Gerardo Martino’s Argentina are back in action tonight following their leisurely demolition of Bolivia on Friday and it is all change for La Albiceleste. Little could be garnered from the squad’s previous work-out, such was the level of opposition, but Martino will use the clash against México on Tuesday to look at a completely different starting eleven – one that is spearheaded by captain, Lionel Messi.

Those supporters in Houston that turned out to see Argentina trounce Bolivia got to see less than 30 minutes of Messi but still witnessed two goals from the four-time Ballon D’or winner. At the AT & T Stadium in Dallas an expected sell-out crowd should see the Barcelona forward from kickoff as he will lead out Argentina against México. The 28-year-old captain will be joined by Javier Mascherano, Carlos Tevez and a few more familiar faces than certainly Friday night’s starting eleven had.

A Messi-Tevez strike partnership is not one that Argentina have seen for a while but with over 175 appearances between them is an experienced and enviable pairing to most sides in world football. The more mature 2015 version of Tevez appears at ease with his marginal role back in the national side and although some critics would argue that he is blocking the way for younger players coming through like Mauro Icardi, Paulo Dybala and Luciano Vietto, Gerardo Martino obviously still has faith in the Boca striker ahead of the World Cup qualifiers and beyond.

With the two of them in attack is another of those young talents – Atlético Madrid’s, Ángel Correa. The 20-year-old made his debut against Bolivia scoring the fastest debut goal in Argentina history inside three minutes and tonight will be rewarded with a starting place. The inclusion of Correa is one of the few reasons to be excited about these friendlies and the hope will be that Martino will continue to call upon the likes of Correa for the qualifiers and not only because other options were withdrawn with injuries.

On Friday night against Bolivia, this role of providing optimism for the future was performed by Matías Kranevitter. The River Plate youngster ably filled the boots of Javier Mascherano in the number five position but will find himself replaced by the old general in Dallas. Mascherano will hold together a midfield three with Fernando Gago and Éver Banega – a midfield that looks very similar to how Argentina were lining up in World Cup qualification for Brazil 2014. Mascherano doing the dirty work and Gago playing the simple passes and trying to find Messi as soon as possible with the opposition on the back-foot.

The completely new-look Argentina defence was virtually given the night off against Bolivia but Tata Martino will name something closer to the back four that he utilised during the Copa América for the match with México. Martín Demechelis returns in his role as Ezequiel Garay’s understudy to partner Nicolás Otamendi and Facundo Roncaglia gets his shot to replace Pabo Zabaleta at right-back, with the Manchester City player injured.

Certainly with México starting with Javier Hernández and Raúl Jiménez in attack and switching to their more familiar wing-backs system the defence and the full-backs can expect more of a test than they had on Friday. Sergio Romero was a virtual spectator but Nahuel Guzmán may have more work to do this evening in between the posts.

That being said, Argentina should still win. After all México are in a state of limbo with a temporary manager and unsure of the permanent direction they will be going in. The question for Argentina is, how do these matches prepare them for the World Cup qualification process that starts in October when Ecuador visit the Monumental? Is Gerardo Martino already aware of his squad for those more meaningful matches?

Argentina (probable starting XI):  Nahuel Guzmán; Facundo Roncaglia, Martín Demichelis, Nicolás Otamendi, Marcos Rojo; Éver Banega, Javier Mascherano, Fernando Gago; Lionel Messi, Carlos Tevez, Ángel Correa.

México (probable starting XI): Moisés Muñoz; Israel Jiménez, Rafael Márquez, Héctor Moreno, Miguel Layún; José Juan Vázquez, Héctor Herrera, Andrés Guardado, Carlos Vela; Chicharito Hernández, Raúl Jiménez.