in October 2018. Aside from these early setbacks, Argentina’s unbeaten run has been almost unstoppable. Since that loss to Venezuela, Argentina went 23 friendlies without defeat, including a streak of 15 consecutive wins. Their undefeated record was further solidified with a victory over Angola on November 14, 2025.

During this dominant streak, Argentina recorded some massive wins: 5-1 against Nicaragua, 6-1 against Ecuador, 5-0 against Estonia, 7-0 against Curaçao, 5-0 against the UAE, and 6-0 against Puerto Rico. These results demonstrate that Argentina takes friendlies seriously, even if the opposition is significantly weaker.

French media outlet L’Équipe has raised the question of why Argentina often faces weaker opponents in friendlies. Their report notes, “Since winning the 2022 World Cup, Argentina has not played against any European team or any team ranked in FIFA’s top 20 in friendlies.”

L’Équipe also compared Argentina with other top teams: while Scaloni’s Argentina avoids top-ranked opposition, Brazil has faced 10 top-tier teams during the same period, and Colombia has played against nine.

In recent years, Argentina has faced teams like Venezuela, Puerto Rico, and Angola in 2025; El Salvador, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Guatemala in 2024; and Panama, Curaçao, Indonesia, and Australia in 2023. Notably, in June 2023, Argentina defeated Australia 2-0 in a friendly—the highest-ranked opponent they faced in the last four years, with Australia sitting 29th in FIFA rankings at the time.

According to L’Équipe, Argentina often schedules friendlies against relatively weaker teams to maintain their position among the top-ranked nations.

Outside World Cup qualifiers, Argentina has won all 11 of their most recent matches. These victories have played a major role in securing and reinforcing their second-place ranking in FIFA’s standings.