The Albiceleste, which left captain Lionel Messi on the bench as he continues his recovery from muscle fatigue, scored in either half to secure the victory.

Argentina took a while to find their rhythm at Kyle Field, although Simeone and Martinez both tested Edrick Menjivar within the opening 11 minutes.

Giovani Lo Celso then curled a long-range effort against the corner of the goal frame before Cristopher Melendez fouled Nicolas Tagliafico inside the box, giving Argentina the perfect chance to open the scoring.

Martinez took it with a coolly taken spot-kick, firing his shot into the bottom-left corner, squeezing it past Menjivar, who dived the right way, in the 37th minute.

Argentina continued to push, having a host of good chances on either side of half-time, before Simeone doubled its lead 54 minutes in. He raced on to Martinez's pullback and quickly rearranged his feet to drill his low strike in.

After the second goal, with the win secured, Lionel Scaloni made a host of changes, not including Messi, but Argentina could not find a third to add to its tally.

Scaloni has already said he expects Messi to be available to start for Argentina for its FIFA World Cup opener against Algeria on 17 June (AEST), but even without him, it showed it still poses a threat.

Scaloni, though, admitted other players are not at fully fit, with question marks over the likes of Nico Gonzalez and Gonzalo Montiel.

"I don't want to alarm anyone either, but we're not at 100 per cent with many players," Scaloni said.

"Maybe that decision doesn't just depend on a centre-back. We're going to wait and draw conclusions based on what the team needs.

"The misfortune of 'Flaco' [Balerdi] means we have to rethink situations with other team-mates.

"If we rush it, it could be a wrong decision. We're not going to make a decision until the Tuesday match [against Iceland] and see how the other guys are. We'll wait."

Marcos Senesi is reportedly the favourite to replace Balerdi in the squad, but in better news for Argentina, Nico Paz, Julian Alvarez and Emiliano Martinez are all expected to return sooner rather than later.