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The final two group games of Group D take place on Tuesday, June 26th.
Argentina will take on Nigeria and Croatia go head to head with Iceland. In this article I’ll tackle Argentina vs Nigeria.
Argentina have been extremely disappointing in the World Cup thus far. They opened with a 1-1 draw against Iceland, where Aguero scored in the 19th minute and Iceland equalized shortly after. That’s a game where you could give Argentina a pass. Iceland have a solid defensive team and it could have been 2-1 if Messi had scored that penalty.
But then there was the Croatia game. As soon as Rebic scored due to a goalkeeper error Argentina fell apart. Worse was how poor they looked creatively. They got a deserved thumping in that one and deservedly languish bottom of the group.
Nigeria got off to a bad start against Croatia, losing 2-0 to an own goal and a penalty. They fared much better against Iceland however, winning 2-0 and putting them in a prime spot to qualify.
A Nigeria win will see them through. A draw will also see them through if Iceland don’t beat Croatia by more than 2 goals.
Argentina need a victory and even that doesn’t guarantee them to go through if Iceland beat Croatia. So they need a victory and most likely by a couple of goals.
Argentina vs Nigeria Betting Odds:
Argentina To Win: 1.45
Nigeria To Win: 6.50
Draw: 4.50
(Odds on this page are correct as of 2018/06/24 7:20:55 PM EST but are subject to change)
Argentina Analysis:
Argentina are coming under a lot of criticism, rightly so. I’m not going to say it’s undeserved but I’m going to say I think it’s a little bit harsh – even though I was raging at them over that performance as I tipped them to win.
The fact is there was a major tactical error – they played far too defensively. I’d said in my previews of the World Cup that they had a suspect defense to put it midly so for them to play 3 at the back and try and defend was crazy. Worse was the play and positioning of Mascherano.
He was essentially a defensive midfielder yet he was so used to playing in defense it looked like that he was rushing back in a sweeper position. It was so bizarre to see. Messi had even said that the 3-4-3 doesn’t work for him and that’s what they went with. Amazing.
The passing was brutal too. Messi didn’t get the ball anywhere near enough and he hung out on the right side the majority of the game while everyone on the left passed it around.
End of the day – it was one of the most tactically stupid performances you’ll see from Argentina and that was what 100% did them in.
Nigeria Analysis:
On the flip side, tactics were what helped Nigeria against Iceland. I felt they were far too defensive minded against Croatia and with the creativity that had, said they needed to attack more and push more.
That’s what they did in the game against Iceland and it paid off. Played more positively but had a tight defense and a great counter attack and it all worked wonders for them.
It should give the Nigerians a lot of confidence in this game, against the messy Argentinian defense.
Argentina vs Nigeria Betting Tips:
Despite the performance in their last game, I’d think Argentina can’t be anywhere near that bad again. They need to attack so will change things around and you have to have faith in the lethal offense they have.
However the sportsbooks agree with bad odds on Argentina, plus honestly I’m not sure I CAN trust them. When you look at the tactical decisions in the last game – it was one o the worst managed games there has been.
I’m going to go with Over 2.5 goals for 3 units. I think you can’t trust Argentina to keep the goals out but they’ll be pushing forward and it could be a good game. You can bet this for 1.80 odds at https://www.Bovada.lv.
