Football Results

This is definitely one of more interesting matches of the third round given that both Nigeria and Argentina still have chance to reach the last 16. The Nigerians are in better position as before the last round they have two points more than Argentina and Iceland. On the other hand, leading Croatia has already qualified for the knockout phase having won six points, and a lot in this group will depend of outcome of their match with Iceland, especially if Nigeria manages to win Argentina. The Nigerians achieved exactly that in their last year’s friendly played in Krasnodar, while the Argentinians had and upper hand in the group phase of the World Cup in Brazil four years ago.

Nigeria

Despite the defeat the Nigerians had managed to reach the knockout phase later on, while right now they have chance to revenge in full to the Argentinians, especially as if they win they would end up in the last 16 of the World Cup in Russia. True, to win the group they need to Croatia losses to Iceland by high goal difference, and that is hard to expect especially as Nigeria discovered all their weaknesses recently when it won them by 2-0 thanks to fleet-footed Musa. Before that Nigeria lost by the same result to Croatia, and it was very important for the Nigerian players to fully recover in match with Iceland, meaning they will face not so impressive Argentinians in the best possible mood.

Still, in Nigeria’s team are very much aware that Messi and his compatriots will not surrender in advance, and that they will have in fact a very difficult job in the last match of the group phase, especially as only victory suits the Argentinians. On the other hand, if they drew the Nigerians would be the closest to reach the round of 16, given that is hard to expect that Iceland can win the second match in the group against very good Croats by goal difference of two or three goals. Besides, we all know that the Nigerians prefer situation when their opponent is forced to attack as it opens them more space for fast counter-attack, which is their speciality. Let’s add that against Argentina we expect to see the same line-up that faced Iceland.

Probable lineups Nigeria: Uzoho – Omeruo, Troost-Ekong, Balogun – Moses, Etebo, Mikel, Ndidi, Ebuehi – Musa, Iheanacho

Argentina

Vice-champions of the world are on verge of elimination after two rounds of the group phase of World Cup in Russia, given that at the moment they have just one point, which was won in the first match with debutant Iceland. In that match the Argentinians had chance to win since their best player Messi had missed the penalty when the result read 1-1, but in the second round when they faced Croatia the Argentinians had absolutely no chance and were defeated by sound 3-0. Culprit for the shocking defeat is their manager Sampaoli, who despite many warnings continued to play with the team’s tactical set-up and who instructed player to face Croatia in rarely used formation 3-4-2-1.

Still, we need to say that the Croats played one of their best matches ever at any World Cup. They had limited the Argentinians in almost all segments of the game. It sounds surreal that Messi had just one attempt on goal in the entire match. Thanks to Nigeria’s victory over Iceland the Argentinians still have chance to reach the last 16 if they win Nigeria, but at the same time the Icelanders mustn’t win Croatia or at least they mustn’t with the same or better goal difference than Argentina, as Iceland currently had a bit better goal difference. Let’s add that Sampaoli was forced to make number of changes in the starting line-up after dreadful performances against Croatia and it is also expect that Argentina returns to its standard formation 4-3-3.

Probable lineups Argentina: Armani – Mercado, Otamendi, Fazio, Ansaldi – Biglia, Mascherano, Banega – Messi, Higuain, di Maria

Verdict:

Although they seemed lost against Croatia we expect from vice-champions of the world to play much better against Nigeria, especially as only victory leaves them in the race for the round of 16.

Pick: Argentina wins 1.54 - 54/100 @1XBet