Scaloni concedes some Argentina players’ fitness not at 100%

Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.

Lionel Scaloni admitted some Argentina players are not at “100%” following their 2-0 friendly win over Honduras.

Lautaro Martinez and Giuliano Simeone were both on target for the reigning world champions, who left Lionel Messi on the bench as he continues to recover from muscle fatigue.

It was Argentina’s sixth straight win as they continue to step up their preparation for the World Cup, but they have already been dealt a blow, with Leonardo Balerdi ruled out of the tournament prior to the Honduras match.

While Messi is expected to be fit for their opener against Algeria on June 16, there are still question marks over the likes of Nico Gonzalez and Gonzalo Montiel.

“I don’t want to alarm anyone either, but we’re not at 100% with many players,” Scaloni said.

“Maybe that decision doesn’t just depend on a centre-back. We’re going to wait and draw conclusions based on what the team needs.

“The misfortune of ‘Flaco’ [Balerdi] means we have to rethink situations with other team-mates.

“If we rush it, it could be a wrong decision. We’re not going to make a decision until the Tuesday match [against Iceland] and see how the other guys are. We’ll wait.”

#Argentina 2 (Lautaro Martínez -p- y Giuliano Simeone)  #Honduras  0

— Selección Argentina (@Argentina) June 7, 2026

Marcos Senesi is reportedly the favourite to replace Balerdi in the squad, but in better news for Argentina, Nico Paz, Julian Alvarez and Emiliano Martinez are all expected to return sooner rather than later.

Lautaro Martinez not only scored a composed penalty kick, but his backheel pullback also set up Simeone for the second goal.

Argentina are attempting to become the third team to win back-to-back World Cup titles, after Italy (1934-1938) and Brazil (1958-1962), and the striker is confident they have the ability to do so.

“We have to go defend what we achieved in Qatar,” Martinez said.

“It’s going to be tough, but we’re going to give it everything to leave Argentina as high as possible.”

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