Argentina’s FIFA World Cup 2018 campaign failed to get the perfect start when the two-time world champions were held 1-1 by debutant Iceland. Now, they face Croatia, their strongest rival in Group B and a team which has the potential to upset the best.
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Lineups:
Argentina XI: Caballero, Mercado, Otamendi, Tagliafico, Salvio, Perez, Mascherano, Acuña; Messi, Aguero, Meza
Croatia XI: Subasic, Vrsaljko, Lovren, Vida, Strinic, Rakitic, Brozovic, Rebic, Modric, Perisic, Mandzukic
Croatia are currently at the top of Group B and would be keen to maintain their momentum after blanking Nigeria 2-0 in their first match. Luka Modric’s penalty had assured Croatia three points after Nigeria’s Oghenekaro Etebo had scored an own goal.
But the penalty spot was not lucky for Argentina as their explosive captain-striker Lionel Messi failed to score against Iceland.
Croatia have advanced into the knockout stages just once in the 1998 World Cup in France while Argentina won the FIFA World Cup in 1978 and 1986. They ended the runners-up in the last edition of the tournament in Brazil.
Full squad:
Argentina: Goalkeepers – Nahuel Guzman, Franco Armani, Wilfredo Caballero. Defenders – Marco Acuna, Cristian Ansaldi, Federico Fazio, Javier Mascherano, Gabriel Mercado, Nicolas Otamendi, Marcos Rojo, Eduardo Salvio, Nicolas Tagliafico. Midfielders – Ever Banega, Lucas Biglia, Angel Di Maria, Giovani Lo Celso, Maxi Meza, Enzo Perez, Cristian Pavon. Forwards – Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Gonzalo Higuain, Paulo Dybala
Croatia: Goalkeepers – Lovre Kalinic, Dominik Livakovic, Danijiel Subasic. Defenders – Duje Caleta-Car, Vedran Corluka, Tin Jedvaj, Dejan Lovren, Josip Pivaric, Ivan Strinic, Domagoj Vida, Sime Vrsaljko. Midfielders – Milan Badelj, Filip Bradaric, Marcelo Brozovic, Mateo Kovacic, Luka Modric, Ivan Rakitic. Forwards – Nikola Kalinic, Andrej Kramaric, Mario Mandzukic, Ivan Perisic, Marko Pjaca, Ante Rebic
Source: Zee News