Sergio Aguero and Nicolas Burdisso scored second-half goals to secure Argentina's triumph, after which Basile admitted their opponents were a different side to the one which retained their African Nations Cup crown earlier this year.

He told Argentinian television network TyC Sports: "I watched Egypt in the Cup of Nations and they were a brave, hard-to-pass team.

"When they play Argentina or Brazil it's different. They respect us. It is not the same for them to play other African nations.

"Today, they were too calm. They had just two chances to score in the second half, but they never hurt us again. They respected us."

Basile was pleased to have so many European-based players in his squad for the friendly.

"I am happy by the performance, but the most important thing is that we had some time altogether," he added.

"I was able to watch them play, talk to them, see how players on the bench react too."

Captain Javier Zanetti echoed his coach's sentiments.

"These matches are useful to improve day by day. We have very little time to work together so we can try some different things in these games," he said.