Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella may experiment with his side against Guatemala after a tough week of FIFA World Cup qualifying.
Sabella has seen his team complete a scoreless draw against Colombia and a 1-1 stalemate versus Ecuador in the past week and could consider Friday’s friendly international with Guatemala as the perfect opportunity to test new combinations.
It may be time for Sabella to try some of the more inexperienced members of his squad before Argentina, who sit top of South America’s World Cup qualifying standings, take on Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay in September and October.
Argentina have not won in three matches, having claimed three successive draws in CONMEBOL’s World Cup qualifying group, and have generally struggled in front of goal in their past two games.
With Lionel Messi having come off the bench against both Colombia and Ecuador, Argentina struggled to produce shots on target against the other two members of the top three in CONMEBOL.
Argentina only produced two shots on target against Colombia before managing seven against Ecuador and Sabella could look to the likes of Roma’s Erik Lamela, who has just one cap for his country, and Augusto Fernandez of Celta Vigo to freshen up the midfield.
Sabella will surely be keen to see improved discipline from his squad after Gonzalo Higuain and Javier Mascherano were sent off in the past two games against Columbia and Ecuador respectively.
On Tuesday, Guatemala were held to a 0-0 draw by Belize, while their last victory came in a World Cup qualifier in October last year, a 2-1 over Jamaica.
The Central American nation did not progress to the fourth round of CONCACAF’s qualifying process for next year’s World Cup finals in Brazil and in their most recent meeting with Argentina in 2008, the South American giants won 5-0.
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