Tottenham: Cristian Romero lays down Marcos Senesi gauntlet in Argentina World Cup win

Cristian Romero put in an impressive performance in Argentina's opening World Cup win over Algeria, but not as good as Lionel Messi's.

The defending world champions kicked-off their defence of the title in style during the early hours of Wednesday morning UK time.

Lionel Scaloni's Argentina side took on Vladimir Petkovic's Algeria in Kansas City, in what was the first of two Group J games going on as Europe slept.

Romero started the game for Argentina, and was given 80 minutes to show why he should be in Scaloni's starting XI over Tottenham's new recruit, Marcos Senesi.

Indeed, with Senesi's arrival in N17 expected to be followed by the capture of Brighton's Jan Paul van Hecke, Roberto De Zerbi is making a point to bolster his centre-back ranks early this summer.

As a result, exits are surely to come in this department, and that could well see Romero wave goodbye to North London over the coming weeks.

How did Cristian Romero fare for Argentina vs Algeria?

Romero has shaken off his knee injury - that ruled him out of the remainder of Tottenham's season back in mid-April - to be fit in time for Argentina's World Cup campaign.

After playing 27 and 45 minutes in pre-tournament friendlies against Honduras and Iceland respectively, the Spurs skipper got the nod from Scaloni to start against Algeria.

What a night it would be for the South Americans too, as they ran out 3-0 winners thanks to a special hat-trick from their evergreen magician, Messi.

Naturally then, it will be the 38-year-old who takes all the headlines on Wednesday morning, but a number of his teammates, including Romero, put in strong displays as well.

As per FotMob, Romero was accurate with 98 per cent of his passes (65/66), played three passes into the final third and was dispossessed zero times.

Meanwhile, he also made two tackles, clearances and recoveries, as well as winning three ground duels and his lone aerial duel respectively.

Romero took a total of 75 touches in the match, whilst also making one block and winning a foul to boot.

He was eventually replaced with 10 minutes to play by former Manchester City and current Benfica star Nicolas Otamendi.

Senesi learns his Argentina place

Prior to the World Cup, Senesi has three senior Argentina caps to his name.

However, armed with his recent headline move to Tottenham on the eve of the tournament, he will be hoping to add to that tally significantly over the next few weeks.

Scaloni may have other ideas for him, however, as he was an unused substitute in the win over Algeria.

Should Argentina beat Austria in their second game of the group stages next Monday evening, then Senesi could well earn a chance to play in their final group game against Jordan in the early hours of 28 June UK time.

Romero may well leave Tottenham this summer, but he looks set to make his point to Spurs chiefs over who is the better central defender between himself and Senesi.