With just under 72 hours before the highly anticipated 2022 World Cup kicks off in Qatar, tournament favorites Argentina, made their intentions clear with a 5-0 mauling of United Arab Emirates (UAE) in a warm-up friendly on Wednesday.
The two-time world champion who entered Qatar unbeaten in 35 games, added another stroke to the win column with a comprehensive display by their star players.
Angel Di Mari bagged a brace for Argentinians in the 25th and 36th following Julian Alvarez’s 17th-minute opener to make it 3-0 in under 40 minutes of play as they dominated the entire first half. A dominance that was completed with a Lionel Messi strike.
Messi, who is playing in what he declared his final Word Cup, netted just before the halftime break, scoring Argentina’s fourth in minute 44 to essentially destroy the morale of the opposition going into the break.
Despite the fragility in defense by UAE, the second half presented a more lenient period for the Middle Eastern team as they let in just one goal in that half.
Joaquin Correa netted Argentina’s fifth and final goal in the 60th minute as they seemingly used the final half-hour as competitive training over the opponents who were obviously out of depth.
The win, which now moves Argentina to 36 consecutive games unbeaten, places them just two games away from breaking Italy’s all-time unbeaten record run of 37 games.
They are likely to tie that record as early as Tuesday when they kick off their Group C fixture against Saudi Arabia before taking aim at the record outright, next Sunday (November 26) when they face Mexico.
