The true World Cup 2026 for the Argentine National Team begins now. After advancing without difficulty as the leader of the Group J, the national team will face its first knockout match of the tournament in the Round of 16 against Cape Verde, one of the surprises of this edition.
The team led by Lionel Scaloni arrives with an unbeaten streak of 10 matches, all of them victories. The first seven were in friendlies after the conclusion of the South American Qualifiers, while the last three were in the World Cup: 3-0 against Algeria, 2-0 against Austria, and 3-1 against Jordan. It is worth noting that of the 8 goals scored so far to achieve a perfect score at the start of the tournament, 6 are from Lionel Messi, the main figure as always of the Albiceleste who shares the top of the scoring table with Kylian Mbappé.
On the other hand, the team led by Pedro Leitão Brito, better known simply as Bubista, also comes in without a loss, although they do not have any victories. In their first appearance in a World Cup group stage, the islanders drew all three of their matches, two against world champions (0-0 with Spain and 2-2 with Uruguay) and the other against a relatively strong Asian team in their region (0-0 with Saudi Arabia), to secure their historic qualification to the next round with just 3 points.
It should be clarified that this will be the first encounter between Argentines and Cape Verdeans in history, although both already have a bit of history facing countries from their rival's confederations.
With this match, the National Team will play its 28th match against African countries. In the previous 27, they achieved a total of 21 victories, 2 draws, and 4 defeats. Additionally, within that list, there are 7 World Cup matches: 5 against Nigeria (all victories in 1994, 2002, 2010, 2014, and 2018), 1 against Cameroon (loss in the debut of Italy 1990), and 1 against Algeria (World Cup 2026 debut).
On their part, Cape Verde has faced CONMEBOL teams on 3 occasions, with a record of 1 draw and 2 losses. In World Cups, they had only one match, the 2-2 draw against Uruguay in the second round of the current tournament.
Time and TV for Argentina vs. Cape Verde
The Argentine National Team will try to secure their presence in the round of 16 against the Africans this Friday, July 3 at 19:00 (Argentine time) at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. The match will be broadcast on television through the signals of Telefe, TyC Sports, TV Pública, and Dsports, as well as Disney+ Premium, DGO, and Paramount+ for streaming.
Possible Lineups
Argentina (4-4-2):
Goalkeeper: Emiliano Martínez
Defenders: Nicolás Tagliafico or Facundo Medina, Lisandro Martínez, Cristian Romero or Nicolás Otamendi, and Nahuel Molina
Midfielders: Thiago Almada, Alexis Mac Allister, Enzo Fernández, and Rodrigo De Paul
