The history of the

Argentina national football team The Argentina national football team represents Argentina in men's international football and is administered by the Argentine Football Association, the governing body for football in Argentina. Nicknamed ''La Albiceleste'' ('The White and S ...

begins with their first official match, played on 20 July 1902 against

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

, a 6–0 win in

Paso del Molino Paso del Molino (''Mill's Crossing'') is a ''barrio'' (neighbourhood or district) of Montevideo, capital of Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South Ameri ...

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

."Historias, curiosidades y estadísticas de la Selección, tras sus "primeros" 900 partidos"
''El Gráfico'', 4 Jul 2012 One year before, There had been a precedent when representatives from both sides met in a match also in Montevideo, although it was not organised by any association and therefore is not considered official. Since their inception in 1902, the Argentina national team has appeared in six FIFA World Cup finals, including the inaugural final in

1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be ...

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

(when the team won its first World Cup beating the Netherlands), the

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

(winning its second World Cup after defeating West Germany),

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, and the

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

(when the team won its third World Cup after defeating France). Argentina has been very successful in the

Copa América The Copa América ( en, America Cup) or CONMEBOL Copa América, known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship (''Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol'' in Spanish and ''Campeonato Sul-Americano de Futebol'' in Portuguese), is the t ...

, winning it 15 times and also winning the "extra" South American Championships in 1941, 1945 and 1946. The team also won the

FIFA Confederations Cup The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships ( AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, ...

and the Kirin Cup, both in 1992, and the Argentine olympic team won the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

football tournaments in

Athens 2004 The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

and Beijing 2008.

History

Beginning and first titles

Although the first match ever recorded by an Argentine side was played on 16 May 1901 against

, this is not considered an official game due to the match was not organized by Uruguay's Football Association but by Albion FC in its home field, "Paso del Molino". The Uruguayan side had nine players from that club and the remainder from

Nacional Nacional, the Portuguese and Spanish word for "national", may refer to: Airlines * Nacional Transportes Aéreos, a Brazilian airline defunct in 2002 * Transportes Aéreos Nacional, a Brazilian airline defunct in 1961 Bank * Banco Nacional, a ...

. Argentina won the match by 3–2. The match considered the first official game played by Argentina was held in the same venue, on 20 July 1902 against Uruguay. Argentina defeated the Uruguayan side by 6–0. The line-up was:

José Buruca Laforia José María Buruca, also known as José Buruca Laforia ( Atalaya, Spain, 16 May 1884 - Buenos Aires, Argentina, 6 Jun 1957) was an Argentine association football goalkeeper. Nicknamed ''El Vasco'', Buruca Laforia is considered the first great g ...

( Barracas A.C.), William Leslie ( Quilmes), Walter Buchanan ( Alumni), Eduardo Patricio Duggan ( Belgrano A.C.), Carlos J. Buchanan (Alumni),

Ernesto Brown Ernesto Alejandro Brown (7 January 1885 – 12 July 1935) was an Argentine international footballer who played as a left back. He was nicknamed ''El Pacifico'' ("the Calm One") for his assured performances for both club and country. Early life Br ...

(Alumni), Edward O. Morgan (Quilmes), Juan José Moore (cap.) (Alumni), Juan O. Anderson ( Lomas A.C.), Carlos Edgar Dickinson (Belgrano A.C.),

Jorge Brown Jorge Gibson Brown (3 April 1880 – 3 January 1936) was an Argentine footballer of Scottish ancestry, who was one of the most important figures in the early years of the sport in that country. During its first years of existence, the national team played only friendly matches until 1905, when the first edition of Lipton Cup was held. It was a cup organized by both Argentine and Uruguayan Football Associations, with its last edition being contested in 1992. The first official title won by Argentina was the 1906 Copa Lipton, defeating Uruguay 2–0 in

. That same year, Argentina also played the Newton Cup, another competition organized by both associations, earning the trophy after defeating Uruguay 2–1 in Buenos Aires. In the following years, matches played by the Argentine side were against South American teams only. The reasons varied from the long time the trips took to another countries by then to World War I. Argentina would win four consecutive Newton Cups from 1907 to 1911, and four Lipton Cups from 1906 to 1909. After some Uruguayan victories, Argentina won the 1913, 1915 and 1916 Lipton and 1916 Newton Cup trophies. Argentina_equipo_1921

In 1916, Argentina contested the first tournament organized by

CONMEBOL The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL, , or CSF; es, Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol; pt, Confederação Sul-Americana de Futebol) is the continental governing body of football in South America (apart from Guyana, Suri ...

, the South American Championship (the current

) hosted in Buenos Aires and

Avellaneda Avellaneda (, ) is a port city in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the seat of the Avellaneda Partido, whose population was 342,677 as per the . Avellaneda is located within the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area, and is connected ...

and won by

. The host plus Brazil, Chile and Uruguay were the only teams contesting the inaugural competition. During that tournament Argentina played three matches, defeating Chile 6–0 and drawing Brazil and Uruguay, who became champions on goal difference. The line-up at the final was: Isola, Díaz, Reyes, Martínez, Olazar, Badaracco, Heissinger, Ohaco, H. Hayes, E. Hayes and Perinetti. Argentina won its first South American championship in 1921, also held in Buenos Aires. The squad won all the games disputed, defeating Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay to earn six points with no goals received. Notable players of that team were goalkeeper

Américo Tesoriere Américo Miguel Tesoriere, sometimes nicknamed ''Mérico'' (Buenos Aires, March 18, 1899 – December 30, 1977), was an Argentine football goalkeeper who spent most of his career in Boca Juniors, where he became an early idol and remaining as a le ...

and striker Pedro Calomino. Julio Libonatti was also tournament's top scorer.

The Olympic goal

In 1924, Argentina played a friendly match against Uruguay at Sportivo Barracas' stadium. When only 15 minutes had been played, winger

Cesáreo Onzari Cesáreo Onzari (February, 1903 – January, 1964) was an Argentine footballer who played as a left winger. He made his entire career in Huracán, playing from 1921 until his retirement in 1933. He was the first footballer known to have scored ...

scored from a corner kick, with no other player touching the ball before scoring. Due to the fact that Uruguay was the Olympic champion, this play was called "Gol Olímpico". This denomination still remains. The goal stood since

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

had previously regulated goals scored directly from the corner kick, as Onzari did during that match. According to ''La Nación'' newspaper, 52,000 fans attended the game, an Argentina 2–1 win, where the Uruguayan team left the field with only four minutes to play. Argentine players later complained about the rough play of the Uruguayans during the match, while their rivals also complained about the aggressiveness of local spectators, who threw bottles at them at the end of the match. In 1925, the South American championship was hosted by third time in Argentina, and the ''Albicelest'' won its second title. The team played four matches and remained unbeaten once more, defeating Paraguay and Brazil twice each. A highmark was the 4–1 victory against rivals Brazil. Argentina won another consecutive title in 1927 obtaining the South American championship held in Peru. The team made a great campaign, finishing unbeaten with three wins over three games played. The national squad achieved a large victory over

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

(7–1), then beating Uruguay by 3–2 and the local team by 5–1 in the last match of the tournament. It was the third South American title for the Argentina national team.

1928 Summer Olympics

In 1928, Argentina went to Amsterdam to play the

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics ( nl, Olympische Zomerspelen 1928), officially known as the Games of the IX Olympiad ( nl, Spelen van de IXe Olympiade) and commonly known as Amsterdam 1928, was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from ...

, which was the first international tournament played by the national team in its history. The football squad reached the final after trashing the United States 11–2, Belgium 6–3 and Egypt 6–0. The final saw Argentina defeated by Uruguay 2–1, thus winning the silver medal.

1930 World Cup

In 1929, Argentina hosted a new edition of the South American championship, winning its second consecutive title. Argentina finished unbeaten once more, defeating all its rivals in the group: Peru (3–0), Paraguay (4–1) and Uruguay in the last match played in the

Estadio Gasómetro The San Lorenzo de Almagro Stadium (popularly known as Estadio Gasómetro)FIFA World Cup hosted by Uruguay. In the inaugural match of the World Cup, Argentina defeated France 1–0. The national team then beat Mexico 6–3 and finished its run in the first stage by defeating Chile 3–1. Argentina qualified to the semi-finals where the squad widely beat the United States 6–1. On July 30, Argentina played its first World Cup final against Uruguay, but lost 4–2.

1934–54: A long absence

Argentina played only one game at the next World Cup in Italy in 1934. The tournament format was a knockout tournament, and Argentina lost its only match 3–2 to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. Argentina would not participate in the

1938 World Cup The 1938 FIFA World Cup was the third edition of the World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams and was held in France from 4 June until 19 June 1938. Italy defended its title in the final, beat ...

in France, the last before World War II. The first World Cup after the War was the

1950 World Cup The 1950 FIFA World Cup was the fourth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams and held in Brazil from 24 June to 16 July 1950. The planned 1942 and 1946 World Cups were ...

held in Brazil, but Argentina did not enter the competition due to a conflict with the

Brazilian Football Confederation The Brazilian Football Confederation ( pt, Confederação Brasileira de Futebol; CBF) is the governing body of football in Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country ...

. For the

1954 World Cup Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

in Switzerland, Argentina refused to participate. In 1951, Argentina played England for the first time and were defeated 2–1 at Wembley Stadium. The second leg was played in Buenos Aires on 14 June 1953, where Argentina won 3–1, though the match caused great repercussions in Argentina.

From ''Los Carasucias'' to the 1958 disaster

Although Argentina did not contest any World Cups from 1938 to 1954, the team won the

1937 Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into Fe ...

1941 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January–August – 10,072 men, women and children with mental and physical disabilities are asphyxiated with carbon monoxide in a gas chamber, at Hadamar Eu ...

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. Januar ...

1946 Events January * January 6 - The 1946 North Vietnamese parliamentary election, first general election ever in Vietnam is held. * January 7 – The Allies recognize the Austrian republic with its 1937 borders, and divide the country into f ...

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country in ...

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

and

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

South American championships, all squads coached by Guillermo Stábile. The 1957 squad is probably the most remembered team of those years because of its skilled players and exquisite style of playing showed on the field. Argentina thrashed

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

(8–2), Ecuador (3–0), Uruguay (4–0), Chile (6–2) and Brazil (3–0). The team was defeated by Peru in the last game but won the tournament due to finishing first in its group. The attacking line, formed by

Oreste Corbatta Oreste Omar Corbatta Fernández (11 March 1936 – 5 December 1991) was an Argentine footballer who played as right winger. Corbatta is regarded as the greatest idol in the history of Racing Club. Dubbed '' Arlequín''Humberto Maschio,

Antonio Angelillo Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...

, Omar Sívori and Osvaldo Cruz, was widely praised by then, being still remembered by the media and football fans. Maschio was also the topscorer with 9 goals. Argentina returned to a World Cup competition after 24 years, more precisely to the

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

held in Sweden. The team suffered the absence of Maschio, Angelillo and Sívori (playing in the Italian first division but not called by Stábile for the tournament), who had made outstanding performances in Lima one year before. Although the squad was formed with valued players, the lack of experience facing European squads was evidenced once the tournament finished. Argentina lost to West Germany 3–1 in the first game, though they came back to defeat Northern Ireland in the second match. Argentina was finally thrashed by Czechoslovakia 6–1, one of the worst defeats of a national team in a World Cup and being eliminated from the competition. The poor performance was called "''El desastre de Suecia''" ("The Sweden disaster"). After the team arrived in Buenos Aires, 10,000 people were expecting in the

Ezeiza International Airport Ministro Pistarini International Airport ( es, link=no, Aeropuerto Internacional Ministro Pistarini) , also known as Ezeiza International Airport owing to its location in the Ezeiza Partido in Greater Buenos Aires, is an international airport s ...

to insult them.

Transition

After the "Sweden disaster", Argentina returned to official competitions in 1959, winning a new edition of the Copa América, its 12th title. The team thrashed Chile 6–1 at the debut, then beat Bolivia 2–0, Peru and Paraguay 3–1, Uruguay 4–1 and finished with a 1–1 draw against Brazil. Argentina remained unbeaten, winning five of six matches played. The team was coached by a triumvirate composed by

Victorio Spinetto Victorio Luis Spinetto (3 June 1911 – 28 August 1990) was an Argentine football player and manager. He played as a centre half, mostly for Vélez Sársfield in the Argentine Primera División, debuting with the club in 1932 and retiring in ...

, José Della Torre and

José Barreiro José Barreiro (born in Cuba in 1948) is an American novelist, journalist and activist. He is recognized as an advocate of Native community self-determination and autochthonous development (indigeneity). Barreiro is an elder and advisor in th ...

, replacing Guillermo Stábile after his 19-year tenure in the national team. Argentina would not win a Copa América until

1991 Copa América The 1991 Copa América football tournament was hosted by Chile, from 6 to 21 July. It was organized by CONMEBOL and all ten member nations participated. Until the 2021 edition, this was the last time that the tournament consisted of only CONMEBO ...

, when the team coached by Alfio Basile obtained the trophy in Chile. In 1959,

José Manuel Moreno José Manuel Moreno Fernández (3 August 1916 — 26 August 1978), nicknamed "''El Charro''", was an Argentine footballer who played as an inside forward for several clubs in Argentina, Mexico, Chile, and Colombia; for many who saw him play, he ...

became Argentina coach, although he did not spend much time with the team. Under his coaching Argentina disputed the Southamerican championship in Ecuador, where the squad defeated Paraguay 4–2, drew the hosts 1–1 and suffered a large defeat by 5–0 at the hands of Uruguay, although the team achieved a great 4–1 victory against Brazil with three goals by José Sanfilippo in the last match. Once the extra tournament finished, Moreno left his place and Guillermo Stábile started his 2nd period as coach of Argentina national team. In 1960, Argentina won its first and only Panamerican championship held in

San José, Costa Rica San José (; meaning "Saint Joseph") is the capital and largest city of Costa Rica, and the capital of the province of the same name. It is in the center of the country, in the mid-west of the Central Valley, within San José Canton. San ...

. That same year the team suffered three losses to Brazil: two of them in the Roca Cup and the next in the Atlantic Cup. That was the last match where Argentina was coached by Stábile in his second tenure. He would be replaced by

. In 1961, Argentina started a tour across Europe, playing several matches against local national teams. The squad only achieved one victory against Portugal with two losses and two draws. After a short period coached by José D'Amico, Juan Carlos Lorenzo took over the team. Argentina made a poor performance at the

1962 World Cup The 1962 FIFA World Cup was the seventh edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held from 30 May to 17 June 1962 in Chile. The qualification rounds took place be ...

, being defeated by England (3–1) to be eliminated from the tournament. In the

1963 South American Championship The 1963 South American Championship was held in Bolivia between 10 and 31 March 1963. It was won by Bolivia with Paraguay second. This is, so far, Bolivia's only Copa America title. Squads For a complete list of participating squads see: ''1 ...

, Argentina finished third in the tournament, although the team achieved important victories over Brazil (3–0), Ecuador and Colombia, but lost to Bolivia and Peru. That same year, Argentina was also defeated by Brazil in the Roca Cup.

Nation's Cup

In 1964, Argentina won the Nations' Cup, a friendly tournament organized by the Brazilian Association to commemorate its 50th anniversary. Argentina took part of the championship with the debut of

José María Minella José María Minella (1909–1981) was an Argentine football player and manager. He played for and managed Argentina's national team. Club career A midfielder, Minella started playing at local club Independiente of Mar del Plata. On 23 August ...

as coach, along with the local squad, England and Portugal. Then called "a little World Cup", the Nations' Cup is considered "the first great title" won by Argentina. The team remained unbeaten winning all the matches played, with a large 3–0 over Brazil. The victory over Brazil was highly praised by the media due to the Brazilian not being defeated as hosts since the

final. Argentina finished the tournament with no goals received.

The transition continues: 1965–74

Argentina, still coached by Minella, qualified to the

1966 World Cup The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 July to 30 July 1966. The England national football team defeated West Germany 4-2 in the ...

held in England for the first time. The team shared their group with Chile, Paraguay and Bolivia. Argentina finished the round unbeaten with three matches won and two draws. Minella left the team, being replaced by Osvaldo Zubeldía after qualification was over. Juan Carlos Lorenzo took over the squad, beginning his second tenure on the national side. The national side played several friendly matches against the Soviet Union, Poland and Italy before its flight to England. Argentina only drew the first two games and was defeated in the last in Torino. Argentina 1966 rattin

Argentina made its debut in Group 2 of the World Cup, defeating Spain by 2–1. The next matches were against West Germany, which ended 0–0 and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

also won by 2–1. Argentina qualified to the quarter-finals where the team was defeated by the host team 1–0. It was a controversial match where midfielder

Antonio Rattín Antonio Ubaldo Rattín (born May 16, 1937) is a former Argentine football player, best known as a Boca Juniors midfielder, and because of an incident in a match at the 1966 FIFA World Cup. Rattín remains as one of the greatest idols of Boca Jun ...

was sent off by German referee Rudolf Kreitlein for "violence of the tongue", despite the referee speaking no Spanish. Rattín was so incensed with the decision, believing the referee to be biased in favour of England, that he refused to leave. As a way to show his disgust, he sat on the red carpet exclusively meant for the Queen to walk on. He eventually had to be escorted from the field by two policemen and as a final sign of disgust, wrinkled at a British pennant before being escorted out. This incident, and others surrounding the same game, arguably started the long-lasting rivalry between both national teams, although on the other hand, allowed for the institution of yellow and red cards into football, a solution devised by FIFA after the spark that set off the incident. Although Argentina did not have a great performance in England, the players were well received by the crowd in Ezeiza, in part due to the incident with Rattín and the Queen's carpet, where Rattín himself later saying that he "didn't know where he had sat on"."La transición hacia la organización", AFA website: Historia de la Selección Argentina
/ref> The next step for the team was the

1967 Copa América The 1967 Copa América, South American Football Championship was won by hosts Uruguay national football team, Uruguay, with Argentina national football team, Argentina finished second. Brazil national football team, Brazil and Peru national foot ...

, hosted by Uruguay. Argentina made a good campaign, winning five over six matches disputed, being defeated only by the host team and finished second. During 1967 and 1969, the Football Association named four different coaches to the national team: Carmelo Faraone, who only coached two matches,

Renato Cesarini Renato Cesarini (; 11 April 1906 – 24 March 1969) was an Italian-Argentine football player and coach who most notably played for Juventus in Italy as a midfielder or forward. He was a dual international footballer and played for both the Argen ...

, José M. Minella, Humberto Maschio and

Adolfo Pedernera Adolfo Alfredo Pedernera (15 November 1918 – 12 May 1995) was an Argentine football player and coach. Nicknamed "El Maestro" ("The Teacher"), he was widely considered to be one of the best world football players in the 1940s and one of the gr ...

. In those years, Argentina played a series of friendly matches with most of them being South American teams and a few European teams. Argentina also played a new edition of the Lipton Cup, obtaining it by goal average over Uruguay. In 1969, Argentina began qualifying for the 1970 World Cup under Pedernera. The national squad shared its group with Bolivia and Peru, losing the first two games played as the away team. Although Argentina won the next game (over Bolivia, 1–0), the 2–2 draw against Peru in the last fixture (played at La Bombonera) allowed the Peruvian squad to be one of the South American representatives in the World Cup, eliminating Argentina. To date, this remains the only time that Argentina has failed to qualify for a World Cup in which it entered a team. This poor performance that caused the absence of a national representative in the 1970 World Cup is still regarded as one of Argentina's biggest frustrations in its history. After the frustration of 1969, the Association named

Juan José Pizzuti Juan José Pizzuti (9 May 1927 – 24 January 2020) was an Argentine football player and manager. A striker, he enjoyed his most notable successes as player and manager with Racing Club de Avellaneda. Pizzuti was born in the Barracas neighbour ...

, who had won the Intercontinental Cup with

Racing Club Racing Club may refer to: Football * Racing Club Abidjan, Ivory Coast * K.R.C. Genk, Belgium * Racing Club Bafoussam, Cameroon * Racing Club Beirut, Lebanon * Racing Club de Avellaneda, Argentina * Racing Club Haïtien, Haiti * Racing Club Port ...

three years before, as coach of the national team. Pizzuti was the manager during three years, in which Argentina played several friendly games against South American teams, which included the 1971 Roca Cup title (shared with Brazil). In 1972, Argentina was invited to play the Brazil Independence Cup, where the team did not achieve good results. After the Independence Cup, Pizzuti was replaced by Omar Sívori, the most notable player of the 1957 Copa América triumph and had previous experience as manager of Rosario Central and

Estudiantes de La Plata Club Estudiantes de La Plata ( lit. "Students from La Plata"), simply referred to as Estudiantes de La Plata , is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Plata. The club's football team currently competes in the Primera División, wh ...

. Argentina played some friendly matches as preparation for the qualifying, with some interesting results such as a 3–2 over West Germany in Munich.

"The Ghost Team" and 1974 World Cup

Qualifying for the

1974 World Cup The 1974 FIFA World Cup was the tenth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in West Germany (and West Berlin) between 13 June and 7 July. The tournament marked the first time that the ...

began in September 1973, where Argentina shared its group with Bolivia and Paraguay. Bolivia used to play its home venues at

La Paz La Paz (), officially known as Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Spanish pronunciation: ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With an estimated 816,044 residents as of 2020, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities ...

, where Argentine players suffered the lack of oxygen and other effects caused by altitude sickness. To avoid complications, Sívori decide to prepare a team to play in altitude. Following his instructions, Miguel Ignomiriello took many players to Tilcara so they could become acclimatized to altitude. Argentina won the match played in La Paz 1–0. That team was nicknamed "''La Selección Fantasma''" ("The Ghost National Team" in Spanish) due to the lack of organisation existing in the Association at the time, meaning the media could not get information about the team during its tenure in Tilcara. Year later,

Mario Kempes Mario Alberto Kempes Chiodi (; born 15 July 1954) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a striker or attacking midfielder. A prolific goalscorer, he finished as La Liga's top goalscorer twice with Valencia and amassed 11 ...

revealed that the players themselves had to organize some friendly matches to get money to buy food because the Association forgot about them completely. Perfumo cruyff 1974

Argentina won the other games against Bolivia and Paraguay (4–0 and 3–1 respectively, both in Buenos Aires), finally qualifying for the World Cup. After having qualified for the 1974 World Cup, Sívori left and was replaced by

Vladislao Cap Vladislao Wenceslao Cap (5 July 1934 – 14 September 1982) was an Argentine football player and manager. As a player he represented his native country at the 1962 FIFA World Cup in Chile as a defender. Twelve years later he was the manager of ...

. With its new coach on the bench, Argentina played only four matches before the competition, facing European teams. Argentina defeated Romania and France and drew England before suffering a defeat to the Netherlands by 4–1. Once more, Argentina made a poor performance in a World Cup. They were defeated by Poland in their opening game by 3–2, followed by a 1–1 draw with Italy. In the last game of the first round, Argentina defeated

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

4–1, granting qualification to the second round of the tournament, where the team lost to the Netherlands, Brazil, ending with a 1–1 draw to East Germany. Argentina finished last in the group table and eighth in the overall table.

The Menotti era: Beginning of greatness

The demise of the team in the World Cup forced the Association to make changes in Argentine football. David Bracuto was named president of the Football Association in 1974. He offered César Luis Menotti the head coaching role of Argentina, which Menotti accepted under several conditions, one being that native players under 25 should not be sold to foreign clubs. Menotti debuted on 12 October 1974 in a friendly match against Spain. Argentina began a long preparation for the

1978 World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It was held in Argentina between 1 and 25 June. The Cup was won by ...

which would be hosted on home soil for the very first time, playing friendly matches and tournaments. During those years, Argentina played a total of 33 matches. The year 1977 was also the international debut of Diego Maradona, who played for the first time at age 16 against Hungary. The match was held in Buenos Aires with a large victory for Argentina by 5–1. Argentina also played a new edition of Copa América, where for the first time there was no fixed venue. All matches were played throughout each country across the tournament. Argentina debuted thrashing Venezuela but lost to Brazil in the two games played (2–1 and 1–0). Brazil qualified to the next stage and the national team was eliminated. Argentina1978

. In 1978, the final preparations for the World Cup began, playing several matches against South American and European teams. Although Maradona was considered one of the best players in the world, Menotti did not include him in the definitive list for the tournament. Some sources state that the Argentine military junta that ruled Argentina by then pushed Menotti to include River Plate's midfielder

Norberto Alonso Norberto Osvaldo Alonso (born 4 January 1953), known colloquially as "Beto" Alonso, is an Argentine former football midfielder, who played the majority of his career for the Argentine club River Plate, where he won 9 titles. He remains one of ...

instead of Maradona, and that Menotti almost certainly knew that the prodigiously talented 17-year old would not be able to handle the immense pressure and attention in the biggest sporting event in Argentina's history. Nevertheless, other journalists assert that there were too many offensive midfielders. Passarella world cup

Argentina finally debuted on 2 June 1978 against Hungary, winning 2–1. Argentina defeated France by 2–1 in the second game and qualifying for the second stage, although the team lost to Italy by 1–0, finishing second in Group A. In the second round Argentina was placed in Group 1 sharing it with Brazil, Poland and Peru. In the first game, Argentina beat Poland 2–0, with both goals from Mario Kempes. Next game was against South American powerhouse Brazil in which the game ended with a 0–0 draw. The last game was against Peru, a rival that Argentina easily defeated with a 6–0 win. Argentina was able to edge out Brazil in the group and went on to the final. Argentina had to beat Peru by four goals or more to progress. The nature of Argentina's victory has fueled rumors that the match was fixed. That large victory over Peru allowed Argentina to play the final. On 25 June 1978, at River Plate's

Estadio Monumental There are a number of stadiums and venues known under the name of Estadio Monumental (''Monumental Stadium'') in different Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries: * Estadio Mâs Monumental in Buenos Aires, Argentina *Estadio Monumental David Ar ...

in Buenos Aires, Argentina played its second World Cup final. Mario Kempes gave Argentina the lead in the 38th minute, with the Dutch squad able to respond in the 82nd minute for the equalizer. The game went to extra time and Mario Kempes once again gave the Argentines the lead and Daniel Bertoni added another goal which sealed the win for Argentina, which became the second South American team to win the World Cup at its home soil. Kempes was not only the most notable player of the team but also the topscorer of the tournament with six goals. After the success of the World Cup, Menotti continued as coach and Argentina played some friendly match as preparation for the

1979 Copa América The 1979 edition of the Copa América association football tournament was played between 18 July and 12 December. It was not held in a particular country, all matches were played on a home and away basis. Defending champions Peru were given a bye ...

. Maradona scored his first goal for the Senior team against Scotland in Glasgow, where Argentina won 3–1. The highlight of 1979 was the

1979 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship, the second staging of the FIFA World Youth Championship, was held in Japan from 26 August to 7 September 1979. It was the first FIFA tournament played in Asia. The tournament took place in four cities — K ...

obtained by the under-20 team in Tokyo. The team, also coached by Menotti, won the tournament with Maradona and Ramón Díaz as the leaders and most notable players of the squad. The tournament was also the first official championship played by Maradona in a national team. Due to Argentina needing no qualifiers to the next World Cup as holders, the national team played a series of matches as preparation for the competition. In 1980 there were no official tournaments so the team toured in Europe and also hosted friendly games in some of the most important cities of Argentina such as

Mar del Plata Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" is a s ...

, Córdoba and Mendoza. Argentina played the

1980 Mundialito The 1980 World Champions' Gold Cup (Spanish for ''"Copa de Oro de Campeones Mundiales"''), also known as Mundialito (''"Little World Cup"''), was a friendly international football tournament organized by the Uruguayan Football Association and sup ...

, a competition hosted by Uruguay in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the first World Cup tournament, where the team defeated West Germany and drew with Brazil to be eliminated in the first stage.

Demise in 1982: the end of an era and the beginning of the Maradona era

In 1982 the Argentine squad travelled to Spain to participate in the

1982 World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain between 13 June and 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy, who defeated West Germany 3–1 i ...

while Argentina was fighting in the

Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial de ...

(''Guerra de Malvinas'') with the United Kingdom after the invasion of the Falkland Islands had been ordered by president

Leopoldo Galtieri Leopoldo Fortunato Galtieri (; 15 July 1926 12 January 2003) was an Argentine general and politician of Italian descent who served as President of Argentina from December 1981 to June 1982. Galtieri ruled as a military dictator during the Natio ...

on April 2. The lineup was based on the 1978 team with the addition of Diego Maradona (who had won a domestic title playing at a high level) and Ramón Díaz. The squad arrived in Spain as a big favourite to win the Cup. Argentina debuted with a 1–0 loss to Belgium at

Camp Nou Camp Nou (, meaning ''new field'', often referred to in English as the Nou Camp), officially branded as Spotify Camp Nou for sponsorship and financial reasons, is a football stadium in Barcelona, Spain. It has been the home stadium of FC Barcelo ...

in Barcelona. There were internal tensions within the camp between the older and younger players, and this caused problems. Nevertheless, the team recovered by defeating Hungary (4–1) and

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

(2–0) therefore qualifying for the next stage. In the second round, Argentina shared a group with Italy and Brazil, being defeated by both (2–1 and 3–1) and eliminated from the championship. Maradona could not show his skills during the tournament, suffering from the rough play of rivals (especially Claudio Gentile in the game against Italy). He would eventually be sent off by the referee after kicking Brazilian player

Batista Batista is a Spanish language, Spanish or Portuguese language, Portuguese surname. Notable persons with the name include: * Batista (footballer, born 1955), Brazilian football player * Dave Bautista, American actor and professional wrestler, also ...

in the groin. Other players that formed the squad were

Juan Barbas Juan Alberto Barbas (born 23 August 1959 in San Martín, Buenos Aires) is a retired Argentine footballer who played as an attacking or defensive midfielder. He played for a number of clubs in Argentina, Spain, Italy, and Switzerland before tu ...

, Gabriel Calderón (from the 1979 youth championship-winning team),

Patricio Hernández Patricio Hernández (born 16 August 1956) is an Argentine football coach and former player. Hernández started his career in 1974 at Estudiantes de La Plata, a club that he would later manage. He soon earned a reputation as a skillful attacki ...

, Julio Olarticoechea,

Enzo Trossero Enzo Héctor Trossero (born 23 May 1953), nicknamed ''El Vikingo'' (the Viking), is an Argentine footballer and coach. Club career He began his playing career at Argentine minnows Belgrano de San Francisco but he soon moved on to Colón de ...

and Jorge Valdano. The failure at the World Cup caused Menotti to leave his post. Despite the poor performances, the national team achieved two world titles (senior and youth) during the nine years with Menotti as coach. That was the first time that Argentina planned and carried out long-term work with clear and serious objectives.

Carlos Bilardo era: the road to Mexico

To replace Menotti, the Football Association choose Carlos Bilardo, who had won the 1982 Metropolitano with Estudiantes de La Plata. Bilardo was famous for his perfectionism and obsession with tactic and strategy of the game, which called the attention as much as followers as critics. The Bilardo era began in May 1983 with a 2–2 draw with Chile in Santiago. Soon after Argentina played the

1983 Copa América The 1983 Copa América football tournament was played between 10 August and 4 November, with all ten CONMEBOL members participating. Defending champions Paraguay received a bye into the semi-finals. Squads Group stage The teams were dra ...

, the first official tournament with Bilardo. The squad was eliminated on first round with 3 draws (2 with Ecuador and a 0–0 with Brazil), winning its only match 1–0 to Brazil in Buenos Aires. The team was formed by footballers playing in domestic

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; en, "First Division"), known officialy as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Binance for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football league in Argentina, organised by the Argentine Football Association (AFA). Th ...

exclusively, being some of them goalkeepers

Ubaldo Fillol Ubaldo Matildo Fillol (; born 21 July 1950), nicknamed ''el Pato'' (in English: "the Duck"), is an Argentine football coach and former goalkeeper. He took part in the 1974, 1978 (where he won the championship with his team and was voted Best Goalk ...

and

Nery Pumpido Nery Alberto Pumpido (born 30 July 1957) is an Argentine football coach and former goalkeeper who played for Argentina in two World Cups. After retirement, Pumpido moved into club management. His nephew Facundo Pumpido is also a professional fo ...

, defenders

Néstor Clausen Néstor Rolando Clausen (born 29 September 1962) is an Argentine association football, football manager and former player who played as a Defender (association football), defender. A native of Arrufó, Santa Fe Province, his ancestors were orig ...

José Luis Brown José Luis Brown (10 January 1956 – 12 August 2019) was an Argentine football central defender and coach. Most of his 14-year professional career was spent with Estudiantes, for which he appeared in more than 300 official matches and won two m ...

, Julio Olarticoechea and

Roberto Mouzo Roberto Mouzo (born 8 January 1953 in Avellaneda) is a retired Argentine football defender. Raised from the Boca Juniors youth academy, and having played the vast majority of his career for Boca Juniors, Mouzo is considered one of the great ...

; midfielders

Claudio Marangoni Claudio Oscar Marangoni (born 17 November 1954 in Rosario) is an Argentina, Argentine former Association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. He played club football in Argentina and England and played for the Argentina national footb ...

Jorge Burruchaga Jorge Luis Burruchaga (; born 9 October 1962), nicknamed ''Burru'', is an Argentine association football coach and former professional football player. He played both as an attacking midfielder and forward and scored the winning goal in the fina ...

, Alejandro Sabella and

José Daniel Ponce José Daniel Ponce (born 26 June 1962) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a midfielder; he was part of the Estudiantes de La Plata team that won two back-to-back championships in 1982 and 1983. Career Ponce was born in ...

; forwards

Ricardo Gareca Ricardo Alberto Gareca Nardi (; born 10 February 1958), nicknamed ''el Tigre'' and ''el Flaco'' ("Tiger " and "Slim"), is an Argentine football manager and former player. Gareca was the manager of the Peru national team, with his contract endi ...

Alberto Márcico Alberto José Márcico (born 13 May 1960) is an Argentine former professional football midfielder. He played club football with Ferro Carril Oeste, Toulouse, Boca Juniors, and Gimnasia y Esgrima (LP). e represented the Argentina national footbal ...

. After the Copa América, Argentina travelled to

Calcuta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

to play the Nehru Cup, then playing a series of friendly matches before the qualifiers to

1986 World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-tea ...

in Mexico. The team made a successful tour on Europe where it won the three matches disputed, including a 3–1 against West Germany in Düsseldorf. In May 1985, Argentina played its first qualifying match against Venezuela, winning 3–2. Argentina won three consecutive games, to Colombia (3–1 home, 1–0 away) and Venezuela (3–0 home) but lost to Peru 1–0 in Lima in a match where Peru midfielder

Claudio Reyna Claudio Reyna (born July 20, 1973) is an American former professional soccer player and current executive. He most recently served as sporting director of Austin FC. A former midfielder, he spent most of his professional career in Europe, pla ...

marked Maradona with excessive roughness, although he was not sent off by the referee. Argentina played the last match of the qualifiers against Peru in Buenos Aires. The visitor team won by 2–1 qualifying to Mexico, but in the last minutes of the match

scored the 2–2 that allowed Argentina to be one of the four South American representatives at Mexico. Although he led the team to a new qualification for a World Cup, Bilardo was hardly criticized by the media which focused on the low level of the team during the process. Some journalists also accused Bilardo to play defensively, leaving behind the historic Argentine landmark of short passes and dribblings according to their point of view. '' Clarín'', the most popular newspaper of Argentina, was one of the hardest opponents of the coach, and Bilardo himself declared that Clarín called Association President Julio Grondona to ask him to fire the coach."Bilardo: El tiempo me dio la razón" - CanchaLlena.com
19 September 2012 Before the World Cup, Argentina toured Europe losing to France (one of the favorites to win the Cup) and Norway and largely defeating Israel by 7–2.

1986: Return to glory

Argentina entered the 1986 World Cup with hope because of one player, Diego Maradona. Argentina was placed in Group A alongside Italy, Bulgaria, and South Korea. In the first game, Argentina was able to beat South Korea 3–1. The second match was against Italy, a tougher opponent. Italy took the lead in the sixth minute but Diego Maradona responded with a goal in the 34th minute. The game later ended with a 1–1 draw. The last group game was against Bulgaria, which resulted in a 2–0 Argentina win; therefore Argentina passed to the next round being the first in the group. Argentina entered the round of 16 against South American rivals Uruguay in

Puebla Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...

. The hot-tempered game ended in a 1–0 win for Argentina. Next, Argentina moved on to the quarter-finals, playing England at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. The game started very evenly, with both teams getting chances to score but none were able to finish. The first half ended with Argentina having the majority of possession but unable to get past a tough defense. Six minutes following the second half, Maradona scored a controversial goal in which he used his hand; once the match finished, Maradona called it "''la mano de Dios''" ("the hand of God"), explicitly admitting the infringement. The goal began with a defensive error from Steve Hodge, who passed the ball incorrectly back to his goalkeeper, Peter Shilton. At that time, Maradona was still continuing his run and reached the ball first and netted it in with his left fist. After the goal, Maradona encouraged his teammates to embrace the goal so the referee would allow it. Four minutes after the "hand of God" goal, Maradona scored a goal which people called "The Goal of the Century" because of the individual effort of Maradona, who starting his run from the half-way line, passed four English midfielders (he beat midfielder Terry Butcher twice) and dribbled around Shilton, finally scoring the goal which allowed Argentina to win the match, 2–1. That victory was very celebrated due to not only the rivalry between both teams but Argentina had lost the Falklands War at the hands of the British Army four years prior. Maradona cup azteca

In the semi-finals, Argentina defeated Belgium 2–0 at the Estadio Azteca to advance to the final against West Germany. Argentina won a game played at the Azteca in which the squad won its second World Cup title.

opened the scoring for Argentina, then the team increased the lead with a goal by Jorge Valdano. Germany started a comeback with goals from

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge Karl-Heinz "Kalle" Rummenigge (; born 25 September 1955) is a German football executive and former professional player. He was the longtime Chairman of Executive Board of FC Bayern München AG, a daughter company of German Bundesliga team Bayern ...

and Rudi Völler, which evened the game at 2–2.

scored the winning goal in the 83rd minute, giving Argentina a 3–2 victory over Germany. Argentina remained unbeaten in the World Cup, winning five over six matches disputed. Maradona played at a superlative level, as he had done in the 1979 Youth Championship leading Argentina to the title. Maradona was the national team top-scorer with five goals, apart from winning the Gold Ball as the best player of the tournament. Other important players for the team were defenders

and Oscar Ruggeri, midfielders Héctor Enrique and

and forward Jorge Valdano. The line-up in the final was:

, Brown,

José Luis Cuciuffo José Luis Cuciuffo (1 February 1961 – 11 December 2004) was an Argentine professional footballer who played as a centre back and who was part of the 1986 FIFA World Cup title-winning Argentina national team. Club career Cuciuffo started hi ...

, Ruggeri, Julio Olarticoechea;

Ricardo Giusti Ricardo Omar Giusti (born 11 December 1956) is an Argentine former footballer. A midfielder, he played most of his career with Argentine side Independiente. At international level, he won the FIFA World Cup with Argentina in 1986 and was also ...

, Sergio Batista, Enrique, Burruchaga; Maradona, Valdano.

1987–1990

After winning the World Cup, the players went on vacation and Argentina did not play a match until 1987, when a new edition of Copa América was contested. The tournament changed its format, returning to a unique host where Argentina was chosen. Argentine formed a team with a mix of players from European and local leagues. The squad debuted with a 1–1 draw against Perú, then beat Ecuador 3–0. In the second stage, Argentina lost to Uruguay (which would be the champion) 1–0 in Buenos Aires and was eliminated. At the end of 1987, Argentina played West Germany (the rival of the 1986 final) winning 1–0 at the Estadio José Amalfitani. In 1988, the squad played the Four Nations Cup, losing to the Soviet Union (4–2) and West Germany (1–0). Argentina immediately went to Australia to contest the Australia Bicentennial Gold Cup, where the team did not have a good performance, with one win against Saudi Arabia and a large defeat by the local team (4–1). Back to Argentina, the team started its preparation for the

1989 Copa América The Copa América 1989 football tournament was hosted by Brazil, from 1 to 16 July. All ten CONMEBOL member nations participated. Brazil won their fourth Copa América, and first since 1949, by beating Uruguay 1–0 in the final match at the ...

, held in Brazil. Argentina qualified to the second round after beating Chile and Uruguay (both 1–0) and two draws with Ecuador and Bolivia (both 0–0). In the second stage, Argentina lost to Brazil and Uruguay (both 2–0) and only drew with Paraguay (0–0). Argentina was eliminated without winning a game and with no goals scored on this round. Some players of the team were Pumpido, Brown, Ruggeri, Clausen, Cuciuffo, Burruchaga, Maradona, Enrique, Giusti (all of them world champions in 1986), Claudio Caniggia, Abel Balbo, Luis Islas, Roberto Sensini, Gabriel Calderón, Néstor Gorosito and

Pedro Troglio Pedro Antonio Troglio (born 28 July 1965) is an Argentine football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is the current manager of Honduran club CD Olimpia Playing career During his career as a footballer, Troglio played for ...

1990: Finalist again

Argentina went to the

1990 World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being M ...

with no qualifiers needed as being the previous champion. Prior to the World Cup, the national team played some several matches with no good results: Argentina lost to Mexico (0–2) and Scotland (0–2), winning just one of the five games played (to Israel, chosen again to be the last rival before the tournament as it had been four years before). In addition, Jorge Valdano (one of the most important players during the 1986 World Cup) trained hard in order to be in good physical condition for the Cup, but Bilardo decided not to include him in the definitive list of players. To that, Valdano said, "I swam through the ocean but I drowned at the shore." In addition to Valdano not playing, a number of other important players were injured, so Argentina resorted to cynical tactics on the field, as they knew they could not win easily in a straight fight. Argentina finally debuted at the inaugural match at the San Siro in Milan, being defeated by Cameroon (1–0). This result caused a great surprise in Argentina so the national team line-up was based on the 1986 world champion. Argentina won its second match against the Soviet Union 2–0 (where titular goalkeeper was

seriously injured, being replaced by Sergio Goycochea for the rest of the tournament), and drew 1–1 with Romania in the last match of first round, both played in Naples, where Maradona played for Napoli in the Serie A. The team qualified to the second round, where they faced Brazil at the Stadio delle Alpi in Turin. In a match where Brazil played much better than Argentina, with forwards

Müller Müller may refer to: * ''Die schöne Müllerin'' (1823) (sometimes referred to as ''Müllerlieder''; ''Müllerin'' is a female miller) is a song cycle with words by Wilhelm Müller and music by Franz Schubert * Doctor Müller, fictional character ...

and Careca repeatedly shooting to the goal but missing the target (the ball clashed Argentina's posts a couple of times, while Goycoechea stopped other shots) Argentina (with Maradona in bad physical condition) resisted Brazilian offensive movements during the first half, which ended 0–0. In the second half, Brazil was not so persistent as it had been during the first 45 minutes, so Argentina took advantage of the situation. With nine minutes till full-time, Maradona took the ball in the centre of the field, dribbled past three opponents and made a precise pass to winger Claudio Caniggia, who advanced with the ball to a goal after dribbling around goalkeeper

Cláudio Taffarel Cláudio André Mergen Taffarel (; born 8 May 1966) is a Brazilian retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper, and is the goalkeeping coach of English Premier League club Liverpool and the Brazil national team. During an 18-year career he p ...

. Argentina won the match 1–0, eliminating its arch-rival in a World Cup for the first time. That match is still regarded by the media and fans as one of the most remarkable moments of an Argentina national team. For their quarter-final match in Florence, Argentina narrowly eliminated Yugoslavia in an exciting penalty shootout, with Goycoechea becoming a hero after stopping three penalty kicks, including the last two."Nacía Sergio Goycochea, el gran héroe de los penales en Italia 1990", Play Futbol
17 October 2012 Maradona also missed a penalty kick, a rare occurrence; at one point Argentina were behind the Yugoslavs, but Goycoechea's outstanding goalkeeping kept Argentina in the tournament. Argentina advanced to the semi-finals where it played against Italy in Naples. The local host was considered favourite to win the match because their striker Salvatore Schillaci was the tournament's top scorer (he would be awarded both the Golden Boot and the Golden Ball at the end of the tournament) and Argentina had many injured players, Maradona being one of them. Maradona, a Napoli player, made comments pertaining to North–South inequality in the country and the '' risorgimento'', asking Neapolitans to root for Argentina. Nevertheless, Argentina made its best performance in the World Cup and the match ended 1–1 after 90 minutes. With zero goals in extra time, the game went to a penalty shootout where Goycoechea was the hero again, stopping the shots from

Aldo Serena Aldo Serena (; born 25 June 1960) is an Italian former professional footballer, who was usually deployed as a forward. He played for several Italian clubs throughout his career, winning four Serie A titles, among other trophies; he is mainly rem ...

and Roberto Donadoni to send Argentina to its second-straight World Cup final. For the final in Rome, Argentina played West Germany, coached by former player

Franz Beckenbauer Franz Anton Beckenbauer (, ; born 11 September 1945) is a German former professional footballer and manager. In his playing career he was nicknamed ''Der Kaiser'' ("The Emperor") because of his elegant style, dominance and leadership on the fi ...

. Caniggia was suspended for one game after receiving a yellow card in the match against Italy so he could not play the final. Germany arrived to the final as a wide favorite to take the Cup, as the squad had showed an effective and precise playing style, unlike Argentina which (with the exception of the game with Italy) had not had good previous performances. In addition, German footballers were in good condition while the Argentine players came to the final with several injuries, including Maradona. The game proved to be violent, brutal and bad tempered, particularly from the Argentines. Nevertheless, Germany only could score a goal at 83 minutes for a doubtful punishment by Mexican referee

Edgardo Codesal Edgardo Codesal Méndez (; born 2 June 1951 in Montevideo, Uruguay) is a Uruguayan- Mexican football (soccer) referee, who controlled the final match of the 1990 World Cup held in Italy. Career His grandfather was from Argentina, and his fathe ...

, who awarded Germany a penalty kick for what he thought was a foul by Roberto Sensini against Rudi Völler. The call was controversial, and it was heavily debated by the Argentinian players. Andreas Brehme converted the penalty kick to give West Germany team its third World Cup title. The 1986 champion side could not repeat the high performances made four years prior, most notably Maradona, who played all the tournament injured. Other players, including Ruggeri and Burruchaga, played in similar conditions due to injury. The most notable player for Argentina was Sergio Goycochea, who is still remembered by his outstanding performance at the penalty shootouts.

The Basile era

After the World Cup, Bilardo resigned, considering that his era had finished, as did Diego Maradona, announcing that the 1990 World Cup had been his last tournament."La era post Maradona y un comienzo auspicioso", MuyFutbol
Alfio Basile was announced as his replacement. The new coach started his tenure convinced that the new era would come up with youth players to the team, so he mostly called up footballers who were playing in the domestic league rather than footballers from international championships, at least for the first time. Argentina debuted with Basile on the bench in February 1991, defeating Hungary 2–0 in

Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe. The city is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the west bank of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third-most populous ci ...

. The national team played some friendly matches and tournaments such as the Stanley Rous Cup, where Argentina drew 2–2 with England at Wembley Stadium (after losing 0–2 after the first half). In March, Diego Maradona failed a drug test for cocaine in Italy, being suspended by 15 months. Argentina seleccion 1991

1991 was also the year when Argentina played its first official championship with Basile, the Copa América held in Chile. Argentina won its 13th Copa after 32 years, with a great performance on the field. The team debuted with a wide 3–0 to Venezuela, then defeating Chile 1–0 finishing the first stage with a 4–1 over Paraguay. On the final round, the ''Albiceleste'' achieved a great 3–2 over Brazil, then drew 0–0 with Chile and defeated Colombia 2–1 in the final match, winning the Cup due to points average. Argentina won the tournament unbeaten, winning six of seven matches.

Gabriel Batistuta Gabriel Omar Batistuta (; born 1 February 1969) is an Argentine former professional Association football, footballer. During his playing career, Batistuta was nicknamed Batigol () as well as El Ángel Gabriel (; Spanish for ''Archangel Gabriel, ...

was also the leading scorer of the Copa with six goals. Apart from Batistuta, Sergio Goycochea,

Leonardo Astrada Leonardo Rubén Astrada (born 6 January 1970) is a retired Argentine footballer, who went on to become a football manager. The last team he managed was Atlético de Rafaela. Playing career Astrada was born in Buenos Aires. He played the majority ...

, Claudio Caniggia, Diego Simeone (who wore the number 10 kit shirt), Dario Franco, Leo Rodríguez were some of the most notable Argentine players. In 1992, Argentina won the friendly tournament Kirin Cup (defeating

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and Wales). Then, in October, the team won the

King Fahd Cup The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships ( AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, ...

, where they easily defeated

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

4–0 in the semi-final and Saudi Arab 3–1 in the final game. On 24 February 1993, Maradona returned to the team when Argentina played the Artemio Franchi Trophy against Denmark in

. Argentina won 5–4 in a penalty shoot-out after a 1–1 draw. That same year, the national team also played the Copa América hosted by Ecuador, winning its second consecutive South American title. Maradona had returned to active football after being suspended due to the incident with drugs but Basile did not call him for the Cup, so Simeone wore the emblematic number 10 again. Argentina only drew the matches against Mexico and Colombia (both 1–1) and defeated Bolivia 1–0 to pass to the next stage. Argentina first eliminated Brazil for the second-straight time, (6–5 via penalty shootout after a 1–1 draw), then Colombia the same way (6–5

p.s. PostScript (PS) is a page description language in the electronic publishing and desktop publishing realm. It is a dynamically typed, concatenative programming language. It was created at Adobe Systems by John Warnock, Charles Geschke, Doug B ...

), arriving to the final game against Mexico, which the national team won 2–1, with two goals from Batistuta. Argentina achieved its 14th title, winning only two matches in normal time, the rest either in extra time or penalties. This was the last Copa América Argentina had won until 2021, when they defeated Brazil 0-1. Some of the players that took part in the squad were Goycochea, Ruggeri, Batistuta, Franco, Simeone, Fernando Redondo and Luis Islas.

A second "disaster" in 1993

Immediately after the Copa América, Argentina had to play the qualifiers for the

1994 World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football, soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the countr ...

, held in the United States. The team shared group with Colombia, Paraguay and Peru. Argentina won the first two as visitor to Peru (1–0 in Lima) and Paraguay (3–1 in Asunción) but lost to Colombia 2–1 in

Barranquilla Barranquilla () is the capital district of Atlántico Department in Colombia. It is located near the Caribbean Sea and is the largest city and third port in the Caribbean Coast region; as of 2018 it had a population of 1,206,319, making it Col ...

. In Buenos Aires, Argentina defeated Peru 2–1, drew with Paraguay 0–0 and suffered a catastrophic loss to Colombia 5–0 on 5 September 1993 in the Estadio Monumental. It became the largest defeat to a national team since a 1–6 result in the 1958 World Cup. Colombia, with great players such as Carlos Valderrama, Freddy Rincón,

Faustino Asprilla Faustino Hernán Asprilla Hinestroza (born 10 November 1969) is a Colombian former professional footballer who most notably played for Parma, Newcastle United and the Colombia national team as a forward. Club career Early years After starting ...

and Leonel Álvarez not only won the qualifiers unbeaten, but sent Argentina to play against the representative of Oceania to get a place for the World Cup. The most important sports magazine of Argentina, '' El Gráfico'', went into "mourning" with a completely black cover with the only legend: "''Vergüenza''" ("Shame") that expressed the deception and humiliation after the defeat. Argentina had to play two knockout games against Australia to earn a place at the World Cup. Basile asked Maradona to return to the national squad so the team needed him to qualify to the Cup. Maradona agreed and he flew to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

with the rest of the team. Argentina played the first game on 31 October 1993 which ended 1–1. The second match was in Buenos Aires, where the national team won 1–0 (Batistuta) qualifying for the World Cup.

Another hard time: USA '94

Argentina played several friendly matches as preparation for the World Cup. The team lost to Brazil 0–2 but beat Morocco 3–1 at

Salta Salta () is the capital and largest city in the Argentine province of the same name. With a population of 618,375 according to the 2010 census, it is also the 7th most-populous city in Argentina. The city serves as the cultural and economic ce ...

and smashed Israel 3–0 in Ramat Gan. Argentina debuted in the championship thrashing Greece 4–0 in Boston, with a hat-trick by Batistuta. Maradona also scored the third goal for Argentina, which would be his last goal in a World Cup. The national team played its second match against Nigeria again in Boston, which defeated by 2–1 (2 goals by Caniggia). At the end of the match, Argentina became a favorite to win the tournament, due to the attacking playing style showed by the squad (playing with four forwards), the number of goals scored and the good performances of some of its players such as Redondo, Caniggia, Batistuta, and even the aging Maradona, who looked in great shape and scored a gem of a goal. At the end of the match against Nigeria, Maradona was called for the drug test, which gave positive results for ephedrine, a banned substance. The impact and repercussion of the news were immediate, and Maradona was expelled from the tournament and suspended for 15 months by

. With the team still hurt after losing its leader, Argentina was defeated by Bulgaria in the sweltering heat of Dallas for their last match of the first round. The team qualified to the knockout phase, where they were beaten by Romania 3–2 in Los Angeles; Basile decided not to include Caniggia in this match after he was benched during the 27th minute of the Bulgaria match. After the successes of 1986 and 1990, Argentina was eliminated in the second round. Although eliminated; in an ESPN interview with

Quique Wolff Enrique Ernesto "Quique" Wolff (born 21 February 1949) is an Argentine journalist and former football defender. He represented Argentina at the 1974 World Cup. Playing career Wolff, born in Victoria, Buenos Aires, began his career with Ra ...

, Maradona called the 1994 squad the greatest Argentina team of all time.

1998 World Cup

With Maradona officially retired, Argentina went into the tournament with high expectations, still fielding players from their previous tournament, with Gabriel Batistuta still a constant goalscoring threat and Diego Simeone remaining as the leading figure from the anchorman position. Drawn into Group H of the competition, their opponents consisted of

, Jamaica and Croatia. They began their campaign with a 1–0 victory over the Asian nation, following it up with a 5–0 demolition of the Caribbeans. Their third group game was against the Croatians, who had also confirmed qualification to the next round and ended with victory for the ''Albiceleste'' by 1–0. Argentina went into the knockout phase with the impressive record of seven goals scored, keeping clean sheets in all three group games. Their opponent was England, fielding an equally strong team. Argentina took the lead with just six minutes played through Gabriel Batistuta from the penalty spot, only for

Alan Shearer Alan Shearer CBE DL (born 13 August 1970) is an English football pundit and retired football player and manager who played as a striker. Widely regarded as one of the best strikers of his generation and one of the greatest players in Premie ...

to equalize through the same means four minutes later. Six minutes after, youngster Michael Owen broke past

Roberto Ayala Roberto Fabián Ayala (; born 14 April 1973), nicknamed ''El Ratón'' ("The Mouse"), is an Argentine former footballer who played as a centre back for the Argentina national football team, as well as Valencia and Real Zaragoza in Spain, Milan a ...

to score a great individual effort, which was eventually cancelled out one minute into stoppage time after a free kick routine put

Javier Zanetti Javier Adelmar Zanetti (; born 10 August 1973) is an Argentine former professional footballer. He is regarded as one of the best players of his generation, and is especially well known for his role in Inter Milan's treble-winning 2009–10 seas ...

through on goal to score, leaving the final result at 2–2 at the end of the first half. In the second half, England playmaker

David Beckham David Robert Joseph Beckham (; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the current president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Known for his range of passing, crossing ability and bending fr ...

was sent off after a kick on Simeone, with the scores remaining unchanged until the end of normal time and extra time. Argentina won 4–3 on penalties, after Ayala scored the decisive spot kick to book their quarter-final spot, where the Netherlands awaited them. The game was an equally fought match, with both sides scoring early goals; Patrick Kluivert netting after just 12 minutes and Claudio López equalizing five minutes later. Argentina held an advantage as the Dutch went a man down with the dismissal of Arthur Numan after his second booking for a foul on Simeone, though they were unable to take the opportunity and break the deadlock before they too went a man down; with Ariel Ortega receiving two successive yellow cards, the first one for diving inside the penalty box, with the second coming after headbutting Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar. Argentina's defence held tightly as extra-time beckoned, until a long aerial ball from Dutch captain Frank de Boer found

Dennis Bergkamp Dennis Nicolaas Maria Bergkamp (; born 10 May 1969) is a Dutch professional football coach and former player. Originally a wide midfielder, Bergkamp was moved to main striker and then to second striker, where he remained throughout his playing ...

, who maneuvered around Ayala and beat the Argentine goalkeeper Roa to send the Dutch through, eliminating Argentina from the competition.

2002 World Cup

After a 1–0 win against Nigeria in the opening match, Argentina lost 1–0 to England and drew 1–1 with

to finish third in

Group F Group F may refer to: * A set of international motor racing regulations used in touring car racing * One of six or eight groups of four teams competing at the FIFA World Cup ** 2022 FIFA World Cup Group F ** 2018 FIFA World Cup Group F ** 2014 FIF ...

and to be eliminated from the group stage for the first time since 1962 which was their worst performance in their history.

2004 Copa America

At the

2004 Copa America 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

, Argentina started out well by thrashing Ecuador, 6–1. In the team's second game, however, they lost 1–0 to Mexico. The team rebounded in their last group stage by defeating

, 4–2. They finished second place in Group B and advanced to the quarterfinals, where they eliminated hosts Peru, 1–0. In the semifinals, they defeated

, which had won the previous tournament, 3–0 to advance to the final. There, they faced rivals Brazil. With the teams drawing 1–1 late, Argentina went ahead in the 87th minute with a strike from

Cesar Delgado Cesar, César or Cèsar may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''César'' (film), a 1936 film directed by Marcel Pagnol * ''César'' (play), a play by Marcel Pagnolt * César Award, a French film award Places * Cesar, Portugal * Ce ...

, which looked like it would give Argentina its first Copa America title since

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

. However, they conceded a game-tying goal in stoppage time by Adriano, to send the game to penalties, where they lost 4–2.

2006 World Cup

After Argentina had been eliminated at the group stage at Korea/Japan

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

, although they had been among the pre-tournament favorites. There was a high expectation of a better performance in the

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

in Germany. Argentina qualified for the knockout stages with wins over the Ivory Coast (2–1) and

Serbia and Montenegro Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...

(6–0), and a 0–0 draw with the Netherlands. In the round of 16, Argentina defeated Mexico 2–1 in extra-time, the winning goal scored by

Maxi Rodríguez Maximiliano "Maxi" Rubén Rodríguez (; born 2 January 1981) is an Argentine former footballer. Nicknamed ''La Fiera'' (''The Beast'' in English), he was commonly used as a winger on both flanks but could also operate as an attacking midfielde ...

; this goal went on to win an online poll organized by FIFA as the best goal of the World Cup. In the quarter-final, they lost 4–2 in penalties against hosts Germany after a 1–1 draw. A brawl erupted between the Argentines and Germans after the game ended; unused substitute

Leandro Cufré Leandro Damián Cufré (born 9 May 1978) is an Argentine football coach and former player who played as a defender. As of 2021, he has been the assistant coach of the Venezuela national football team. Cufré started his professional playing c ...

was sent off for kicking Per Mertesacker, while Maxi Rodríguez hit Bastian Schweinsteiger from behind. Following an investigation of video evidence, FIFA issued four-and two-game suspensions for Cufre and Rodríguez respectively. Germany's Torsten Frings was also suspended for the semi-final match for punching Julio Cruz. Shortly after the elimination, coach José Pékerman resigned from his position. The AFA appointed Alfio Basile, who had previously managed the national side during the 1994 World Cup, as his successor.

2007 Copa América

Argentina won all three games in the group stage, beating the United States, Colombia and Paraguay. After convincing victories over Peru and Mexico in the quarter-final and semi-final, respectively, they were favorites to beat Brazil in the final, but were defeated 3–0.

2010 World Cup

Prior to the

2010 World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

, Diego Maradona was appointed head coach. During the qualification process, he oversaw a 6–1 defeat to

, and after a string of losses and draws, Argentina came dangerously close to failing to qualify, but victories in the last two matches secured qualification for the final tournament. In the final tournament itself, Argentina was placed in Group B, winning all their games. Their first game was against Nigeria, where Argentina netted a goal in the sixth minute to ensure a 1–0 victory. In the second match, against South Korea, a Gonzalo Higuaín hat-trick and a Korean own goal finished the score at 4–1. Argentina's last group game was against Greece, a 2–0 victory. Argentina then advanced to the round of 16 to play Mexico. The game started with controversy when Carlos Tevez headed a ball from Lionel Messi for a goal; replay clearly showed that Tevez was in an offside position. Eventually, Argentina beat Mexico 3–1 to advance to the quarter-finals. In a much-hyped game, Argentina was shocked after Germany eliminated them with a 4–0 win. Thomas Müller opened the scoring in the third minute, with Miroslav Klose adding an additional two and Arne Friedrich one.

2011 Copa América

The

2011 Copa América The 2011 Campeonato Sudamericano Copa América, better known as the 2011 Copa América or the Copa América 2011 Argentina, was the 43rd edition of the Copa América, the main international football tournament for national teams in South Americ ...

was the first major tournament for new coach Sergio Batista. Argentina started the tournament with a shocking 1–1 tie against underdogs Bolivia. In their second game, they played a goalless draw against Colombia in Santa Fe, but went on to win their third game 3–0 against underdogs

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

. Argentina was to play Uruguay in the quarter-finals. After going down after five minutes to a Diego Pérez goal, Gonzalo Higuaín equalized in the 17th minute. The score remained unchanged and after extra time, Argentina lost 5–4 in penalties with a miss from Carlos Tevez. After the elimination, Batista was sacked and replaced by former

coach Alejandro Sabella.

2014 World Cup

Argentina qualified for the

2014 World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

and were drawn into Group F alongside Nigeria, Iran and debutants Bosnia and Herzegovina. Argentina had beaten all three of those teams, easily making it through to the next round. In the next round, they beat

1–0 after a goalless 90 minutes. In the quarter-finals, they beat Belgium, also 1–0 through an early goal. They then beat the Netherlands 4–2 from a penalty shootout in São Paulo, but lost to eventual winners Germany in the final at the

Maracanã Stadium Maracanã Stadium ( pt, Estádio do Maracanã, standard Brazilian Portuguese: , local pronunciation: ), officially named Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho (), is an association football stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The stadium is part o ...

in Rio de Janeiro, finishing their campaign as runners-up.

2015 Copa América

Argentina entered the subsequent tournament, the

2015 Copa América The 2015 Copa América was the 44th edition of the Copa América, the main international football tournament for national teams in South America, and took place in Chile between 11 June and 4 July 2015. The competition was organized by CONMEBOL, ...

as heavy favorites to take home the trophy. They began their group stage against Paraguay, where after leading 2–0 for most of the match ultimately settled for a 2–2 draw. Despite doubts in defence, they overcame the difficulties to beat fellow tournament favorites Uruguay and Jamaica. Their quarter-final opponent was Colombia, whose sturdy defense was impossible to break through and goalkeeper David Ospina making impressive saves to keep the game tied at 0–0. In penalties, Argentina missed several chances until Carlos Tevez, who was the sole player to miss his spot kick during the previous tournament, netted his attempt to send ''la Albiceleste'' through to the semi-finals to face Paraguay. The game was evenly played until half-time, when the score was 2–1 to Argentina, but four more goals during the second half allowed Argentina to cruise to the final, where they met host nation Chile. The final was a hotly contested match, with both sides having great chances to open the scoring, particularly with a powerful shot from

Sergio Agüero Sergio Leonel Agüero del Castillo (born 2 June 1988), also known as Kun Agüero, is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is considered one of the best strikers of his generation and one of the greatest playe ...

in the first half for Argentina, with Alexis Sánchez having a clear one for Chile in the second half. With the scores still tied at the end of regulation, the match went to penalties. Only captain Lionel Messi netted his penalty attempt, with Gonzalo Higuaín sending his attempt well over the crossbar and Éver Banega having his shot saved by Claudio Bravo to leave the final scoreline at 4–1 in penalties.

Copa América Centenario

Once more, Argentina entered the tournament as heavy favorites to take home the trophy after 22 years of international drought. ''La Albiceleste'' cruised through their group, with their opening match being a replay of the Copa América final from the year before against trophy holders Chile, which Argentina would go on to win 2–1. Further victories against Panama and Bolivia allowed them to top the group with the maximum number of points. Their quarter-final match was against surprise side Venezuela, where the match remained even for both sides before the Argentines won 4–1. They then dispatched hosts United States 4–0 to earn yet another final clash against Chile. As previously, it was an even match, with Chile initially having the upper hand and more possession before going a man down, with Marcelo Díaz being dismissed after obstructing Messi on the ball. This, however, made it more difficult for Argentina to break through their defence, and they too would go a man down not long after with Marcos Rojo receiving a straight red card for a tackle on Arturo Vidal. Once again the match finished 0–0 and went to penalties. Although Sergio Romero saved Vidal's penalty kick, Messi shot his attempt over the crossbar, with the subsequent players netting their attempts until Bravo saved from

Lucas Biglia Lucas Rodrigo Biglia (; born 30 January 1986) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Turkish Süper Lig club İstanbul Başakşehir. Formerly of Argentinos Juniors and Independiente, he spent seven seasons with ...

and Francisco Silva netted the final penalty to once again hand Chile the trophy. The defeat caused frustration within the Argentine players, with Messi announcing his retirement from international football not long after, as well as many others suggesting their departure from the national team as well.

2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying and warm-up preparation friendlies

On 20 May 2017, the Argentine Football Association announced that

Jorge Sampaoli Jorge Luis Sampaoli Moya (; born 13 March 1960) is an Argentine football coach who is currently manager for Sevilla of La Liga. Sampaoli started out as a youth player and eventually switched to management after a severe injury. Sampaoli starte ...

would take over as the new national team manager, officially on 1 June 2017. Sampaoli's first game in charge was a friendly match against Brazil on 9 June in Australia, with Argentina winning 1–0. However, Argentina struggled during the qualifiers, and it took a Lionel Messi hat trick at Ecuador to confirm qualification for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

. On 27 March 2018, in a warm-up preparation friendly match, Argentina, without its captain Messi, who was sidelined for the match due to an injury, was routed 6-1 by

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

champion Spain at the

Wanda Metropolitano Metropolitano Stadium (Spanish: ''Estadio Metropolitano''), also referred to as Cívitas Metropolitano for sponsorship reasons, is a stadium in Madrid, Spain. It has been the home stadium of Atlético Madrid since the 2017–18 season. It is lo ...

stadium in Madrid. It was Spain's biggest win over another previous World Cup champion, and Argentina's biggest loss since their 6–1 loss to Bolivia in 2009, and also tied the record for Argentina's biggest loss overall, by a margin of five goals. On 14 May 2018, Sampaoli announced a 35-man preliminary squad for the 2018 World Cup, and the final squad list was released on 21 May 2018. When the World Cup in Russia came around, the tournament was a disaster for the ''Albiceleste''. Argentina competed in

Group D Group D may refer to: * FIA Group D - International Formula racing cars: ** Formula Two ** Formula Three ** Formula 3000 * One of six or eight groups of four teams competing at the FIFA World Cup ** 2022 FIFA World Cup Group D ** 2018 FIFA World ...

. Argentina drew 1–1 with Iceland during their opening World Cup group match, with one goal scored by

, and the other one by

Alfred Finnbogason Alfred may refer to: Arts and entertainment *''Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series * ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne * ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák *"Alfred (Interlu ...

, an underwhelming performance that drew heavy criticism, especially towards Sampaoli. In the next group match, Argentina suffered a heavy 0–3 loss by Croatia due to "a defence left exposed, a midfield that was overrun and an attack that was blunted", which put them on the brink of elimination and led to unconfirmed reports that Sampaoli would be sacked. The match against Croatia was Sampaoli's 13th game in charge, where he had used 13 lineups and a total of 59 players, and despite a myriad of attacking choices the defence was poor. Sampaoli remained in his position, as Argentina defeated Nigeria 2–1 in the third group match thanks to an 88th minute go-ahead goal to advance to the knockout stage. In the round of 16, Argentina lost to France 4–3, despite an initial 2–1 lead as they conceded three successive goals, and was eliminated from the tournament. On 15 July 2018, the Argentine Football Association announced that Sampaoli had left his position as national coach by mutual consent.

2019 Copa América

Argentina lost to Colombia in the 1st group stage game, then tied to Paraguay, then won against Qatar, before advancing to the Quarterfinals vs Venezuela where they won 0-2, then the semi-finals they lost 2-0, so 3rd place, Argentina won over Chile 2-1 while Messi and Medel both getting red cards.

2021 Copa América & 2022 Finalissima

At the

2021 Copa América The 2021 Copa América was the 47th edition of the Copa América, the international men's football championship organised by South America's football ruling body CONMEBOL. The tournament took place in Brazil from 13 June to 10 July 2021. The tour ...

, Argentina finished top of Group A with 3 wins and 1 draw. They defeated Ecuador and

in the quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively to advance to the final. Argentina won their 15th Copa América title with a 1–0 victory against Brazil at

in Rio de Janeiro, to be their first title since 1993. Argentina would begin their undefeated winning including winning the

2022 Finalissima The 2022 Finalissima ( es, Finalísima; ) will be the third edition of the CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions, a football match between the winners of the previous South American and European championships. The match will feature Italy, winners of U ...

game against Italy to win their second championship in history.

2022 World Cup glory

ARG_Line-up_-_ARG_vs_MEX_for_2022_FIFA_WC

After a 2–1 defeat against Saudi Arabia in the opening match, Argentina managed to top Group C, after beating the Mexico and Poland national football teams (2–0 in both matches) to advance to the knockout stages. In the round of 16, Argentina defeated

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

2–1, then they defeated the Netherlands 4–3 on penalties after a 2–2 draw in the quarter-final, and they secured a 3–0 victory over Croatia in the semi-final. Argentina faced defending champions France in the Final on 18 December. Although Messi made big goals in the series, the match went to a penalty shoot-out after

Kylian Mbappé Kylian Mbappé Lottin (born 20 December 1998) is a French professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Paris Saint-Germain and the France national team. Considered one of the best players in the world, he is renowned for his dribb ...

scored a hat trick to even the series to a 3–3 draw. Lionel Messi scored the team's first penalty, and then

Gonzalo Montiel Gonzalo Ariel Montiel (born 1 January 1997) is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who plays as right-back for Premier League club Nottingham Forest F.C., Nottingham Forest, on loan from La Liga club Sevilla FC, Sevilla, an ...

scored the tournament-winning penalty, and Argentina won 4–2, clinching their first World Cup title since 1986. Many fans, former players, and commentators alike deemed the final to be one of the greatest football matches of all time, and arguably the greatest World Cup final ever. Messi was awarded the Golden Ball as best player of the tournament, while also being the World Cup's second top scorer (7 goals) after Mbappé. Likewise,

Emiliano Martínez Damián Emiliano Martínez (born 2 September 1992) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest leve ...

was awarded the Golden Glove as the best goalkeeper of the tournament, and

Enzo Fernández Enzo Jeremías Fernández (born 17 January 2001) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Primeira Liga club Benfica and the Argentina national team. As an academy graduate of River Plate, Fernández made ...

was awarded the best young player award.Enzo Fernández ganó el premio al Mejor Jugador Jóven
at FIFA.com

Bibliography

* "Historial de la Selección Argentina 1901-1985", ''Sólo Fútbol Anuario 1985'', Editorial Sineret, Buenos Aires (1985) * ''Historia de la Selección Argentina 1901-1991''

Selección Nacional: Historia
at AFA website
Biblioteca del Fútbol Argentino

References

External links

Argentina national team official website
{{Football in Argentina H

National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

Argentina National football team