DALLAS (Special envoy).- Argentine jerseys multiply throughout the city center. In bars, restaurants, on the sidewalks surrounding the national team’s hotel, and also around the AT&T Stadium, where one of the most attractive matches of the second round will be played this Monday. On paper, there are still two rounds left to define the group. In practice, however, Argentina and Austria will put much more than a place in the round of 32 at stake.
After winning their first matches and given the level they showed, they are shaping up as the strongest teams in the zone. Therefore, due to how the table is set and the Olympic tiebreaker system used by FIFA, which prioritizes the result between the teams involved in case of a tie in points, this match takes on extra value. The winner will be very close to securing first place early, an ideal scenario to manage workloads, recover players, and arrive with more energy at the start of the knockout stages.
After years of debates about the lack of matches against European teams, the world champion will face its first test of that kind in the tournament. Starting at 2 PM (Argentine time, TV Pública, Telefé, TyC Sports, Flow, DSports, and Paramount +), it will face a rival that beat Jordan 3-1 in its debut and has all 26 call-ups playing in the Old Continent: 15 play in the Bundesliga, although there are also players spread across England, Spain, Italy, Portugal, and the Netherlands.
Hope is growing around the national team. Dallas welcomed the squad with another massive flag-waving and hundreds of fans accompanied their arrival at the hotel. However, behind closed doors, the view of the debut was much more cautious than that of the fans. The team showed good signs: it maintained an idea and showed that it can keep functioning despite absences and several players who arrived just fit physically. But the 3-0 win over Algeria was wider than the difference seen on the pitch. Especially in the first half, when the Africans caused trouble with their speed and ball circulation, and even scored a goal that was disallowed for offside.
Therefore, beyond the victory, the thrashing of Algeria left a message. The win was celebrated because it’s always important to start on the right foot, but a certainty also remained behind closed doors: in a World Cup, there are no easy matches.
In that context, Austria appears. It doesn’t have the name of other teams, but it does have a consolidated team and players accustomed to competing every week in the continent’s top leagues. Of course, the passport doesn’t win matches either. On the road to Qatar, Argentina only played a friendly against Germany in 2019, a 2-2 draw in which the Germans fielded mostly substitutes, and then thrashed Italy 3-0 in the Finalissima, six months before lifting the cup. Even so, it ended up showing a very high level throughout the World Cup, becoming one of the most convincing champions of all time.
This time, Argentina hasn’t had many tests of that level either. Since 2023, the only precedent against a European rival was the 3-0 win over Iceland in the pre-World Cup friendly. Austria, moreover, is the best-ranked opponent in the group in the FIFA rankings: it sits in 21st place, above Algeria and far from Jordan, which appears in 68th place. It is an intense, dynamic team that presses high and breaks out quickly every time it recovers the ball, mainly through the central channel. It was precisely there that Algeria found space, caused trouble behind Alexis Mac Allister, and tested the Argentine defense more than once. An idea that bears the stamp of its coach, Ralf Rangnick, considered one of the great references of the modern German school and mentor to coaches like Jürgen Klopp, Thomas Tuchel, and Julian Nagelsmann. Not by chance, Austria stood out in the qualifiers as the team that allowed the fewest passes to its rival before stealing the ball, with an average of just six touches.
Scaloni did not confirm the lineup, and in Sunday’s practice, before traveling from Kansas City, he again tried variations. Everything indicates that Nahuel Molina will regain his place over Gonzalo Montiel, who had an irregular start to the tournament and also suffered a right quadriceps overload that prevented him from working normally during the week. The uncertainty is in midfield: whether to add a midfielder like Exequiel Palacios or Leandro Paredes, reinforce a flank with Giuliano Simeone or Nicolás González, or maintain a more offensive structure, with Thiago Almada as a winger. It is also not defined who will be the number 9: Lautaro Martínez or Julián Álvarez.
Before boarding the plane, the delegation watched the first half of Spain’s 4-0 win over Saudi Arabia at the training camp. Later, it landed in Dallas and settled into The Adolphus hotel, in the heart of the city, where it followed the second half of Uruguay’s 2-2 draw with Cape Verde.
In the round of 32, which will be played in Miami, the leader of Argentina’s group will face the second-place team from that zone, a spot currently held by Uruguay. That position will only be defined when La Celeste faces the reigning European champion and Saudi Arabia faces Cape Verde, since all four teams still have chances to finish as runners-up.
In that context, besides defining the first qualified team, Monday’s duel will serve as a good measure to evaluate where the team really stands before a decisive stage. If it manages to steer the objective against Austria, the coaching staff’s intention is to rotate against the Asians to give rest to the players with more minutes and, at the same time, try out some alternatives for the knockout stages.
Austria, which set up its base in California, arrived here on Saturday and received encouraging news for its coach: captain David Alaba, a Real Madrid defender who had been carrying a muscle injury, and Alessandro Schöpf, one of the most outstanding full-backs in the squad, who suffered a jaw fracture against Algeria, trained with the rest of their teammates and are set to start.
Beyond the opponent, this group of players has long looked more inward than outward: they understand that the most important challenge remains in their own performance.
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Para mí esto huele a verso del sistema. Argentina no necesita lideratos falopas ni examenes europeos. Austria es un equipo pedorro, ni siquiera juegan bien al fulbo. A Scaloni lo bancamos pero si pierde es un vendepatria. Vamos Argentina carajo, a ganar o a romper todo. ¡Dale Celeste y Blanca, a cagarlos a patadas!
Para mí estos europeos de mierda no nos van a ganar. Argentina juega con huevos, no como esos maricones de Austria. Vamos a pasarles por arriba, Scaloni los va a dejar en ridículo. VAMOS ARGENTINA CARAJO!