FIFA WORLD CUP 2018 – Argentina vs Iceland PREVIEW
The giant Argentina go against a first timer at the world cup Iceland. Led by the best player in the world Argentina will be looking to make their mark on this years world cup, but the underdogs Iceland are here to surprise many more people. A nation with 300000 population are making the impossible and have qualified to a 2nd straight major tournament after surprising everyone and making everyone fall in love with them at the euros when they reached the quarters. Will Argentina ruin the Icelandic party? Or will Iceland cause another shock? Preview below.
ARGENTINA
Yet another world cup for Argentina and as usual the hopes are high. Led by Lionel Messi, Argentina will look to write the wrongs of their recent failures at major tournaments. Not being able to win one since 1993 and losing back to back to back finals in 2014 2015 2016 (1 world cup, 2x Copa America) Argentina gotta find a way to overcome these struggles. Argentina’s biggest strength should be their attack with superstars like Messi Aguero Dybala, also they have Higuain and Di Maria. Argentina’s biggest weakness will be their goalkeepers because both of them are back up options for Chelsea and Man Utd, their keepers are Caballero and Romero who are clearly not the best, but can do a job. It’s a suspect position. Their full backs are slightly suspect too and their midfield isn’t the best in the tournament. There are definitely flaws in Argentina’s side, but with the attack that they have, they can beat anyone. Coached by Sampaoli , the copa America winner with Chile, who also took Brazil to penalties 4 years ago with Chile. Sampaoli loves his teams to play high press football and that’s what we should expect from Argentina. If their attack clicks it could be very fun, if it doesn’t then it can be a fiasco for sure, especially in this group.
Argentina have had a tough qualifying campaign, purely carried by Messi they just about qualified on the last day beating Ecuador 1-3 in a must win in which Messi scored a hattrick. Argentina had a bunch of shocking results like not being able to beat Paraguay, Venezuela, Peru at home. Argentina’s attack didn’t even click scoring 19 goals in 18 games which was tied for 2nd worst and funnily enough their defence which was supposed to be a weakness was their strength. If not for Messi, we wouldn’t even see Argentina here, but it’s great when you have a top 2 player in the world. Messi scored 7 goals, Argentina’s 2nd highest scorer only had 2. That sums up the struggles they had playing up front and they need to fix that because Argentina have some of the best attacking talent in the world.
Argentina played only one game in their preparation, having the other one postponed. Argentina beat Haiti 4-0 in a game where Messi scored a hattrick and got an assist. They dominated and had no trouble. They were supposed to play Israel but didn’t because Argentina didn’t want to travel to Israel. Don’t know what to make of Argentina after just playing Haiti. Never really tested themselves against bigger nations in these preparations so we’ll just have to wait and see what form they bring into the tournament.
ICELAND
A nation with a population if 330000. An absolutely incredible story over the past few years in the footballing world. After reaching the quarter finals beating England in the Euros 2 years ago, Iceland have managed to qualify for their first world cup. It really is the golden era of Icelandic football. The great thing that makes Iceland succeed is their togetherness as a team, they have great team spirit and by working hard for each other, they manage to pull of these fantastic results. Their manager Heimir Hallgrimsson works as a dentist which is just beyond incredible for him to succeed as a football manager. Iceland will be tough outing for everyone because there is no quit in this team and if they keep up playing as a team they can cause many more surprised. Iceland’s key player will be Gylfi Sigurdsson, a top midfielder who plays in the Premier League, he’s their best playmaker, can put a long ball and knows how to score from long distance, also Captain Gunnarsson is another one of those players to look for that can change the game, but as I’ve said the team spirit is what got them where they are and Iceland need to keep the team unity to continue to surprise us all.
Iceland had one the toughest groups in their qualifying campaign. A group that involved Croatia, Ukraine, Turkey, Finland and Kosovo alongside Iceland. Croatia will be the team Iceland will actually face at the world cup coincidentally. Iceland had 7W 1D 2L, their most impressive results would have to be winning away at Turkey 0-3, beating Croatia at home and beating Ukraine 2-0. Iceland managed to win the group overcoming the top Croatian side and two really good sides in Ukraine and Turkey who had hopes of qualifying themselves. I mean if we look at every group, Iceland won the group of death when it came to European qualifiers. Iceland were solid only conceding 7 goals in the qualifiers. There really anything else to say about Iceland’s qualification. This will be their first world cup.
Iceland played two friendlies right before the world cup. They didn’t look that solid to be honest, losing 2-3 to Norway after leading 2-1 and then blowing a 2-0 lead against Ghana drawing them 2-2. Not the best way to go into the world cup, blowing leads and leaking in goals especially when your first opponent is Argentina, but hopefully Iceland have figured it out in training and are ready for the challenge, they cant play like they have this month otherwise they’ll get battered.
What to Expect From The Game
It’s a game where mostly everyone expects Argentina to dominate and pick up a win, however they cannot underestimate Iceland as they’ve shown they can compete and beat good teams. Argentina will have to be fully engaged and their main star Messi needs to lead his team into this win. Argentina’s attack are expected to create a lot of chances and take them, but we all know it’s unlikely to be that straight forward. Iceland will defend for their lives and will create a few chances themselves given that Argentina’s defence is slightly suspect. Argentina will hold most of the possession and will try to unlock Iceland during most of the game, if they get a goal quick then it could get easier for Argentina, but if Iceland keep holding them out then we may sense some frustration from Argentina and more belief from Iceland. I think we’ll see Argentina winning this game, but I don’t believe it will be quite straight forward, Argentina are a very suspect side and we haven’t seen enough of them before the tournament to see what they’re truly capable of, the talent is there, but Iceland’s team unity will make it hard for the south American side. I think we’ll see a good game, Messi will show everyone why he’s regarded as the best player in the world but they’ll have gaps in defence and will concede, I’d Argentina to win 2-1 or 3-1.
ODDS – Decimal (WilliamHill)
Argentina Win – 1.35
Draw – 4.75
Iceland Win – 9.00
Kick Off – 16th June 2018 – 2pm UK Time
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