The world champions controlled the game in College Station, securing a comfortable victory with goals from Lautaro Martínez and Giuliano Simeone.

Messi remains on the bench

Lionel Messi remained on the bench and was not used by coach Lionel Scaloni as part of a plan to gradually restore his full fitness after a hamstring injury on 24 May. He is expected to play a limited number of minutes in one of the upcoming friendlies.

Goals

The breakthrough came in the 37th minute after Nicolás Tagliafico was fouled in the penalty area. Martínez converted the penalty, placing his low shot to the goalkeeper’s left.

Martínez was also involved in the second goal in the 54th minute, when he delivered a clever backheel assist to Atlético Madrid’s Giuliano Simeone, who finished powerfully into the net.

Argentina dominated throughout. Giovani Lo Celso struck the crossbar with a curling effort in the first half, while the Honduras goalkeeper denied Tomás Aranda in the second. Honduras rarely managed to get past the halfway line after the break.

Upcoming fixtures

Argentina will face Iceland in their final friendly in Auburn, Alabama on Tuesday. They will begin their World Cup group stage campaign against Algeria on 17 June in Kansas City. Lionel Scaloni has indicated Messi could play brief minutes in one of the remaining friendlies, making his appearance against Iceland likely.