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The second round of Group D fixtures kicks off on Thursday, June 21st with Argentina vs Croatia. The other two teams in the group, Nigeria and Iceland, face off the next day.
Argentina drew 1-1 with Iceland to get us a massive win with the betting tips as I’d tipped Iceland or Draw for a 5 unit play. I felt Argentina were strongly overrated and Iceland strongly underrated and it came into play there. They’ve came under a lot of criticism after that one but really I don’t think they should be – Iceland are a damn good team.
Croatia eased by Nigeria 2-0. Modric was the man of the match and it was a penalty and an own goal in a game that had an extremely defensive first half. Nigeria just looked poor overall and Croatia will need a better performance to match the Argentinians here.
Croatia vs Argentina Betting Odds:
Croatia To Win: 4.33
Argentina To Win: 2.00
Draw: 3.40
(Odds on this page are correct as of 2018/06/18 12:20:15 PM EST but are subject to change)
Argentina Analysis:
Seeing those odds above, the sportsbooks have clearly adjusted their rating of Argentina after that draw versus Iceland.
However Iceland are an excellent team with a great defense. They also know how to attack very well. It was a result I wasn’t too surprised by.
I think Argentina fare better in this one. Croatia won’t be as defensively sound as Iceland. Croatia have a lot of talent up front and that could be a concern for the weak Argentina defense, but they were held at bay by Nigeria with relative ease.
Croatia Analysis:
It’s interesting trying to figure out the strategy of Croatia here. Are they going to pull an iceland and defend strongly or will they go for it? If anything I think it should be the latter. They’re not as defensively sound as Iceland and they have the forwards to cause Argentina problems.
Yet I think we will see a defensive performance from them and that’s going to be an issue. You need a strong team mentality for that and strong team chemistry and I don’t think the Croats have that yet.
I think they’re going to play defensively and that will be their downfall.
Argentina vs Croatia Betting Tips:
I think the price is just right to go with Messi & co. I don’t rate them too highly but I do think they have what it takes to break the Croats down. I’m wary of the Argentina defense though so I’ll go with 3 units on Argentina to win. You can bet that at https://www.Bovada.lv..
