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
South American nations at the FIFA World Cup to a David Beckham free kick. During the second round, Brazil defeated Ghana 3–0, in a game which included Ronaldo's record 15th World Cup goal. Quarter-final Germany and Argentina ended 1–1 after extra time; the hosts edged out the Argentines 4–2 on penalties to go through to the semifinals (this was the first time Argentina had lost a World Cup penalty shootout: up until this match, both Argentina and Germany had participated in three penalty shootouts, winning all of them). Argentina scored first to grab a 0–1 lead. However, Michael Ballack's cross, flicked on by Tim Borowski, allowed Klose to