"We will find a way to continue playing with the same idea, passing the ball and keeping possession. It is an identity that goes beyond the individual players," Lionel Scaloni told TuttoMercatoWeb, in comments translated from Italian. That was the main takeaway from Argentina's 4-0 win over Bolivia in Córdoba, the first match of this new stretch without Lionel Messi, even if one friendly is nowhere near enough to declare the transition finished.

Scaloni's message after the 4-0 win

The result mattered, of course. Argentina beat Bolivia 4-0 in Córdoba and extended their run to five straight wins. But Scaloni's emphasis was on continuity, not celebration.

He returned to the same theme when he said: "I told the boys that, regardless of the results, we must continue to be competitive. Whoever no longer wanted to be part of this journey could say so openly. There would have been no problem."

That says a lot about where he sees the squad. The idea is not to build a replica of Messi's version of Argentina, because that is impossible. The task is to preserve the possession-based identity and the competitive edge once the team's defining player is no longer there.

There is some noise around source framing here. One source presents Argentina as coming off a World Cup final defeat to Spain, but there is no corroborating detail elsewhere in the information available, so it is safer to leave that aside and stick to what the night in Córdoba actually showed.

What it showed was a team still comfortable taking control of the ball and a coach already trying to set the terms of the post-Messi discussion. That is a fair stance after one game, even if it is far too early to call the handover complete.

The new faces who backed up the point

The encouraging part for Argentina was that the argument did not rest on a flat, uneventful friendly. There were tangible contributions from players who should matter in the next phase.

Lautaro Martínez scored in the 19th minute. He arrived in good touch too, with 4 goals in 4 Serie A appearances for Inter this season. Ten minutes later, Nico Paz scored, and his own club form had already hinted at that kind of contribution, with 1 goal and 2 assists in his last five matches.

Paz was involved again in the second half, supplying the assist for Cristian Romero's header. Those moments do not settle anything on their own, but they do give Scaloni real material to point at when he talks about identity surviving beyond one superstar.

The other significant detail was the number of new faces. Five players made their senior national team debut: Roman Vega, Santiago Simon, Ezequiel Fernandez, Leonel Flores and Valentin Gómez. That is a heavy intake for one night, and it lines up with the idea that Argentina are starting to test how much depth they can trust around the established core.

The farewell schedule and what comes next

Messi is still part of the story, even in a piece about what follows him. TuttoMercatoWeb reports that he will play his last match with Argentina on 6 October against Benin, but that timeline should be treated as source-based rather than settled fact.

Before that, Argentina face Burkina Faso on 3 October at the Monumental. That fixture should tell us a little more than one comfortable win in Córdoba could on its own.

Scaloni has set the target in plain terms. Argentina beat Bolivia 4-0, brought in five debutants, and now head into the Burkina Faso game with a coach insisting the idea stays the same after Messi.

FAQ

Can Argentina keep playing the same way without Lionel Messi?

Lionel Scaloni believes they can. After Argentina's 4-0 win over Bolivia in Córdoba, he said the team would keep the same idea, based on passing and possession, and that the identity goes beyond individual players. It is only one friendly, so the transition cannot be called complete, but the performance supported his point.

Why was Argentina vs Bolivia seen as the start of the post-Messi era?

The match was framed that way because Argentina beat Bolivia 4-0 without Lionel Messi and Scaloni used the night to talk about what comes next. He focused less on the score and more on maintaining the team's identity and competitiveness, while five players also made their senior debuts.

Who stood out for Argentina against Bolivia without Messi?

Lautaro Martínez and Nico Paz were the main attacking names on the scoresheet. Lautaro scored in the 19th minute and Paz added another 10 minutes later. Paz also assisted Cristian Romero's second-half header, while Argentina gave five senior debuts in the same game.

Written by Daniel Hartley with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 3 outlets. How we work →