Argentina almost blew it in the World Cup qualifiers and needed sheer luck in order to book their ticket. They did miss Lionel Messi in quite a few of those matches but struggling in a group with a lot of easier teams is worrisome. They did eventually make it, and now Lionel Messi is hungrier than ever. The World Cup is a trophy that he wants, and they do have a somewhat easy path to the finals. They will start their bid with a tricky match against roughnecks Iceland on Saturday. Iceland has been steadily improving over the past years and will fight for the qualification.
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Argentina might have finished at the 3rd spot of the CONMEBOL group with 28 points (7-4-7), but their work was far from easy. They finished just two points ahead of the 6th Chile who was eliminated, so Argentina was close to being eliminated themselves. A bad run of results when Lionel Messi was absent had kept Argentina outside the qualification spots for the entire phase. However, he eventually returned and carried Argentina to the main event. Argentina has displayed mixed results in their warm-up friendlies ever since (3-2-0). They defeated Russia, Italy, and Haiti with clean sheets, but suffered terrible losses against Spain (1-6) and Nigeria (4-2). Some problems have emerged in the past weeks, with goalkeeper Sergio Romero and midfielder Manuel Lanzini suffering injury setbacks that will prevent them from playing. Lionel Messi will have to carry the extra load here, but with Sergio Aguero and Paulo Dybala around him, magic can happen.
On the other hand, Iceland has been great over the past couple of years or so and will now participate in their first ever World Cup. They turned quite a few heads their way with their performances in the 2016 EURO Cup, where they managed to reach the quarter-finals of the competition. Led by Everton’s classy midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson and Augsburg’s forward Alfred Finnbogason, the Vikings will now try to repeat 2016’s success. The Group is far from easy, as Iceland will not only have to fight Croatia for the 2nd spot but also Nigeria who are sturdy. Iceland has played numerous friendlies over the past months (2-4-2). Results have not been very good, as both their wins came against Indonesia. They lost to Norway, Peru, Mexico and the Czech Republic, and drew against Ghana and Qatar. They don’t have many great players, but they are all ready to fight for their country. Iceland might not have a very experienced coach either, but Heimir Hallgrimson had learned a lot in the previous World Cup when he was assistant to Swedish Lars Lagerbak.
Argentina World Cup Roster
23-man final squad: Sergio Romero, Willy Caballero, Franco Armania, Gabriel Mercardo, Cristian Ansaldi, Nicolas Otamendi, Federico Fazio, Marcos Rojo, Nicolas Tagliafico, Marcos Acuna, Javier Mascherano, Eduardo Salvio, Lucas Biglia, Giovani Lo Celso, Ever Banega, Manuel Lanzini, Maximiliano Meza, Angel Di Maria, Cristian Pavon, Lionel Messi, Paulo Dybala, Gonzalo Higuain, Sergio Aguero.
Iceland World Cup Roster
23-man final squad: Hannes Thor Halldorsson, Runar Alex Runarsson, Frederik Schram; Kari Arnason, Ari Freyr Skulason, Birkir Mar Saevarsson, Sverrir Ingi Ingason, Hordur Magnusson, Holmar Orn Eyjolfsson, Ragnar Sigurdsson; Johann Berg Gudmundsson, Birkir Bjarnason, Arnor Ingvi Traustason, Emil Hallfredsson, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Olafur Ingi Skulason, Rurik Gislason, Samuel Fridjonsson, Aron Gunnarsson; Alfred Finnbogason, Bjorn Bergmann Sigurdarson, Jon Dadi Bodvarsson, Albert Gudmundsson
Get more details: Argentina vs Iceland 2018 World Cup Match-Up