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Argentina-Iceland World Cup 2018

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ARGENTINA

VS

iceland-association

ICELAND

June 16th, 2018 Otkrytiye Arena

Day
Hour
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Second

Nickname(s):

Argentina: La Albiceleste (The White and Sky Blue)

Iceland: Strakarnir Okkar (Our Boys)

 

The road to the World Cup:

Argentina qualified for the World Cup 2018 after the win in the last match against Ecuador. Before that, they finish tie with Uruguay, Venezuela, and Peru, which put them in danger to miss the final tournament in Russia. In the final match, the hero for Argentina become Leo Messi with a hat-trick. Had the Argentinians drawn their match with Chile on March 23rd, they would have missed out on qualification to the tournament and Alexis Sanchez’s Chile would have qualified instead.  This will be the 16th tournament for Argentina, in their history, they managed to win it twice and finished as a runner-up 3 times. Is this will be the Messi year when he finally will win an international trophy? In 2014 the lost the final against Germany with a goal in the overtime and now they are ready to go all the way.

Iceland is one of the pleasant surprises in the tournament. This will be the first World Cup tournament for the "Our Boys" like they are called back home. Iceland became the smallest nation by population to ever win a spot in the finals. Nine different players scored for Iceland during qualification which shows that they can produce goals from all over the pitch. Iceland may have very few household names but they will definitely be ready to cause an upset. They won their group after finishing in front of Croatia (not they will have the chance to meet again). The Icelandic thunderclap is sure to be heard around Russia this summer as Iceland return to the World Stage.

 

 

 

FIFA Rankings

Argentina:

  • Current – 5
  • Highest – 1
  • Lowest – 24

 

Iceland:

  • Current – 22
  • Highest – 18
  • Lowest -128

 

 

Coaches & Captains

Argentina: Jorge Sampaoli & Leo Messi

Iceland: Heimir Hallgrimsson & Aron Gunnarsson

 

Performance and key’s players:

 

Argentina

In the history of football, Argentina has always been one of the best teams in the world. With only 2 titles back in 1978 (host of the tournament) and 1986 (Mexico) the team badly need to win another title, so they can keep up with their rivals Brazil and Germany. Argentinian team has very strong and powerful attack: Messi, Di Maria, Aguero, Higuain, Dybala are ready to punish any team. The big missing name from the team is Icardi, who recently was the reason for a lot of question to Sampaoli "Why he did not take him to the tournament?" In the middle, Biglia and Banega will have to control the ball and help Messi to organize the game. Otamendi and Mascherano will be position in the centre of the defence and on the goal will be Sergio Romero. Argentina has a very fast team with a great technique, but their biggest weakness is defence. They should put a lot of work on the back line if they want to win the final this year, but with Leo Messi in front, they are one of the favourites for the tournament.

 

Iceland

After the amazing performance in Euro 2016 where Iceland reach the quarter-finals, now it is time for the World Cup. The ‘Our boys" surprised everyone after they passed the group stage and after that eliminated England. In the Euro 2016 they finish their group with no losses, two draws against Portugal and Hungary and a win against Austria at the end with 2-1. We expect a very good performance for Iceland in the tournament, because they show us for the past couple of years that they are able to punish any team and score a lot of goals. Iceland is a well-organized team in the middle and their defence is solid. It will be interesting to see if they can match with Argentina.

 

Prediction

Both teams to score (3 points)

Over 3.5 goals (3 points)

Both teams to score and a draw (1 point) 

 

ENJOY THE GAME!

GOOD LUCK!