Argentina suffered a not so unexpected upset against Iceland in the World Cup opener. Despite the flashy stats, Argentina expected everything from Lionel Messi, but that didn’t work out for them. They are now getting ready for their most challenging task in this group stage when they will clash against Croatia on Thursday. Croatia also struggled a bit against the feisty Nigerians but eventually recorded a safe win. Argentina is in quite the difficult spot right now, and anything other than a win might put them in danger.
Argentina is coming into this match after being stuck at a very frustrating 1-1 draw against Iceland. Argentina had their fair share of scoring chances throughout the whole game (26), but only 7 of those were on target and just one was a goal. Sergio Aguero took the lead with blasting shot from inside the area, but Australia pulled even only four minutes later. Argentina was awarded a penalty kick at the 64th minute, but Lionel Messi failed to convert. They were unable to score any other goals in that match and had to settle for the 1-1 draw. This leaves Argentina stuck between a rock and a hard place regarding the qualification to the next round.
On the other hand, Croatia also struggled a bit in their match but eventually managed to defeat Nigeria by 0-2. They were fortunate in that match, as their goals were actually an own goal and a penalty kick. Nigeria managed to put a goal past their own net at the 32nd minute, while Modric converted a penalty kick at the 71st minute for the final 0-2. However, Nigeria created more scoring chances than Croatia in that match and really pressured them at times. Even so, Croatia has three points in their bag, and even a draw here would be more than welcome. There was also an incident with reserve forward Nikola Kalinic, who was cut from the team after a quarrel with the coach. But the Croatians are calling it an injury-related incident.
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