FIFA World Cup: Argentina won 3-0 against Iceland in the last warm-up match before the start of the FIFA World Cup 2026. Lionel Messi, who returned to the field after recovering from injury, also appeared in excellent form and scored a goal.
Playing against a strong team, Iceland performed well in the beginning of the match and created some chances. Mikael Ellertsen had a good opportunity to score, but he failed to capitalize on the opportunity. This opportunity later proved to be the turning point of the match. After this Argentina took control of the game. In the eighth minute, Valentin Barco scored the first goal with a brilliant shot from outside the box and gave the team an early lead.
Iceland started well, but missed the opportunity
In the first half, Argentina continuously put pressure on Iceland’s defense, but could not score any more goals. The score remained 1-0 till half time. In the second half, the Argentine coach made several major changes. Alexis McAllister, Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martínez were fielded as substitutes. With the arrival of these players the team’s attack became stronger.
Messi scored a goal on his return
However, despite these changes, the defending champions were still unable to convert their chances, but things changed for the team a few minutes later when Lionel Messi entered the field. 38-year-old Messi started making an impact with his game as soon as he arrived. He gave a brilliant pass and gave a penalty to Lautaro Martínez. After this, in the 72nd minute, Messi himself scored a penalty kick and increased Argentina’s lead to 2-0.
This was Messi’s 117th goal in his international career, which proved his excellent form once again. After this, Thiago Almada scored the third goal in the 86th minute. The goal came after excellent teamwork from Messi and Martínez, which completely broke down Iceland’s defence.
Got great confidence before the World Cup campaign
With this win, Argentina will enter this multinational tournament with a winning streak and a fit Messi. Argentina will start its campaign in the FIFA World Cup 2026 against Algeria on 16 June. The team has been placed in Group J along with Austria and Jordan.
