Athlone Town player takes on World Cup holders Argentina

It's been an eventful couple of weeks for an Athlone Town defender, who went from playing against UCD in the League of Ireland on March 15 to taking on World Cup holders Argentina in the United States a week later!

German Fuentes Rodriguez (generally known as German Fuentes) has been a regular in the Athlone Town team for the last couple of seasons, and last year the 26-year-old received an international call up to represent his native El Salvador.

In the early hours of last Saturday morning, Irish time, Argentina played El Salvador in an international friendly that took place in Philadelphia.

Fuentes started the game on the bench but, with El Salvador trailing 3-0, he was introduced in the 77th minute.

Lionel Messi missed the match due to a hamstring injury, which meant Fuentes didn't get a chance to play against the man generally regarded as the world's greatest player.

Nevertheless, when the Athlone Town man entered the fray the Argentinian players he was up against included Liverpool's Alexis MacAllister, former Real Madrid star and current Benfica player Angel Di Maria, Lautaro Martínez of Inter Milan, and Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez.

It was, therefore, a slight step up from his usual opposition in the First Division of the SSE Airtricity Men's First Division.

The game finished 3-0, meaning El Salvador didn't concede during Fuentes' time on the pitch. Argentina's goals came from Cristian Romero, Enzo Fernandez and Giovani Lo Celso.

El Salvador will be in action again in the early hours of tomorrow (Wednesday) morning, when they take on Honduras.

Athlone Town, meanwhile, are away to promotion-chasing Cork City this Friday night, having battled back from a 3-0 deficit to draw 3-3 with Midlands rivals Longford Town last weekend.