\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t The Argentine men\u2019s national football team is set to take on Cape Verde on Friday, aiming to reach the World Cup 2026 round of 16. The match is set to be played at Miami\u2019s Hard Rock Stadium, with kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m. Argentina time.<\/p>\n
After a stellar group stage that saw the Albiceleste storm to the group top spot with three wins, eight goals scored and just one conceded, head coach Lionel Scaloni\u2019s team goes into the knockout stage in good spirits.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re feeling positive after winning the first three games, mainly because we\u2019ve been able to have everyone play,\u201d Scaloni said in his press conference after Argentina beat Jordan 3-1.<\/p>\n
Scaloni added he\u2019d \u201cbe lying\u201d if he said that Cape Verde isn\u2019t a good team that will give Argentina a tough time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this World Cup, we\u2019ve seen that you have to be careful,\u201d he added. \u201cThey\u2019re a good team that can play fast and has some good players. Some people may underestimate them, but I can assure you they\u2019re a good team.\u201d<\/p>\n
The match will be a historic one for Scaloni, as he\u2019s set to take charge of his 100th game as Argentina head coach. It will leave him just 24 behind the all-time record holder, Guillermo Stabile, who coached the Albiceleste between 1940 and 1960 and won six Copa Americas.<\/p>\n
Leading the charge against Cape Verde will undoubtedly be team star and captain Lionel Messi. The Rosario player scored six of Argentina\u2019s eight strikes, and currently leads the tournament\u2019s goal-scoring table. He\u2019s also become the World Cup\u2019s all-time goal-scoring record holder.<\/p>\n
The team is likely to feature many of Argentina\u2019s usual starters, like Emiliano Dibu Mart\u00ednez in goal, the trio of Rodrigo de Paul, Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez, and Alexis MacAllister in the center, and Lautaro Mart\u00ednez up front.<\/p>\n
The only players in doubt are Facundo Medina, who could lose the spot at left back he\u2019s enjoyed for most of the tournament against usual starter Nicol\u00e1s Tagliafico and Cristian Cuti Romero, who suffered a setback against Austria from the knee injury he was carrying.<\/p>\n
Argentine fans storm Miami Meanwhile, Argentine fans have stormed the host city in the build-up to the match.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Improvised gatherings are taking place across the city, with the big pre-game rally \u2014 held the day before each match \u2014 scheduled for after midday at 85th St. and Collins.<\/p>\n
However, not everyone may have the chance to witness the game. Concerns over ticket prices and the lack of available tickets are growing.<\/p>\n
Argentine Football Association president Claudio Chiqui Tapia recently admitted that some 50,000 people have traveled to Miami without tickets for the match and that he\u2019s in talks with FIFA to secure any remaining tickets.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe understand this is what the national team inspires, so we\u2019re trying to help as much as we can, but we simply can\u2019t fit everyone,\u201d he said during a tribute event for the 40th anniversary of Mexico \u201986.<\/p>\n
The last few remaining tickets are currently available for over US$4,000, while the official FIFA resale and interchange site lists them at US$ 2,500.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Argentine men\u2019s national football team is set to take on Cape Verde on Friday, aiming to reach the World Cup 2026 round of 16. The match is set to be played at Miami\u2019s Hard Rock Stadium, with kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m. Argentina time. After a stellar group stage that saw the Albiceleste storm […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":85277,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5063,5868,1373,5309,67],"tags":[5307,22025,1371,5308,1369],"class_list":["post-85276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-2026-world-cup","category-argentina-football","category-lionel-messi","category-lionel-scaloni","category-sports","tag-2026-world-cup","tag-argentina-football","tag-lionel-messi","tag-lionel-scaloni","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}