¿Could this be Messi's World Cup?
When Argentina reached the final in 2014 and actually played better than Germany, most of us were thinking that Messi's was about to achieve his biggest challenge yet. But the goal never arrived and the mannschaft eventually won in extra time.
This year, the albiceleste seems weaker with players like Di Maria, Mascherano or Agüero far from their best. But who knows, maybe everything will work out for the best.
They should finish on top of their group. They will meet first a young and unexperienced Iceland, two sides that have never met before. Then, Argentina will clash against Croatia which the south americans beated 1-0 during the group stageof the 1998 World Cup. They also have a perfect balance in friendly matches: 1 win each and 1 draw.
Finally, an almost classic duel with Nigeria since Argentina has faced the super eagles four times in the last six World Cups winning 2-1 (1994), 1-0 (2002), 1-0 (2010) and 3-2 (2014). Both also drew 0-0 in the 1995 Confederations Cup and played three friendlies with 2 wins and 1 loss in favor of the africans.
Croatia is a safe bet for second place with Modric and Rakitic leading the way for Mandzukic to score. It will be their first meeting ever with Nigeria; while recent history witnessed six qualifying matches against Iceland with 4 wins for Croatia (4-0 and 3-1 in 2005, 2-0 in 2013 and 2016), 1 draw (0-0 in 2013) and 1 win for Iceland (1-0 in 2017). Iceland and Nigeria played a friendly match in 1981 with a 3-0 victory for the europeans.
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