Eight years after their last World Cup final, Argentina are back.
La Albiceleste saw off Australia, the Netherlands and Croatia this time to book their place in the 2022 finals and will now be hoping to go even better than they did in 2014.
At the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro, Argentina fell to that famous Mario Gotze goal as Germany got their hands on the trophy, with the South Americans getting there from Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands.
The 2018 FIFA World Cup then progressed to the Round of 16, but Argentina are back in contention for the prize and a select few players also featured in their last grand final in 2014.
2014 Argentina World Cup squad
Goalkeepers: Sergio Romero (Monaco), Agustin Orion (Boca Juniors), Mariano Andujar (Catania)
Defenders: Ezequiel Garay (Benfica), Hugo Campagnaro (Inter), Pablo Zabaleta (Manchester City), Martin Demichelis (Manchester City), Marcos Rojo (Sporting CP), Federico Fernandez (Napoli), Jose Maria Basanta (Monterrey)
Midfielders: Fernando Gago (Boca Juniors), Lucas Biglia (Lazio), Angel Di Maria (Real Madrid), Enzo Perez (Benfica), Maxi Rodriguez (Newell’s Old Boys), Augusto Fernandez (Celta Vigo), Javier Mascherano (Barcelona), Ricky Alvarez (Inter)
Forwards: Gonzalo Higuain (Napoli), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Rodrigo Palacio (Inter), Sergio Aguero (Manchester City), Ezequiel Lavezzi (Paris Saint-Germain)
Manager: Alejandro Sabella
Who is still in the Argentina team from the 2014 World Cup final?
From the 2014 squad, just two players are still playing international football for La Albiceleste.
Lionel Messi, who is playing in his final World Cup, remains the team’s talisman at 35 years of age, while 34-year-old Angel Di Maria is also part of Lionel Scaloni’s squad.
In fact, of the 21 other players who travelled to Brazil in 2014, just six are still active in the professional game in 2022 – Romero, Andujar, Rojo, Fernandez, Biglia and Perez – but not of them are in the squad in Qatar this year.
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