Indonesia 0-2 Argentina: Paredes and Romero secure another win in friendly

Argentina beat Indonesia with goals from Paredes and Romero either side of half-time. 

Match Report

An Argentina team missing Lionel Messi laboured to a 2-0 friendly victory over Indonesia on Monday.The world champions stroked the ball around without much resistance from the off, but were blunt in front of goal. However, La Albiceleste would enter the interval 1-0 up thanks to a long-range stunner from Leandro Paredes.

Indonesia, currently 149th in the FIFA world rankings, did not go down without a fight, though. On the stroke of half-time, Emiliano Martinez was called into a reaction stop to prevent Ivar Jenner grabbing an equaliser from close range, while Elkan Baggott's looping header drew an even better save from the goalkeeper.

Argentina reasserted control in the 55th minute, when Cristian Romero rose high to nod home Giovani Lo Celso's whipped corner. They saw the game out fairly comfortably from there, with Pratama Arhan's long throws only sporadically giving them something to think about.

Line-ups

Indonesia XI: Amat, Marc Klok, Dimas Drajad, Asnawi Mangkualam, Shayne Pattynama, Ernando Ari, Rizky Ridho, Elkan Baggott, Marselino Ferdinan, Ivar Jenner, Rafael Struick

Subs: Stefano Lilipaly, Sandy Walsh, Fachruddin Aryanto, Dendy Sulistyawan, Saddil Ramdani, Andy Setyo, Rachmat Irianto, Witan, Syahrul Trisna, Yance Sayuri, Ricky Kambuaya, Pratama Arhan, Edo Febriansyah, Yakob Sayuri, M. Pratama

Argentina XI: E. Martinez, Paredes, Pezzella, Lo Celso, Exequiel Palacios, Nahuel Molina, Romero, N. Gonzalez, Facundo Medina, Julián Álvarez, Facundo Buonanotte

Subs: Tagliafico, Gerónimo Rulli, Ocampos, Acuna, Walter Benítez, De Paul, G.Simeone, G. Rodriguez, Mac Allister, Balerdi, Thiago Almada, Enzo Fernández, Alejandro Garnacho