Argentina vs Trinidad and Tobago Prediction - Will Argentina Return To Victories Against The Soca Warriors?

Next Wednesday, Argentina will play host to Trinidad and Tobago at Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti in Buenos Aires, on a match that will present Alejandro Sabella’s men with an important test for the World Cup tournament that is quickly arriving.

The match against Trinidad and Tobago will be the second preparation friendly in which the Argentineans will participate this year after their goalless draw at Bucharest with Romania back in March. The Albicelestes are on a three-match run without defeats and they have recently combined some top class performances with some less delightful displays. Despite the high quality of the Argentinian players, the team seems to be experiencing some trouble in their defence line. Argentina conceded seven goals during their last four matches of the World Cup qualification round, and despite their good goal scoring sheet, their defence seems to crumble against teams who are more prone to play attacking football.

Alejandro Sabella implemented his own ideas when he took the helm of the team back in 2011. The former Estudiantes de La Plata’s manager privileges the classic 4-3-3 approach, with Messi lurking behind the two centre forwards like a typical old school number ten. The team’s strong presence in the attacking line is also fueled by the flamboyant Real Madrid’s midfielder Di Maria, who is usually the more attacking oriented player at Argentina’s midfield triangle. Nevertheless, such heavy attacking presence exposes the deficiencies of the Albicelestes’ defence line, and because of that Alejandro Sabella has already experimented with a more conservative 5-3-2 tactical approach on some of the team’s recent matches.

Argentina have failed to go any further from the World Cup quarter-finals since the 1990 tournament in Italy, during which they were defeated by West Germany and, because of that, they certainly have high hopes for this Summer’s competition.

As for Trinidad and Tobago, the match against Argentina will be their fourth friendly match after they have failed to qualify for the World Cup. The Soca Warriors are on four-match undefeated run and a match against a football superpower, such as Argentina, will certainly offer them enough motivation to try and extend their positive streak. Their manager, Stephen Hart, will surely pass on the extra motivation note to his players, although he is aware that Argentina have not been defeated at home since 2011.

Despite Trinidad and Tobago’s recent good form, they will probably not have what it takes to defeat Argentina next Wednesday, since the Albicelestes are a far better side and since they keep an excellent recent home record.

Argentina

Stats: W-2 L-1 D-2

Recent Form - DWDLW

Trinidad and Tobago

Stats: W-3 L-1 D-1

Recent Form - WWDWL

Possible Line-ups

Argentina (4-3-3) - Romero - Zabaleta - Rojo - Garay - Biglia - Gago - Mascherano - Di Maria - Messi - Agüero - Higuain

Trinidad and Tobago (4-5-1) - Williams - Cyrus - David - Mitchell - Birchall - Boucaud - Edwards - Guerra - Jones - Peltier - K. Jones

Prediction: Argentina 3 Trinidad and Tobago 0