Argentina will play Bolivia on Friday night in an international friendly at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston. Argentina will be looking to put their Copa America disappointment behind them, and Lionel Messi is set to play in a strong squad named by Argentina head coach Gerardo Martino. The game has a scheduled start time of 8.30 p.m. ET.
Messi and his Argentina teammates will still have the taste of disappointment in their mouths after their loss to Chile in the Copa America 2015 final. Losing out on penalties is tough for any player at the best of times, but when it comes in the final and for a team starved of, and desperate for trophies, then the pain is that much more magnified.
Some stars from the Argentina squad will be missing today, but on the whole the squad named for this friendly against Bolivia is a strong one for the South American giants.
These two teams met in June in another friendly, and in that game Argentina won 5-0 in San Juan. Sergio Aguero scored a hat-trick in that match, with Angel Di Maria also scoring two.
Although this match is just a friendly, both teams will be preparing for their World Cup 2018 qualifying campaigns, which start in October.
Argentina will play Bolivia tonight, before taking on Mexico next week as part of their preparations. Then next month they will play qualifiers against Ecuador and Paraguay in October.
Bolivia will also be preparing for their World Cup qualifiers, and they have some tough games at the start of their qualifying campaign, playing Uruguay and Ecuador early on next month.
