F. Cervi has scored a goal for Argentina! Assist by W. Kannemann.
GOOALLLL!!! Cervi goes on a great solo run, dodging and beating defenders left and right before coolly slotting his left-footed shot into the bottom left corner! Iraq 0-4 Argentina.
Kannemann didn't have to do much as he fed the ball to Cervi near the half-way line with the latter doing most of the work and then applying the finish.
90'
There will be two minutes of added time.
Salvio goes down in the box under pressure from Sulaka, but it looked a dive. The referee simply lets play continue.
89'
Fayyadh gets forward and sends a cross-pitch ball over towards Attwan, but the latter fails to take it in stride and allows it to run out of play for a throw-in. Tired legs on display there.
87'
Ali fouls Pereyra on the right wing which will give a dangerous free-kick to Argentina in the dying minutes.
84'
After some sloppy play in the first half, Argentina really cleaned up their passing game and currentyl boast an impressive 90% pass accuracy percentage.
82'
G. Pezzella has scored a goal for Argentina! Assist by E. Salvio.
Salvio did well to beat his man to the ball in the air and, instead of going for goal, headed it towards Pezzella at the back post who finished the chance to give Argentina the 3-0 lead!
GOOALLLL!!! From the corner, Salvio rose above his defender and headed it to the back post where Pezzella powered it home! Two of Argentina's three goals tonight have now come via headers. Iraq 0-3 Argentina.
80'
Fayyadh beats his man down the right wing and tries to control the ball in, but ends up in a wrestling match with Kannemann. The Iraqi player will need to be more careful as he is already on a yellow card.
77'
Rebin Sulaka enters the game and replaces Ali Faez Atiyah.
Rebin Sulaka replaces Ali Faez
76'
Mazin Fayyadh gets yellow.
Fayyadh goes in hard on an Argentinian player and is shown yellow for his troubles.
Minute
Description
75'
W. Kannemann enters the game and replaces F. Bustos.
Bustos looked less dangerous in the second half and is now taken off for Walter Kannemann.
72'
SHOT! Pereyra lobbed a ball to Acuna at the back post who tried the header from an acute angle but can't beat Hassan.
70'
Mazin Fayyadh enters the game and replaces Bashar Rasan.
Resan is taken off with Mazin Fayyadh taking his place.
68'
Husam Kadhim enters the game and replaces Ali Adnan.
Kadhim replaces Adnan, though it remains to be seen if he can replace the same attacking impetus.
66'
Kamil looked like he'd be able to launch another Iraqi move forward, only to fall short as his attempt to collect the ball on the opposite side of Acuna proved unsuccessful.
64'
Ali gets behind the Argentina defence on a counter-attack and just can't hold onto the ball long enough for his team-mates to join the move.
62'
Iraq are now passing around the opposing box, in soem of their most sustained pressure thus far! Attwan is played into the box where he goes down under pressure... but the corner is all that's given.
60'
F. Cervi enters the game and replaces L. Paredes.
Now Cervi enters the fray with Paredes making way.
58'
SHOT! Dybala is deveolping a fascination with the top left corner as he tries to hit it with another curling effort... but this one is saved by Hassan. It's unlikely the forward will miss that shot a third time...
57'
Mahdi Kamil enters the game and replaces Ahmad Ibrahim Khalaf.
G. Simeone enters the game and replaces L. Martínez.
A substitution made in Serie A as Inter's Lautaro Martínez is replaced by Fiorentina's Giovanni Simeone.
Khalaf shook off an ankle injury earlier but is now taken off for Mahdi Kamil.
53'
R. Pereyra has scored a goal for Argentina! Assist by P. Dybala.
GOOALLL!!! Roberto Pereyra collected the ball in from Dybala, turned his marker, and curled in a great strike into the bottom right-hand corner of the goal! Mhawi really should have done better in closing the Watford man down, but take nothing away from the strike! Iraq 0-2 Argentina.
Dybala dribbled past a defender and looked to play a one-two with Pereyra, but the defender kept tracking the Juventus man allowing Pereyra to gets his shot off cleanly and score!
50'
SHOT! Salvio and Martinez combine well in the box before the later passed the ball back to Dybala whose shot just missed the top left corner of the goal. That looked much better from Argentina.
48'
SHOT! Adnan takes a dipping shot from an acute angle inside the box... but fails to keep his effort down for the second time today.
46'
E. Salvio enters the game and replaces R. De Paul.
R. Pereyra enters the game and replaces R. De Paul.
Hussein Ali enters the game and replaces Justin Meram.
Mohanad Ali enters the game and replaces Ahmed Yasin.
S. Ascacíbar enters the game and replaces F. Vázquez.
Meza makes way for defensive midfielder Santiago Ascacibar.
Roberto Pereyra is back on the pitch for Argentina for the first time in nearly three years. Rodrigo is withdrawn in the process.
Muhanad Ali, who has scored twice in his last two international matches, comes on for Yasin.
Meram is withdrawn in favour of Hussein Ali.
We're back underway from Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium!
45' +1
HALF TIME: Iraq 0-1 Argentina
45'
There will be one minute of added time.
44'
That frustration continues for Dybala as he tries a cheeky backheel on a one-two with Meza, but it only succeeds in finding the feet of Faez.
42'
Bustos whips in another fantastic cross to Dybala whose touch is, again, too heavy which allows the Iraqi defence to clear the ball away, this time for a corner. It's been a disappointing day from the Juventus forward thus far.
40'
SHOT! A lovely set-piece routine led to a shot that troubled Romero, but the final touch came from an offside player, so it wouldn't have counted anyway. Better from Iraq though, can they get their way back into this match?
38'
Khalaf sure seems to be feeling better as he pulls off a delightful roulette to lose Rodrigo who had been pressing up the pitch!
36'
Acuna tries to dribble around Khalaf, but steps on him instead and the Iraqi defender remains on the pitch. It looked more painful than damaging at first glance though, and he should be able to continue.
34'
Almost on cue, Rodrigo forgoes the tidy passing and opts for a shot from outside the box that forces Hassan to make an acrobatic save! Corner to Argentina.
31'
Argentina get a little too cheeky in the opposing box as a string of one-touch passes ends with an errant pass rather than a shot. Dybala probably should have pulled the trigger when it was passed to him on the penalty spot!
29'
There's a cross from Bustos now! He whipped it in towards Dybala who got a foot on it but failed to either control or shoot it, which allowed the Iraqi defence to collapse on him and clear the ball to safety.
27'
Ali Adnan gets yellow.
Adnan goes up for a header but leads with his forearm which catches Pezzella in the face. The Iraqi defender is shown the first yellow card of the match.
26'
We haven't mentioned Bustos much yet, but he's been consistently available out on the right-wing for Argentina. Don't be surprised if he starts whipping in some crosses sooner rather than later.
24'
SHOT! Acuna runs onto the ball and unleashes a left-footed strike from just outside the box... but Hassan rises to the the challenge and pushes the ball behind for a corner.
23'
Dybala runs off his marker in the box and Meza attempts a delightful pass to find him only to see it cut out by an Iraqi defender. A bit of good and bad there from Meza in the past few minutes.
20'
Meza gets himself in a little trouble for taking down Meram on the touchline, but is not shown a card.
18'
L. Martínez has scored a goal for Argentina! Assist by M. Acuña.
GOAALLLL!!! Acuna curled a ball into the box from the left wing and Martinez rose above his defender, stretched his neck, and headed the ball above a diving Hassan for the goal. That's Martinez' first goal for the Albiceleste! Iraq 0-1 Argentina.
Acuna found space for himself down the left wing and curled in a delightful ball towards Martinez who powered the header into the back of the net!
17'
SHOT! Adnan ran onto a loose ball in the box and trid to finish the chance, but it soared well above Romero's goal. As we mentione din the pre-match, don't be surprised if Adnan is involved in a goal before the day is out.
15'
It looked like Iraq would be able to make another dangerous counter-attack with Yasin making a fantastic run from right to left, but Rashid never saw him and the chance goes wanting.
11'
Dybala plays Rodrigo into the pnelaty area and he dribbles past a pair of Iraqi defenders before stabbing a shot into the side netting.
7'
SHOT! Attwan takes a right-footed shot from range... but misses it wide left. Solid stuff from Iraq there!
6'
Khalaf pushes forward for Iraq on their right side before an errant pass lands at the feet of an Argentinian player rather than an Iraqi one. First push forward for the hosts!
4'
Bustos is taken down on the right wing and Argentina will take the first free-kick of the match!
2'
For those interested, Iraq are wearing an all-white kit while Argentina don all black.
1'
Referee Fahad Al-Mirdasi blows his whistle, and we're underway from Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium!
Hello, and welcome to our live coverage of this international friendly between Iraq and Argentina!
We're still waiting on the official team news from the "home" side, so let's start off by looking at who will be involved for Argentina today!
Argentina XI: Sergio Romero; Fabricio Bustos, German Pezzella, Ramiro Funes Mori, Marcos Acuna, Leandro Paredes, Maximiliano Meza, Franco Vazquez, Paulo Dybala, Lautaro Martinez, Rodrigo De Paul.
Argentina subs: Guido Herrera, Geronimo Rulli, Kannemann, Roberto Pereyra, Angel Correa, Santiago Ascacibar, Eduardo Salvio, Giovanni Simeone, Giovani Lo Celso, Franco Cervi, Renzo Saravia, Juan Foyth.
Iraq XI: Jalal Hassan; Mustafa Nadhim, Ali Faez, Ahmed Khalaf, Alaa Mhawi, Ali Adnan, Osamah Rashid, Bashar Resan, Amjed Attwan, Ahmed Yasin, Justin Meram.
The teams are walking out of the tunnel! Not long to go now!
Iraq subs: Talib, Hameed, Kadhim, M. Ali, Fayyadh, Fanar, H. Ali, Dawood, Kamel, Hadi, Sulaka, Mohammed
Argentina have dominated play and possession, yet only find themselves up by a goal at half-time. Much like the World Cup team, today's XI is very talented yet looks less than the sum of it's parts. Meza, Bustos, and Acuna have looked good for most of the match, but the rest of Argentina's players will need to be more consistent if they want to put this match to bed.
Iraq can certainly be proud of the effort shown in the first half that easily could have easily seen them find an equaliser. They seem content to absorb the pressure of Argentina and then play on the counter-attack, which has proven a very smart tactic from Srecko Katanec as the visitors have often been loose with the ball in the final third. The pace of Adnan and Yasin seems to be Iraq's best outlet to move forward, but Resan has not offered nearly enough from his striker position which somewhat explains Iraq's inability to find the back of the net thus far.
It looks like there have been some changes made at the half!
After an unconvincing first-half, Scaloni's side played well for the remainder of the match scoring three more goals. Plenty of substitutions were made throughout the second-half which proved to make the difference but it's a little concerning that a mixed team of subs and starters played better together than the starting side did. Dybala did look better after the half, providing the assist for Pereyra's goal. The defence was rarely challenged and proved capable of standing up to the challenge when called upon, which will be a welcome site to fans of the Albiceleste.
Iraq played well early but did not have the talent to match Argentina sub-for-sub in the second-half. Katanec should be proud of his side nonetheless as they managed to keep Argentina to just one goal through 50 minutes. At the other end of the pitch, it's not great that Adnan, a left back, had the two best shots of the match, but Ali looked bright when he came on up front and likely would have started had this been a competitive match. While not an overly-talented side, they could definitely pick up a scalp or two in the coming 2019 Asian Cup.
That will do it for our live coverage of this friendly between Iraq and Argentina! We hope you enjoyed following along and will join us again soon!
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