On Thursday, the Mexican National Team announced that they will host the Argentinian National Team at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas on September 8th. The Mexicans last played at the home of the Dallas Cowboys during the summer of 2013 in the semifinals of the CONCACAF Gold Cup when they lost to Panama. However, they will have a chance to exorcise those demons when they take on the best player in the world next fall.
The match-up between arguably CONCACAF's best team and arguably CONMEBOL's best team is sure to be one of the marquee friendlies of the fall international fixture dates. Players such as FC Barcelona's Lionel Messi, Manchester United's Angel Di Maria and Manchester City's Sergio Aguero will take on names like Real Madrid's Javier Hernandez and Villarreal's Giovanni Dos Santos.
In addition to this being a marquee international fixture, it has the potential to be a preview of the Copa America Centenario. The United States is set to play host to the 100th anniversary tournament in the summer of 2016, and these two sides will both be expecting to go deep into the tournament. September's friendly could well be a chance to lay down a marker as an early favorite heading into it.
Argentina and Mexico last met each other in the Round of 16 at the 2010 FIFA World Cup when the Albiceleste thoroughly dominated, winning 3-1. However, the match is remembered less for Argentina's performance than for the refereeing gaffe which gifted them the lead. On that day, Carlos Teves opened the scoring after Lionel Messi played the ball into him while Tevez was six yards offside, but the assistant never raised his flag. The decision was so bad that it ranks in the top 10 "Worst Refereeing Decisions" on numerous YouTube compilations.
These two have met each other on 27 occasions, with Argentina leading the all-time series 12-11-4 (W-D-L). Mexico will play their next three friendlies in the United States, against: Costa Rica (Orlando Citrus Bowl), Honduras (NRG Stadium, Houston, Texas) and Argentina (AT&T Stadium).
In addition to this impending friendly with Argentina, Mexico will be competing in the 2015 U-20 FIFA World Cup, the 2015 Pan American Games (an U-22 event), the 2015 Copa America and the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup.