They had 35 straight international games without a loss. Were those all just against weak South American teams?

no, they beat brazil in the copa america final. in rio de janeiro.

mexico would love nothing more than to knockout argentina. they're gonna shithouse this game to the bitter end. gonna be an intense 2nd half.

Martinez and Alvares would start ahead of Dembele for France.

When preparation meets opportunity

The problem that Brazil/Argentina have is the new Nations League championship in Europe. They used to be able to face the big European teams in friendlies in international breaks but now the European nations calendars are full from this new tournament. The only opportunity they now have of playing the top Euro teams is at the World Cup and Brazil have been knocked out by them every time they play one in the knockouts since 2002. It's essentially uncharted territory for them.

Di Maria starts for PSG

That was UTTER BRILLIANCE.

So cool, so composed.

I think it hurts Mexico and the US as well. Would be nice to play these elite countries more, regardless of results.

Di Maria is FIFA's Scotty Pippen.

It’s actually a great analogy. England tied a team they should have beaten easily. Way to mock and celebrate your tie. Congratulations on moving on. No doubt England will continue that World Cup form against better teams. ROFL

In a farmer's league mostly. Point is, Argentina lacks overall quality in their side. They're a good team but it's hard to envision them handling Spain, France, or Brazil in this tournament.

Yeah Brazil and Argentina have had real problems being f***ing brilliant forever. The Nations League's a turd competition nobody cares about and was introduced well past 2002. They have the Copa to play as a team and a million players in the Champions League the NL is going to make zero difference. We're both England fans, we both know Brazil and Argentina would beat us handily.

We'd be favourites to beat Argentina. I'd have Brazil as favourites against us because of our defense but if we had the Chels full backs fit we'd be evens with them. The Euro Nations is a bullshit competition but crucially we are constantly playing the top European nations so we know what to expect. Brazil and Argentina come into this tournament not knowing how they will be against a big Euro team. The last time Brazil played one was 4 and a half years ago in their loss to Belgium in the World Cup. Just look at the Argentina results in the 2018 too when they lost 3-0 to Croatia in the groups and to France in the last 16. There's a definite question mark and they are not aided by not being able to test themselves against their rivals.

There's a potentially funny and really ridiculous scenario in group C where if Mexico and Argentina win 2-0 the 2nd place spot out of Poland and Mexico will go to the team with the least yellow cards. Poland are on 4 and Mexico are on 6.