Argentina eye first win of 2018 FIFA World Cup as they take on Croatia
Kick-off : 9: 00 PM (Local)
Venue : Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, Nizhny Novgorod
Argentina start their 2018 world cup campaign disappointingly after drawing with minnows Iceland 1-1. They now have to get back to winning ways as they eye progression to next stage.
La Albiceleste suffered much because of Lionel Messi having an off-day. But they will hope that the Maestro soon get backs his touch if they wanna win their 3rd FIFA World Cup.
On the other hand, Croatia had a fantastic start to their FIFA World Cup campaign as they defeated African giants Nigeria 2-0. They will now look to make things harder for Argentina and in that they might have a chance against the South American Juggernauts.
Croatia are the dark horses for the tournament and on Thursday they will be tested.
Argentina and Croatia have played each other four times thus far. Out of that La Albiceleste have won twice while Croatia have won once and one other game have been a draw.
Team news and possible line-ups
Marcelo Brozovic is expected to replace Andrej Kramaric for Croatia for Thursday’s game. Other than that they are gonna stick with the winning XI.
As for Argentina, Jorge Sampaoli might make a few changes. In that case Christian Pavon, Gabriel Mercado and Marcus Acuna might replace Angel Di Maria, Lucas Biglia and Marcos Rojo.
Croatia XI : Subasic, Vrsaljko, Lovren, Vida, Strinic, Rakitic, Brozovic, Perisic, Modric, Rebic, Mandzukic.
Argentina XI : Caballero, Mercado, Otamendi, Tagliafico, Salvio, Acuna, Perez, Mascherano, Messi, Aguero, Pavon.
Prediction
I expect this to be a close game but I expect Argentina to come out winners. Argentina might win 3-1.
