Hungary hope to show the world their recent improvement against South American powerhouse Argentina in Budapest.
BACKGROUND
Argentina has already booked their ticket to next years World Cup, while Hungary only has a slim chance of qualifying for soccer’s biggest competition.
Hungary currently sit in third place in their World Cup qualifying group and coach Lothar Matthaeus is using the match to test the strength of his team against strong opposition before their final qualifying matches. Matthaeus has expressed his anger about his sides 3-1 loss to Real Madrid on Sunday and especially criticised his players for showing too much respect for the glamour club. In recent days Matthaeus stated that “Argentina is the best team in the world”.
Argentina will be without some of their key players, but the team should still be good enough to overcome the Hungarians. Chelsea forward Hernan Crespo, who skipped last months Confederations Cup is back in the squad and is likely to partner Porto’s Lisandro Lopez in the attack. Argentina’s 18 year old Youth Cup hero Lionel Messi could make his debut for the senior team from the bench, while Pekerman will test Martin Demichelis and Andres D’ Alessandro from the kick-off. Pekerman has stated that his side will come out onto the field with no surprises and they hope to demonstrate a similar style of play as they showed in the Confederations Cup.
Argentina: Leonardo Franco, Leonel Scaloni, Roberto Ayala, Gabriel Heinze, Juan Pablo Sorin, Maximiliano Rodriguez, Martin Demichelis, Luis Gonzalez, Andres D’Alessandro, Lisandro Lopez and Hernan Crespo. Coach: Jose Pekerman.