Today we will witness the first opt-out of the extremely interesting final in Kazan, between two big names of football world who, however, have not impressed at all until this moment. Even if France won the group without emotion, it struggled in front of not so strong teams, defeating Australia (2-1) and Peru (1-0), all in order to exit the groups with an embarrassing evolution in the last match of the group against Denmark (0-0).
On the other hand, the situation was much more dramatic for the Argentine national team, who was a few minutes away from the elimination from this World Championship. They failed to defeat Iceland in the debut match (1-1), suffered a shocking defeat in front of Croatia (0-3), and wining on the last minutes in front of Nigeria (2-1), qualifying with a decisive goal scored in the 87th minute. Judging the two combatants after the evolutions in the groups, it is difficult to pronounce a certain verdict, because neither France nor Argentina have not shown too much at this World Championship.
Probable teams:
France (4-2-3-1): Lloris - Pavard, Varane, Umtiti, Hernandez - Kante, Pogba - Mbappe, Griezmann, Matuidi - Giroud
Argentina (4-4-2): Armani - Mercado, Otamendi, Rojo, Tagliafico - Perez, Mascherano, Banega, Di Maria - Higuain, Messi
Given the circumstances of this game, I expect a balanced game. Taking into account the rather timid evolutions of the two teams so far at this tournament, I think we will witness a closed match, not excluding the possibility of requiring additional extra time or penalty shootout to decide the qualified team in the quarter. However, it is hard to believe that Argentina, a team with a chaotic and ungainly style of play, will find the necessary resources to impose itself in 90 minutes in front of France which, although hesitant to shine so far, is aware that it's time to rock the engines.
Bet: The team that will advance in the next round: FRANCE - Odds: 1.68 (Unibet)
Comments