Overview
- Leandro Paredes and Rodrigo De Paul again performed the team’s Sugus-candy ritual on the pitch before Argentina’s World Cup debut against Algeria.
- Paredes has previously said he takes seven Sugus — four blue and three yellow — and coach Lionel Scaloni has described a personal taste for red Sugus.
- Argentina’s confirmed starting lineup for the match lists Lionel Messi among the starters and excludes Julián Álvarez from the XI.
- Kit staff supply the Sugus and the practice is treated as a shared pre-match routine that signals team cohesion rather than a tactical choice.
- The ritual began during Scaloni’s tenure and has become a recurring visual marker of the ‘Scaloneta’ identity around the national team.