The Argentina nationwide group already is aware of the opponents it’ll face within the group stage of the 2026 World Cup: Austria, Algeria, and Jordan make up a Group J with historical past and unprecedented challenges.
For the reigning champion, the conflict with Austria is the one one which brings a direct historical past within the prime competitors, whereas the matches towards Algerians and Jordanians shall be solely new.
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The one precedent, in Argentina’s worst World Cup
The match towards Austria is a reminiscence from the early days of the World Cup. Argentinians and Austrians confronted one another within the group stage of the 1958 World Cup in Sweden.
In that match, Argentina was defeated 3-2 in an in depth encounter. Though the match resulted in a defeat, it’s the solely direct World Cup precedent between the 2 groups, who now have the chance to rewrite their historical past 68 years later.
Algeria and Jordan, unprecedented clashes
The encounters with Algeria and Jordan shall be absolute firsts within the context of the World Cup. Whereas Argentina and Algeria have confronted one another in different tournaments just like the Olympic Video games, they’ve by no means met in a World Cup closing stage. Algeria is a group with expertise within the match, so their match presents a bodily and tactical check for Argentina in Group J.
📸 Alexander Hassenstein – 2016 Getty Photos
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As for the Jordan group, their presence within the 2026 World Cup marks their debut within the competitors. With this situation, Argentina begins its title protection with a single precedent of defeat towards one in all its historic rivals, Austria.
Nonetheless, the energy of Argentina and the inexperience of two of its opponents in direct World Cup matches place it as the nice favourite to dominate Group J and advance easily within the 2026 World Cup.
This text was translated into English by Synthetic Intelligence.
📸 Kevin Dietsch – 2025 Getty Photos