Argentina to go through
But who will join them?
This group contains Argentina, Iceland, Croatia and Nigeria. Argentina and Croatia you would expect to be competing for a place in the next stage of the competition but Iceland will be hoping to do well, and will have confidence from the fact they knocked England out of Euro 2016.
Argentina, currently 5th in FIFA’s rankings, should be favourites to progress from the group and with such world class players as Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero and Gonzalo Higuin, among others, it would be a surprise if they didn’t progress; however, manager Jorge Sampaoli has left out Serie A’s top scorer, Mauro Icardo of Inter Milan. Their world cup preparations included a 6-1 hammering in Spain at the end of March and the cancellation of their friendly against Israel in Jerusalem in early June for political reasons but, once the tournament starts properly, they’ll be one of the sides you expect to go most, if not all, of the way.
They are a team that England fans love to hate, mainly because of that infamous piece of blatant cheating by Diego Maradona that helped knock England out of the 1986 World Cup, but past injustices aside, Argentina are a very good team who can be great to watch and with the likes of Messi, etc., in their side it would foolish to bet against them.
Iceland, the smallest country in the competition by population (350,000 residents), got themselves noticed at Euro 2016 when they famously - and embarrassingly - dumped England out of the competition, leading directly to Roy Hodgson’s resignation as England manager. They don’t have any real household names in their squad, i.e. players well-known outside Iceland, with Everton’s Gylfi Sigurðsson possibly their most high profile player, along with Johann Berg Guðmundsson of Burnley. This is Iceland’s first appearance at the World Cup and they may be confident going into the competition, after their decent performance in Euro 2016 where they got all the way to the quarter final before losing to France. They’re very close to Croatia in the FIFA world rankings (not that these mean much in the grand scheme of things!) at no 22, with Croatia occupying position 20. Notably, their manager Heimir Hallgrímsson, now their sole manager after Lars Lagerbäck resigned, was a practising dentist in Vestmannaeyjar before taking full control of the national team.
Croatia are a strong side, with players such as Luka Modric of Real Madrid and Ivan Perisic of Inter Milan representing them. The Premier League’s sole Croatian in the side is Saints fans’ public enemy no 2 Dejan Lovren, who is prone to stupid mistakes and can cost his side games. I believe it will be between them and Nigeria for the other qualifying spot from the group, after Argentina.
Nigeria, the 2018 African Nations Championship runners-up, have some familiar names among them including Leicester City’s Kelechi Iheanacho, Chelsea’s Victor Moses and Alex Iwobi of Arsenal, as well as John Mikel Obi who now plays for Tianjin Teda in China but was formerly of Chelsea. However, the ‘Super Eagles’ have never got beyond the last 16 in their six World Cup appearances so while they might progress from the group, they will probably go no further. However, I think they’ll fail to get out of the group.
My prediction to progress to the next round - Argentina (1) and Iceland (2). I can’t see Argentina not progressing to the next stage but I would love to see Iceland - Hù! chant and all - go through. It’s a cliché but there’s always the potential for a surprise and I can see Iceland pulling off the same sort of trick they did in Euro 2016 and getting through the group and into the knockout stages, with a Big Scalp along the way. That said, Croatia are a decent side but could be a Lovren howler away from slipping up and letting Iceland in.
This group contains Argentina, Iceland, Croatia and Nigeria. Argentina and Croatia you would expect to be competing for a place in the next stage of the competition but Iceland will be hoping to do well, and will have confidence from the fact they knocked England out of Euro 2016.
Argentina, currently 5th in FIFA’s rankings, should be favourites to progress from the group and with such world class players as Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero and Gonzalo Higuin, among others, it would be a surprise if they didn’t progress; however, manager Jorge Sampaoli has left out Serie A’s top scorer, Mauro Icardo of Inter Milan. Their world cup preparations included a 6-1 hammering in Spain at the end of March and the cancellation of their friendly against Israel in Jerusalem in early June for political reasons but, once the tournament starts properly, they’ll be one of the sides you expect to go most, if not all, of the way.
They are a team that England fans love to hate, mainly because of that infamous piece of blatant cheating by Diego Maradona that helped knock England out of the 1986 World Cup, but past injustices aside, Argentina are a very good team who can be great to watch and with the likes of Messi, etc., in their side it would foolish to bet against them.
Iceland, the smallest country in the competition by population (350,000 residents), got themselves noticed at Euro 2016 when they famously - and embarrassingly - dumped England out of the competition, leading directly to Roy Hodgson’s resignation as England manager. They don’t have any real household names in their squad, i.e. players well-known outside Iceland, with Everton’s Gylfi Sigurðsson possibly their most high profile player, along with Johann Berg Guðmundsson of Burnley. This is Iceland’s first appearance at the World Cup and they may be confident going into the competition, after their decent performance in Euro 2016 where they got all the way to the quarter final before losing to France. They’re very close to Croatia in the FIFA world rankings (not that these mean much in the grand scheme of things!) at no 22, with Croatia occupying position 20. Notably, their manager Heimir Hallgrímsson, now their sole manager after Lars Lagerbäck resigned, was a practising dentist in Vestmannaeyjar before taking full control of the national team.
Croatia are a strong side, with players such as Luka Modric of Real Madrid and Ivan Perisic of Inter Milan representing them. The Premier League’s sole Croatian in the side is Saints fans’ public enemy no 2 Dejan Lovren, who is prone to stupid mistakes and can cost his side games. I believe it will be between them and Nigeria for the other qualifying spot from the group, after Argentina.
Nigeria, the 2018 African Nations Championship runners-up, have some familiar names among them including Leicester City’s Kelechi Iheanacho, Chelsea’s Victor Moses and Alex Iwobi of Arsenal, as well as John Mikel Obi who now plays for Tianjin Teda in China but was formerly of Chelsea. However, the ‘Super Eagles’ have never got beyond the last 16 in their six World Cup appearances so while they might progress from the group, they will probably go no further. However, I think they’ll fail to get out of the group.
My prediction to progress to the next round - Argentina (1) and Iceland (2). I can’t see Argentina not progressing to the next stage but I would love to see Iceland - Hù! chant and all - go through. It’s a cliché but there’s always the potential for a surprise and I can see Iceland pulling off the same sort of trick they did in Euro 2016 and getting through the group and into the knockout stages, with a Big Scalp along the way. That said, Croatia are a decent side but could be a Lovren howler away from slipping up and letting Iceland in.
