Thursday 21st June 2018
Argentina v Croatia 19:00
Two of the World Cup Group D fancies in Croatia and Argentina lock horns in what looks a crucial match in deciding the outcome of this particular group.
Argentina were stunned by Iceland in their opening World Cup game after being held to a 1-1 draw with Messi missing a crucial penalty, while Croatia have the edge in the Group after beating Nigeria 2-0.
With that in mind it will be crucial that Argentina don’t lose this game – if they do then they face a tense final game against Nigeria and even a win there might not be good enough to see Messi and co progress.
The FIFA rankings suggest Argentina will get the job done here though – they are ranked fifth in the world, with Croatia 20th.
The match betting has a similar feel with Argentina 2.00, the draw 3.40 and Croatia 4.33 – but those odds also suggest it might not all be plain-sailing here for Argentina.
The sides have met three times in the past, with Argentina holding edge with two wins to Croatia’s one – with the last of those being a 2-1 win for the South American side back in 2014.
There are quite a few contrasting stats so it looks a tricky game to call. We can expect Croatia to certainly take a draw here as they know that with 4 points form their opening two games that will give them a big chance of progressing out of the group.
They can be expected to frustrate Argentina but with the South American’s defence not the strongest they are certainly prone to leaking a goal or two. Yes, going forward and with the likes of Messi and Aguero then they are a big threat so the call here is for both teams to score at 1.95.
Even if Argentina do take the lead the Croatians have little to lose in going for it, while both sides scored in the last two head-to-heads.
Other options in the scoring markets would be Messi as he looks to score his 65th International goal, while Croatia’s Mario Mandzukic is their main man in front of goal with 30 strikes for his country.
BEST BET: BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE @1.95
======================================================================
Thursday 21st June 2018
Argentina v Croatia 19:00
– Met 3 times before, Argentina 2, Draw 0, Croatia 1
– Last met (2014), Argentina 2-1 Croatia
– FIFA World Rankings, Argentina 5, Croatia 20
– The last 2 head-to-heads went OVER 2.5 GOALS
– Both teams scored in the last 2 head-to-heads
– 5 of Croatia’s last 6 games went UNDER 2.5 GOALS
– Both teams DIDN’T score in 5 of Croatia’s last 6 games
– Croatia have drawn just 2 of their last 15 games
– Croatia have won 3 of their last 4 games
– Mario Mandzukic is Croatia’s current top scorer (30 goals)
– Argentina have lost 2 of their last 12 games
– Argentina have drawn 4 of their last 10 games
– 4 of Argentina’s last 7 games went OVER 2.5 GOALS
– Both teams scored in 4 of Argentina’s last 7 games
– Messi is Argentina’s current top scorer (64 goals)