On September 6 at 8 AM, the 7th round of the South American qualifiers for the World Cup will see Argentina hosting Chile at the Monumental Stadium in Buenos Aires (home of River Plate). The match referee is Valenzuela from Venezuela.
Due to injury, Messi will not be part of this Argentina national team training session. The key figure to watch in this game is Di Maria, partly because the Argentine public has decided to pay tribute to him in this match following his retirement from the national team. On the other hand, Scaloni confirmed before the game that he had attempted to convince Di Maria to return to the national team, but was unsuccessful.
The current standings of the two teams differ, with Argentina having accumulated 15 points after 6 matches, leading the South American qualifier group. Chile, on the other hand, has only 5 points from 1 win, 2 draws, and 3 losses in their first 6 matches, ranking second from the bottom, putting significant pressure on new head coach Stanopoulos who took charge earlier this year.
Argentina has been in excellent form recently, winning 9 and drawing 2 in their last 11 games, remaining unbeaten. In the World Cup qualifiers, Argentina started with 4 consecutive wins, followed by a 0-2 loss to Uruguay, but they managed to stabilize their points tally with a 1-0 victory over Brazil in the previous round.
Chile’s recent form has been poor, failing to win any of their 3 matches in the Copa America, with 2 draws and 1 loss, and failing to progress from the group stage without scoring a goal. Moreover, Chile’s away performance is mediocre; excluding neutral venue matches during the Copa America, they have won only 1 out of their last 12 away matches (against Albania) and lost 8. If we focus solely on the South American World Cup qualifiers, they have suffered four consecutive away defeats against Brazil, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Ecuador, conceding 10 goals in these 4 matches.
In terms of head-to-head results, Argentina has maintained an unbeaten record of 8 wins and 5 draws in the last 13 encounters, holding a clear advantage. During the 2024 Copa America, the two teams met, with Argentina defeating Chile 1-0 thanks to a goal from Lautaro.
In terms of squad selection, besides Messi and Di Maria, Scaloni confirmed before the game that McAllister is in poor physical condition, and it is likely that Lautaro and Alvarez, two forwards who have often been used as substitutes for each other in the past few years, may start together. However, in the three previous matches where they both started, Argentina won all of them.
For Chile, Sanchez is still recovering from injury, and the team might field a front line composed of players not from the top five leagues, which could bring a different style of play.
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