Football. ua presents the announcement of the FIFA World Cup match between Argentina and Croatia.
Group D, June 21, 21:00, Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, Nizhny Novgorod Broadcasting the match on Inter.
Team Argentina should be corrected for a misfire in the match with Iceland. At the same time, it is necessary to do this already in a duel with the Croats, which at the moment with three points occupy the first line in the group stage of World Cup 2018.
According to the bookmakers, the favorite in this meeting are the Argentines, which is not surprising. The leader of the "white-blue" Lionel Messi should be beyond the motivation: in any way, he could bring victory to his team, realize a penalty in a match with Iceland. Secondly, his main rival for the Golden Ball, Cristiano Ronaldo, has already scored four goals, while Leo in the "goals" column is still empty.
As Ivan Rakitic noted before the game, you need to find a way to neutralize Messi, but Argentina and without Lionel have someone to score.
Approximate compositions:.
Argentina: Caballero - Mercado, Otamendi, Tagliafico - Salvio, Mascherano, Perez, Acuna - Messi - Pavon, Aguero.
Croatia: Subasic - Vrsalco, Lovren, Vida, Strinic - Rakitic, Brozovich - Perisic, Modric, Rebic - Manjukic.
Interesting Facts:.
- These teams met each other 4 times (Argentina won 2 times, Croatia 1 time draw).
- Their only meeting at the World Cup took place in the group stage in 1998, when Argentina won 1-0 in Bordeaux thanks to the only goal of Mauricio Pineda.
- The last time the teams played in a friendly match in London in November 2014, then Argentina won with a score of 2: 1, the winning goal in the 57th minute was scored by Lionel Messi from the penalty spot.
- Croatia has never lost its second game in the group stage of the World Cup (3 wins, 1 draw), the only time the Croats lost 2: 1 to the Italian team in 2002.
- Argentina has never lost its second game in the group stage of the World Cup, having lost the opening game, having won 3 games and having played once in a draw - If Croatia wins, it will end in the 1/8 finals.
- Messi scored in both matches against Croatia (when the Argentines lost 2: 3 in March 2006 and when they won 2: 1 in November 2014).
2: 2 forecast.