The global football lenses will be focused on Zambia as they battle FIFA World Cup champions Argentina in the early hours of Wednesday morning in a friendly match at the iconic La Bombonera in Buenos Aires.
The match is set to kick off at 01:15 (Zambian time).
This is the first meeting between Argentina and the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations champion.
Zambia is not new to playing global football giants.
In 1988 Zambia thrashed Italy 4-0 at the Olympic Games in Seoul and in 2013 conceded a 2-1 loss to Brazil in Beijing, just months after winning the AFCON.
While predicting a tough match against Argentina, Zambian players and coaches have remained positive.
“Everyone who plays football wishes to compete in such games. The training has been going on well and I think it will be a great game,” forward Kelvin Mwanza said.
Argentina have not hidden their respect for Zambia in the build-up to this match against a less fancied opponent.
“The Argentine National Team completed its last practice today before the second friendly of this double FIFA date. The day began in the gym for fifteen minutes. After this part, the team moved to the field where they did physical coordination exercises before the eyes of the press who could observe the first 15 minutes,” the Argentine FA posted on the official website.
Referees from Venezuela led by centre-man Alexis Herrera will handle the match alongside Lubim Torralba and Alberto Ponte.
Since the opening of La Bombonera in 1940, Argentina have played 36 games – posting 25 wins, 8 draws and 3 defeats.
The last loss for Argentina came in 2023 against Uruguay via a 2-0 score-line.
Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni has hinted that superstar Lionel Messi will start against Zambia after being benched against Mauritania at the weekend.
“Already focused on the soccer part, Lionel Scaloni commanded the tactical work by trying various variants. Afterwards, they practiced set pieces for and against to end the day’s rehearsal,” the local media reported.
I fear a high score loss, like 8-1. The B-Team will also lose 2-0 to the Brave Warriors of Zimbabwe who are fielding a full A-Team. These will be de-moralising losses, so why did we go for them in this fashion? We would have been better off playing a friendly against Bangladesh.
Kikikikikikiki! Iwe mu ChiTonga why don’t you take over FAZ? We could do much better. Bangladeshi friendly koma you made my day!
Brazil 2-0 Zambia that is how that friendly ended.
This is just a moral booster for Argentina ahead of the world cup since they need a small team to beat but for Zambia it is as good as taking part in the world cup.