Messi-less Argentina ease to 3-0 win against Guatemala

Argentina, without Barcelona star Lionel Messi, beat Guatemala 3-0 in a friendly in Los Angeles on Friday.  

Giovanni Simeone, Giovani Lo Celso and Gonzalo Martínez scored the goals as interim coach Lionel Scaloni began with a win. 

The Albiceleste are still in limbo after their World Cup failings, with no new coach appointed permanently since Jorge Sampaoli's departure. 

In addition, there squad for this week's international break featured domestic-based players and the younger generation. 

As well as Messi, who has not yet confirmed what the future holds for him at international level, Argentina were also without Sergio Agüero, Ángel Di María and Gonzalo Higuaín, while Javier Mascherano and Lucas Biglia retired after the World Cup.

Lautaro Martínez, Mauro Icardi and Paulo Dybala were also not involved for various reasons but that did not prevent a routine win against Guatemala. 

Lo Celso's shot was handled by Elías Enoc just before the half hour mark and Martínez drilled home the resulting penalty in front of nearly 23,000 supporters. 

Eight minutes later, Lo Celso added the second and Simeone completed the scoring before half-time. 

TEAMS:

Argentina (3): Gerónimo Rulli; Renzo Saravia, Germán Pezzella (m.55, Alan Franco), Ramiro Funes Mori (m.65, Walter Kannemann) y Nicolás Tagliafico; Exequiel Palacios (m.65, Franco Cervi), Leandro Paredes (m.46, Santiago Ascacibar) y Giovani Lo Celso; Gonzalo Martínez (m.55, Franco Vázquez), Giovanni Simeone and Cristian Pavón (m.46, Matías Vargas).

Guatemala (0): Paulo Motta; Allen Yanez (m.46, Carlos Gallardo), Elías Vázquez (m.46, Cristian Jiménez), Héctor Moreira y Rafael Morales; Rodrigo Saravia (m.58, Jean Márquez), Kevin Norales (m.62, Marvin Ceballos) y José Manuel Contreras (m.70, Edgar Macal); Frank de León, Jorge Vargas (m.46, Wílber Pérez) y José Martínez.