History of the Argentina national football team History of the Argentina national football team The first match ever recorded by an Argentina national football team was played on 16 May 1901 against Uruguay, although the one played by Argentina on 20 July 1902 (also against Uruguay) is considered its first official match, a 6–0 win. Since its establishment, the Argentina national team has appeared in five FIFA World Cup finals, including the first final in 1930, 1978 (when the team won its first World Cup) beating the Netherlands), the 1986 (winning its second World Cup after defeating West Germany), 1990 and 2014. Argentina has been very successful
Argentina at the FIFA World Cup <section begin=Lineups /> Argentina has played a total of 81 FIFA World Cup games through 17 tournaments facing 36 rivals. Games that went on penalty kicks are shown as drawn. Teams in bold denote world cup winners, teams in "italics" show teams which played it first match ever in a World Cup against Argentina.<br> Teams with a * mark no longer exist. East Germany was annexed to Germany. Soviet Union now plays as Russia.<br> +Played as Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro. Through Argentinian team history, several coaches had trained it with different football styles from offensive to defensive tactics. There