Football Previews
Argentina vs Iceland
Competition – FIFA World Cup
Stadium – Otkrytie Arena
Date: 16th June 2018
Kick-off time – 14:00 GMT
This game kickstarts what could be Lionel Messi’s last outing in a competition for Argentina.
The lack of a winner’s medal and the World Cup heartbreak of four years ago will be fresh in his memory.
They play group underdogs, Iceland in this opening match, but they should be careful not to fall for the antics of the Euro 2016 surprise team.
Argentina played just one warm up friendly before this competition – a 4-0 win over Haiti, with Lionel Messi scoring three of the goals.
The Argentines are so reliant on Messi that he is the only player to have scored a competitive goal for them since November 2016.
He has 64 goals in 124 games for them now.
Iceland shocked the world when they qualified for the European championship two years ago.
They continued that shock factor when the qualified for this competition, topping a group that included Croatia and Ukraine.
The Islanders have not had the best preparation for this competition as their form seems to have dropped since they qualified.
Iceland drew 2-2 with Ghana in their last match after losing three on the trot.
They are likely to sit behind the ball in this game for long periods however it may still not save them in this game.
Possible starting lineups:
Argentina
Iceland
Results of each team’s last 5 matches across all leagues and competitions
Argentina
| LAST FIVE GAMES | DATE | COMPETITION | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | Argentina |  |
4-0 |  |
Haiti | 30 May, 2018 | International Friendly |
| L | Spain |  |
6-1 | |
Argentina | 27 Mar, 2018 | International Friendly |
| W | Argentina | |
2-0 |  |
Italy | 23 Mar, 2018 | International Friendly |
| L | Argentina | |
2-4 |  |
Nigeria | 14 Nov, 2017 | International Friendly |
| W | Russia |  |
0-1 | |
Argentina | 11 Nov, 2017 | International Friendly |
Iceland
| LAST FIVE GAMES | DATE | COMPETITION | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D | Iceland |  |
2-2 |  |
Ghana | 7 Jun, 2018 | International Friendly |
| L | Iceland | |
2-3 |  |
Norway | 2 Jun, 2018 | International Friendly |
| L | Iceland | |
1-3 |  |
Peru | 28 Mar, 2018 | International Friendly |
| L | Mexico |  |
3-0 | |
Iceland | 24 Mar, 2018 | International Friendly |
| W | Indonesia |  |
1-4 | |
Iceland | 14 Jan, 2018 | International Friendly |
H2H
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