5 Best Argentina Teams to Play in the Intercontinental and Club World Cup

While the Club World Cup, and its predecessor the Intercontinental Cup, are sometimes perceived as pre-Christmas filler in Europe, the opposite is true on the other side of the world. For South American teams, victory over the best across the Atlantic Ocean represents the pinnacle of success. 

San Lorenzo this Wednesday become the third Argentine team to dispute the Club World Cup in its present format. In 2007 Boca Juniors lost out to Milan, while two years later Estudiantes took Barcelona right to the wire before Lionel Messi's goal consigned his compatriots to final defeat.

But the history of Europe vs. Argentina goes back much further. The following are some of the very best clashes hosted by the Intercontinental Cup, featuring legendary Argentine sides and some simply wonderful players down the years.

Long the dominant force in domestic football in terms of league-titles won, River have often struggled to translate that potency on the international stage. Their record of two Copa Libertadores titles, for instance, compares unfavourably to Boca Juniors and Independiente, who boast six and seven wins in the South American competition, respectively. 

The Millonario ran out winners in 1986 for the first time, and they repeated that success a decade later. Their finest hour, however, came in Tokyo with a win over Steaua Bucharest that confirmed their status as world champions. 

Guided by the genius of playmaker Beto Alonso in the middle of the park, River prevailed over the strong Romanians with a single strike from Uruguayan striker Antonio Alzamendi.

It was a fleeting moment in time, but one Boca fans will not forget. The budding partnership of Carlos Tevez and legendary coach Carlos Bianchi lasted until the young striker moved north to Corinthians, yielding one memorable Intercontinental Cup trophy before it was broken up. 

Tevez was just 19 in 2003, but he came on for the last 25 minutes of regular time as Boca held Carlo Ancelotti's Milan consisting of Clarence Seedorf, Andrea Pirlo, Cafu, Kaka and Andrei Shevchenko to a 1-1 draw. Matias Donnet enjoyed the high point of a journeyman career across Argentina and the U.S. with the equaliser, cancelling out Jon Dahl Tomasson's opener. 

In the resulting shootout Roberto Abbondanzieri came up big with two saves, keeping out Pirlo and Alessandro Costacurta's efforts. Boca kept their nerve from 12 yards and overcame the Italian giants in a huge upset.

Racing Club's three-part series with Celtic has become infamous in Scotland due to the uncompromising physical play of La Academia. That, however, should not lead to an underestimation in the talent that team possessed in 1967. 

The famous "Equipo de Jose," coached by former league-winning striker Jose Pizzutti, counted on the skills of Roberto Perfume and Alfio Basile at the back, with former Milan star Humberto Maschio running things in midfield. Further up, young Juan Carlos Cardenas was on the way to becoming a legend. 

Chango's stunning strike from distance gave Racing a 1-0 victory in a play-off held in Montevideo, after two legs had failed to yield a winner. The goal also meant that the Avellaneda would go down in history as the first Argentine team ever to lift the Intercontinental Cup and therefore be crowned as "world champions." 

Avellaneda side Independiente glory in calling themselves the "King of Cups." With a record-seven Copa Libertadores crowns and two Intercontinental Cups to their name, one can see why that may be an appropriate tag for the Diablos Rojos. 

The club's finest hour, however, arguably came 20 years when Liverpool were seen off to guarantee their second Intercontinental title. The twin terrors of Daniel Bertoni and the mercurial playmaker Ricardo Bochini, one of the finest players Argentina has ever produced but who spurned Europe to spend his entire career at the Doble Visera, were the inspirations for a fine Rojo team. 

Jose Percudani wrote himself into club folklore with the only goal of a 1-0 victory, scored after just six minutes. Liverpool themselves were no slouches, having won four of the last eight European Cups, but the English side could not deny Independiente their glorious lap of honour in Tokyo.

Nobody can accuse Boca Juniors of winning their world crowns the easy way. While the mighty Milan were their opponents in 2003, three years earlier the Xeneize faced just as formidable an obstacle in their quest to win a second Intercontinental Cup. 

Inspired by Juan Roman Riquelme at the height of his powers, however, Carlos Bianchi's men did the impossible. A Real Madrid side packed with the talents of Iker Casillas, Fernando Hierro, Guti, Luis Figo and Raul were taken down 2-1 in Tokyo's National Stadium. 

Burly centre-forward Martin Palermo did the damage early on, scoring twice in six minutes to put Boca in charge. Madrid tried to fight back, but a heroic rearguard action kept the Argentines ahead and on the way to the most glorious night in the club's history.