The opening match of Group D at Moscow's Spartak Stadium will see contrary energies crash as FIFA World Cup™ veterans meet one of the competition's most recent debutants. Two-time title holders and 2014 sprinters up Argentina are getting ready to partake in their seventeenth finals, while Iceland – the littlest of every one of the 32 countries by populace with just shy of 335,000 occupants – are showing up in Russia.
Notwithstanding their huge experience and an assaulting line-up drove by Lionel Messi, Angel Di Maria and Sergio Aguero, La Albiceleste battled in qualifying. Jorge Sampaoli's side just anchored their ticket to Europe because of a cap trap from Messi in their last qualifier against Ecuador.
In the wake of achieving the quarter-finals of UEFA EURO 2016, Iceland commended another significant accomplishment by achieving their first World Cup. Heimir Hallgrimsson's men cleared aside groups including Croatia, Ukraine and Turkey making progress toward Russia. Their battle was all the more striking for its proficiency, with Iceland requiring only 16 objectives to qualify – less than some other gathering victor.
Diego Zandrino, Argentina
It is the moment of truth for Argentina, as the team only played one warm-up match ahead of the tournament. Although having multiple options in each position has its benefits, it remains to be seen how well the players can come together as a unit. The key will be to create space against a solid Icelandic defence.
Iceland have failed to win in their last four matches, which would usually give a team cause for concern. Yet this fails to take account of the coach’s experimentation in recent games, while the fact that their EURO 2016 preparations ran a similar course is also encouraging. The players seem to be rising to the challenge, although question marks remain over the fitness of captain Aron Gunnarsson.
The opening match of Group D at Moscow's Spartak Stadium will see contrary energies crash as FIFA World Cup™ veterans meet one of the competition's most recent debutants. Two-time title holders and 2014 sprinters up Argentina are getting ready to partake in their seventeenth finals, while Iceland – the littlest of each of the 32 countries by populace with just shy of 335,000 tenants – are showing up in Russia.
It was additionally 16 June when Lionel Messi influenced his World Cup to make a big appearance in a 6-0 prevail upon Serbia and Montenegro in 2006. Thirteen minutes in the wake of supplanting Maxi Rodriguez in the 75th moment, he scored to finish Argentina's reverberating triumph – the first of the five objectives he has scored in the opposition.
Argentina: Wilfredo Caballero; Eduardo Salvio, Nicolas Otamendi, Marcos Rojo, Nicolas Tagliafico; Javier Mascherano, Lucas Biglia; Maximiliano Meza, Lionel Messi, Angel Di Maria; Sergio Aguero
Iceland: Hannes Halldorsson; Hordur Magnusson, Ragnar Sigurdsson, Kari Arnason, Birkir Saevarsson; Emil Hallfredsson, Aron Gunnarsson; Birkir Bjarnason, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Johann Gudmundsson; Jon Bodvarsson
