Leo Messi’s World Cup campaign will start on 16th June as Argentina will take on the Vikings in the first match of Group D. Argentina lost to Germany in last World Cup final when Mario Gotze scored in the extra time. Even though Argentina have the best players to lead the line and a good defence, their team chemistry has let them down. They barely managed to qualify for the World Cup in the last qualifier.
Iceland will be taking part in their first ever FIFA World Cup. They surprised everyone when they managed to reach quarterfinals in their Euro 2016 campaign. Even after that, they keep going up as they qualified for the World Cup topping their group above the likes of Croatia, Ukraine, and Turkey.
Form
Argentina had their last two friendlies against Nicaragua and Israel cancelled. There only practice match was against Haiti in which Messi scored a hattrick and Aguero getting a goal in 4-0 win. Earlier Argentina was thrashed by Spain as they put 6 past their defence in the 6-1 win.
Iceland recent form is not as good as they would have expected to get into their first World Cup. Hey recently lost 3-2 against Norway and then draw 2-2 against Ghana.
Squad
Argentina’s attacking depth is so good that the likes of Mauro Icardi and Angel Correa couldn’t make it to the final squad. With the attacking strength of Leo Messi, Paulo Dybala, Gonzalo Higuain, Sergio Aguero and Angel Di Maria Argentina will be a force to reckon with. They, however, recently lost Sergio Romero and Manuel Lanzini to injury which can disturb an already functioning team.
Argentina Predicted XI:
Caballero, Tagliafico, Rojo, Otamendi, Salvio, Biglia, Mascherano, Di Maria, Messi, Meza, Aguero
Iceland will put forward the same team which did so well in the Euro 2016. Gylfi Sigurdsson will return for the Vikings and will surely be a big boost for the side. Alfred Finnbogason has scored in both of the warm-up matches and is in wonderful form scoring 12 times in 19 Bundesliga matches.
Iceland Predicted XI:
Halldorsson, Saevarsson, Arnason, Sigurdsson, Magnusson, Gudmundsson, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Hallfredsson, Bjarnason, Finnbogason, Bodvarsson
Prediction and Odds
Iceland may need to work on damage control in this match as Argentina will look forward to making a statement for the other teams. With such a strike force, it will be hard for Iceland to keep the ball out of the net for long. If Iceland manages to keep Messi in check, they can hope for a better chance to get something of this game.
Argentina 4-1
Argentina to win 3-0 at 7/1.
Argentina to win 2-1 at 5/1.
Argentina to win at 1/3.
Draw at 6/5.
Iceland to put off a shocking victory at 11.
Messi to score anytime at 4/6.
Over 2.5 goals at 19/20.
Odds at Mr. Green and LeoVegas
Argentina to win at 1/3.
Draw at 29/7.
Iceland to win at 10.
Over 2.5 goals at 7/8.
Under 2.5 goals at 29/30.
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