Argentina played a friendly match against Burkina Faso and won 7-0, but the result tells only part of the story.
Burkina Faso arrived in Buenos Aires with their Under-23 team after a chaotic build-up left their senior players out of the friendly against the world champions.
The trouble started when the flight scheduled to take the Burkina Faso delegation from Casablanca, Morocco, to Argentina was cancelled because of a technical problem. The team was then left trying to find another way to make the match.
The situation became more complicated when several senior players decided not to make the trip amid concerns over the travel arrangements, fatigue and financial conditions surrounding the friendly. Burkina Faso were eventually forced to bring in young players on short notice.
The Burkina Faso delegation arrived in Buenos Aires at around 3:30 p.m., less than six hours before the 9 p.m. kickoff. The journey from Casablanca had taken around 11 hours.
So there was no surprise when Argentina took control almost immediately. Argentina were facing a young Burkina Faso side that had barely had time to arrive, rest or prepare for the match.
Lautaro Martínez opened the scoring before an own goal from Moumouni Diallo doubled Argentina’s advantage. Gianluca Prestianni, Nicolás Paz and Julián Álvarez then added three more before halftime to give Argentina a 5-0 lead.
Franco Mastantuono and Giuliano Simeone completed the scoring after the break as Argentina finished with a 7-0 victory.
Even so, Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni did not criticise the visitors. Instead, he praised them for making the effort to come.
“They could have stayed, and the match could have been cancelled. We are enormously grateful they have been able to come because they made the effort,” Scaloni said.
The Burkina Faso players also received an ovation from the crowd after the match despite the heavy defeat. They had spent much of the day travelling, then walked onto the pitch against one of the world’s strongest national teams.
Burkina Faso did not arrive in Buenos Aires with the team they originally expected to bring. They arrived with a makeshift young squad, barely hours before kickoff, and still went ahead with the game. They deserve an applause for it.
