Argentina had the first chance of the game on seven minutes when Giuliano Simeone forced a full-stretch save from Edrick Menjivar before the Atletico Madrid man turned provider moments later, picking out Lautaro Martinez whose diving header was held.
Honduras then had a mini purple patch where they had Argentina on the back foot and that culminated in a chance for Edwin Rodriguez, but he couldn’t keep his rasping effort down.
The game fell into a lull midway through the first half, but it sprang to life again with ten minutes until the break. Giovani Lo Celso’s curling effort came crashing back off the bar and, as they challenged for the loose ball, Christopher Melendez collided with Nicolas Tagliafico, and a spot kick was duly awarded.
Up stepped Martinez and the Inter Milan forward duly dispatched the penalty low into the corner. That gave La Albiceleste a lead that they almost doubled on the stroke of half-time, only for Menjivar to react well to keep out Simeone’s clever back-heel from Lo Celso’s cutback.
Lionel Scalioni’s men were quick out of the traps after the restart and got the goal their dominance deserved nine minutes in.
Martinez was involved once again as he got on the end of Thiago Almada’s through ball and silkily back-heeled into the path of Simeone, who finished well.
Honduras were defending desperately, and only a goal-line clearance from Denil Maldonado kept half-time sub Facundo Medina’s header out.
With both managers making a slew of changes as the game progressed, momentum was lost, and the game petered out somewhat. Tomas Aranda forced a good save late on from replacement goalkeeper Luis Ortiz before Cristian Romero headed the resulting corner over.
However, the reigning WC and Copa America champions saw out the victory, and they will face Iceland on Tuesday in a final tune-up before the real thing gets going ten days from now against Algeria.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Giuliano Simeone (Argentina)
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