Preview: Jordan vs Argentina - prediction, team news, lineups

Reigning world champions Argentina will be looking to preserve their 100% start to the 2026 World Cup when they take on already-eliminated Jordan in their final Group J fixture on Saturday.

AT&T Stadium in Dallas will stage the first ever meeting between these two nations, with Argentina ranked number one in the world and 71 places above Jordan in the FIFA standings.

Match preview

Another Argentina game. Another Argentina win. Another Lionel Messi masterclass. The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner further cemented his legacy as one of the greatest of all time after scoring a brace in a 2-0 win over Austria on Monday to seal last-32 qualification and top spot in Group J.

After surprisingly missing an early first-half penalty, Messi made amends by sweeping home a well-worked opener, before netting a second deep into injury time to become the World Cup’s all-time leading scorer with 18 goals, moving clear of the previous record holder Miroslav Klose.

While Messi, who turned 39 on Wednesday, has become just the third player in history to score in six successive World Cup games, Lionel Scaloni's Argentina have put together an impressive nine-match winning streak across all competitions, keeping eight clean sheets and conceding only one goal in the process.

La Albiceleste are bidding to become the first nation since Brazil in 1962 to win back-to-back World Cup titles and lift the famous golden trophy for a fourth time in their history, which would move the South American giants into joint-second place alongside Germany and just one behind Brazil’s record tally of five triumphs.

Regarded as one of the favourites in our World Cup 2026 betting guide, Argentina will back themselves to beat Jordan on Saturday, but they will have unwanted memories of losing in their last encounter against an AFC opponent, suffering a shock 2-1 group-stage defeat to Saudi Arabia at Qatar 2022.

One of four debutants at this summer’s World Cup, Jordan have already been eliminated from the tournament after suffering back-to-back Group J defeats, losing 3-1 to Austria and 2-1 to Algeria.

The Chivalrous Ones were leading by one goal heading into the final 25 minutes of last weekend’s encounter with Algeria, courtesy of a strike from Nizar Al-Rashdan. However, their dominant African counterparts turned the contest on its head to deny Jamal Sellami’s side their first World Cup point.

Jordan are the first team to score in each of their first two World Cup matches since Ivory Coast in 2006 (first three), but their defensive frailties, particularly from set-pieces, have ultimately proved to be their undoing.

Indeed, the Chivalrous Ones have conceded three of their five goals at the World Cup from corners, including both goals against Algeria, clearly exposing an aerial vulnerability that a tactically sharp Argentina outfit will look to exploit on Saturday.

Sellami has said that he hopes that the national team can come away from the World Cup leaving “a good impression of Jordanian football", and they will certainly achieve that if they manage to pull off an almighty upset against the world’s highest-ranked nation and reigning champions in Dallas.

Jordan World Cup form:

Jordan form (all competitions):

Argentina World Cup form:

Argentina form (all competitions):

Team News

Jordan have no injury or fitness issues to report, and head coach Sellami will consider selecting a similar starting lineup to the one that narrowly lost to Algeria.

Striker Ali Olwan, who scored Jordan’s first ever World Cup goal on matchday one, is expected to lead the line and is just one goal away from equalling the national team’s all-time record goal tally set by Hamza Al-Dardour (31).

Musa Al-Taamari and captain Ihsan Haddad are both set to earn their 95th international caps in attack and at right wing-back respectively, while Yazan Al-Arab, Abdallah Nasib and Husam Abu Dahab could all retain their starting spots at centre-back,

As for Argentina, Tottenham’s Cristian Romero is unlikely to feature after the centre-back came off with a knee injury in the second half of the win over Austria.

New Spurs signing Marcos Senesi and 38-year-old Nicolas Otamendi, 38, are both contenders to replace Romero at the heart of the defence. They could potentially play together if Lisandro Martinez is given a rest.

Scaloni will indeed consider freshening up his starting lineup in multiple positions, given that his team have already qualified as group winners, though Messi may still start this match - with a plan in place to bring him off early - as he endeavour to increase his World Cup goal record.

Jordan possible starting lineup:

Abulaila; Al-Arab, Nasib, Abu Dahab; Haddad, Al-Rashdan, Al-Rawabdeh, Abu Taha; Al-Tamari, Al-Mardi; Olwan

Argentina possible starting lineup:

E. Martinez; Montiel, Otamendi, Martinez, Tagliafico; Lo Celso, Paredes, Palacios, Almada; Messi, L. Martinez

We say: Jordan 0-3 Argentina

While Jordan will look to summon the spirit of past AFC giant-killers and put up a spirited fight in Dallas, the sheer gulf in class and top-level tournament experience between the two sides should comfortably see Argentina through.

Even if Scaloni opts to make wholesale changes to rest his key stars for the knockout rounds, the South American giants should have few problems overwhelming the tournament debutants.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.