The El Salvador vs Argentina friendly match will take place this Saturday, March 28, 2015 (1:00 PM Pacific) at the FedexField in Landover, Maryland. This will be the first of two friendly matches that Argentina will play in the US, they also face Ecuador in the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on March 31.
The World Cup runners-up will be heavily favored against the Central American team but La Selecta will definitely play hard. The teams have not faced each other since 1982 where the Argentines won 2-0.
El Salvador Team News
El Salvador enter the match as massive underdogs to the Albiceleste and will need to play the match of their lives in order to even get a draw. Albert Roca should field his strongest starting lineup since this match will be a good opportunity for his team to tune up for the upcoming Gold Cup in the summer.
In the past two international matches that El Salvador has played, they have used two different formations, the first, a 4-5-1 against Spain, they then switched to a unique 3-6-1 formation against Colombia. Both matches ended in losses so Roca has to decide which formation fits his players the best. For the purposes of this preview, the more recent 3-6-1 formation will be used to predict the lineup.
The most likely starting 11 is: Derby Carrillo; Alexander Mendoza, Nestor Renderos, Milton Molina; Pablo Punyed, Richard Menjivar, Andres Flores, Alexander Larin, Arturo Alvarez, Marvin Monterrosa; Rafael Burgos.
Argentina Team News
Gerardo Martino will have a full strength squad to choose from and he will be able to field one of the best starting 11s in the entire world. With players such as Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero and Javier Mascherano, they are capable of overwhelming any opponent. The only well-known player to miss the trip is Martin Demichelis. Martino will also add some players who play in the domestic league to round-out the squad.
Although the stars of the team are probably not going to play in both matches or even a full half, Martino will be using the friendlies as a way for the team to work out the kinks before they play in the Copa America during the summer.
It will be interesting to see if the manager deviates from the formation he used in the World Cup, the 4-2-3-1 that led them to the final. The starting 11 is likely to be: Sergio Romero; Pablo Zabaleta, Ezequiel Garay, Nicolas Otamendi, Marcos Rojo; Lucas Biglia, Javier Mascherano; Sergio Aguero, Lionel Messi, Angel Di Maria; Gonzalo Higuain.
El Salvador vs Argentina Prediction
El Salvador may be able to stop the Argentine attack for a time, but it is only a matter of time before the score line favors the South American team. With the sheer talent and experience that Argentina possesses, a 3-0 final score is the a likely result of the match.
El Salvador vs Argentina TV Schedule
As of now, there is no station that will televise the El Salvador vs Argentina game.
