Argentina vs. Iceland World Cup match prediction

By
Roy Nemer
-
114

With kick off in just over 24 hours, Jorge SAMPAOLI has his Argentina team set.

For the sixth consecutive day, Argentina lined-up with the same eleven in training. Not one of Franco ARMANI, Federico FAZIO, Giovani LO CELSO or Gonzalo HIGUAIN are expected to start for Lionel MESSI’s men. As mentioned, here was the Argentina team for the sixth straight day in training:

CABALLERO; SALVIO, OTAMENDI, ROJO, TAGLIAFICO; MASCHERANO, BIGLIA; MEZA, MESSI, DI MARIA; AGUERO

With that eleven all but confirmed, what are your match predictions?

[poll id=”15″]

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114 Comments

  1. This is Argentina fan site and honestly, I think the poll options should be;
    – Argentina Win
    – Draw
    – Not Sure

    This is Argentina and we as fans we always think that we can win regardless of who we play (with respect).
    At the same time we also know the strength of our team with which certain doubts may come in our mind and we are unable to decide and may opt of “NOT SURE”.

    I am following Argentina since 1994 world cup and watched all their matches.
    Not even once, prior to the kickoff, it ever came in my mind that Argentina WILL LOOSE an upcoming match.
    (Feel free to ask yourself this question)

    I hope administrator (who are doing a great job already) take a note of it.

  3. Di Maria and Higuain dont need to play with any fighting spirit. But rather they should focus on clubs and try to avoid injuries in this tournament. Try to save energy for PSG and Chelsea respectively. End of the of day money matters not world cup. Messi should ready to take blame from fans and media if Argentina couldn’t do well.

  5. For this WC i don’t have any prediction, The Team has gone through a lot in last year especially so much chaos. Its not like we arrive in great form too or a great side. So i will leave it like that . A top 4 finish would be great after that we will see.

    For all the experts (Who don’t see Argentina as a Contender) There is One Man who is above all predictions. MESSI that’s it. He can make us the WORLD CHAMPION only he can with a good or reasonable supporting cast

    I hope we have a good start today at least somehow win even if a small margin. All the best guyss enjoy the game.

  6. …I say 5-0 argentina!!!! Iceland will start strong. 15 to 20 minutes of trying to kick Messi instead of the ball, then after we get our first goal the game will shift and the their midfield will fall apart, and the gaps and holes will get picked apart and exploited by true ARGENTINE masters of their craft. VERY confident about or coming victory!! VAMOS ARGENTINA TRAEME LA COPA MESSI!!

      • YES. Although i am no fan of the portugese underwear model, it does make me a little happy because i get to say FUCK YOU RAMOS (i hate that s.o.b.!). Speaking of luck we need some too. I recently read a nice article that accurately pointed out every WC winning team since the 90s have won the WC with one or more important strokes of luck both on the filed and off.

  10. guys, we got very good central / defensive midfielder finally who’s name is emanuel cecchini. at this age 21 who has joined in malaga and now returned to banfield.

  12. Portugal could be out of WC group if Spain beat them. Remember Iran and Morocco are both very defensive to play. Also, Ronaldo depends on team mates and cannot produce magic.

  13. I hope the level of play goes up tonight because the six teams so far have been so mediocre. With 48 teams in the future there are gonna be so many bad matches. This is bad for the status of the WC.

    • According to Tyc

      “No surprises, Jorge Sampaoli confirmed the protagonists of the Argentina team’s debut against Iceland in Group D of the World Cup, this Saturday from 10 on TyC Sports.

      The technician confirmed the formation of the last practices: Wilfredo Caballero; Eduardo Salvio, Nicolás Otamendi, Marcos Rojo, Nicolás Tagliafico; Maximiliano Meza, Javier Mascherano, Lucas Biglia, Ángel Di María; Lionel Messi and Sergio Agüero.

      Although it was speculated that he could plant a 4-2-3-1 for the World Cup start against the European team, Sampaoli announced the team as a 4-4-2.”

  15. Lets fast forward from the troll posts and start talking about the match 🙂

    So Iceland are most likely to play a 4-4-2 formation in this game, putting more than one player on Messi and try to match our style. Apart from their aerial abilities, super sonic throw-ins and goals from set pieces they lack speed. You guys complain so much that we don’t have players who are slow and old. But remember these players can easily run faster than our opposition and that’s what needs to be important for us. If Messi finds even an inch of space, he can send a through ball to either of the flanks who can outrun the Iceland defenders with speed and skill. There are some trolls on here bashing our own Masche and Biglia. Personally i would like to have Lo Celso in the place of Biglia but the coach definitely knows better than me and the others here. For a fact this is the first game in a world cup, you don’t want to have shaken nerves too many with youngsters around. That is probably one of the reasons why sampa decided to go with the experienced pair.

    Remember Messi played with Benedetto (no offense), fazio, mercado against the young speedsters of Ecuador in quita and we managed to run riot owing to the indivdual brilliance. Now we have Salvio, Taglificaco, Meza, Aguero, Rojo(i dont favor him either lol but he’s fast and has aerial prowess) and most probably Lo Celso and Pavon might come on later in the game. There is so much POSITIVES to look for with this team.

    And I havent even talked about Messi 🙂 Guys, we are going to win the game! Together we need to support Argentina and lets fucking show Iceland what we really are! VAMOS ARGENTINA <3

  16. It will all come down to a collective game plan and implementing it as a team. Now we should maybe stop talking about individuals and hope that Argentina shows up as a team tomorrow. If we do that, it will be a solid 2-0 for us. If we don’t, well then it could be a nightmare start. Im so excited. This will be the most interesting team to watch even for someone who is not a Argentina fan. As a fan, it’s going to be heart attack after heart attack. Anything is possible in between of losing the first three and winning all seven. Let us get behind the team and believe to the latter. 🙂

    Vamos Argentina ! 💙

  17. Meza is very fast comfortable flitting in and out of any position that will free-roaming Messi vacates. Meza can and will nominally start there, his ability to play almost anywhere in midfield and attack will be a big problem for any defense when you have to worry about Messi.

  18. So it seems the 11 is settled atleast for the 1st game. Who will be the subs? I think we can expect Enzo to come in place of Biglia , Pavon for Dimaria and Higuain for Aguero or will it be Locelso for Meza?

  19. inside this site sure exist many people that not really support Argentina but they are fans of other team.
    this is not bad. this is not something disturb me really.
    i advice to Argentina fans to not give attention.
    we have freedom. it will be better of course to not afraid to say what they support .
    we could exchange opinions if they didn t hide
    but anyway no problem.

    just they should pray to Argentina lose and their team wins in end because
    if in their bad luck ARGENTINA WINS sure after world cup ends they will hear from me
    what they didn t hear…….!!!

    i want people speak truth about what they support . I RESPECT IT.
    i will never open my mouth say anything to somebody is other team.

    THE ONLY I DON T RESPECT is somebody hide himself behind the face of Argentina fan.

  20. I think after group stages matches Mascherano and Biglia should be included in supporting staff.We have likes of Enzo Perez and Lo Celso we should use them.For Right Back say no to Mercado.How the hell he is in the team for so long time he has no significant strength.Ansaldi is best here and after that Mercado.Salvio should sub Meza.I think Rojo will perform good

  22. MY heart tells me it’s possible but my mind and what I see says otherwise. Rojo as CB, Caballero as keeper, double pivot of Mascherano and Biglia… my eyes tell me we will get eliminated around the QF’s, but my heart has me believe with Messi and Aguero together we can win it. I hope that the coach realizes soon the lethargy of the double pivot and changes that set up to have more of a chances against bigger teams! And that Caballero makes a Karius mistake (without costing us the game of course) in order to have Armani in. Believe! Vamos Argentina!!!!!

    • My heart & brain says, against bigger teams he won’t use Salvio & Biglia. Instead will settle with our best midfielder & future Lo Celso and Mercado/Ansaldi. Especially against open teams waiting us in Knockouts.

    • I dont expect Sampa to play Biglia Masch together outside of games where the opponent feels inferior and will park the bus and counter. Mascherano is the 3rd defender, Biglia is the #5. Expect Taglafico and Salvio to function as very wide midfielders more than defenders. Makes sense, the center will be crowded, especially tripple teaming Messi, playing the wings via (dimaria + tagla) and on the other (salvio + Mesa) means the ball will reach their final 3rd often and the defense will have to spread out wide to cover crosses giving Messi and Kun space.

      If when we play more even open games (say Croatia), I expect Sampa will swap Biglia for locelso and Salvio for Mercado giving us a “balanced” 4 1 3 1 1

  23. I predicted 5_0 Argentina in Fifa Predictor. UK
    I had one or two reasons to do so.
    First is We are Argentina. Second is, we have that Messi who scored 6 goals in last 3 games, which is pretty normal for him.

    I believe if we can break their now predictable (not any more surprises from them) bus early in first half, they will be broken like Saudi Arabia or Brazil 😂. This, breaking the bus is not a new thing for Messi. He does it with a little above average,slow Barcelona side quite often. With Meza, Salvio,Maria & Kun (not so bad players, we will all agree, well, except that Brazil2018 & co) it’s not a mission impossible thing for him..

    If we can make it 1_0 asap, nothing is impossible against this shi**y team.

  26. 17 voters actually voted to Iceland to win!!! Woow
    Make sense now why is there so much drama and crap going on lately in this forum.

  27. Relax guys! People who voted for Iceland are Argentina fans they are not trolls. Its there opinion. But to be honest an Iceland win means tgey dont know Messi that well. I understand if it was against Belgium or Spain. But a defeat against Iceland? I feel sad for those supporters. Just my opinion.

    • Meza would be one of our crucial players, but no single player even in best performance can give us WC title. Neither Messi nor Meza. I will repeat and repeat we need colective work to go far.

      To win WC thesedays you need to have outstanding performance of 11 players. Messi winning alone WC match – it’s possible only in early stages.

      • I agree if Meza turns his skills into something productive and if Di Maria doesn’t become too wasteful in his plays we would be able to pull through any game.

      • Meza is very fast comfortable flitting in and out of any position that will free-roaming Messi vacates. Meza can and will nominally start there, his ability to play almost anywhere in midfield and attack will be a big problem for any defense when you have to worry about Messi

      • “Messi winning alone WC match – it’s possible only in early stages.”
        Correction: Messi can win any match his own but not always. Let’s pray he’s in alien mode during full WC.

  30. I would like to make an earnest request for all those who voted for iceland to win to reveal themselves and let us know on what basis did they come up with that prediction. That’s 17 of you guys which for me is shocking! Thank you.

      • Must be a bunch of trolls bro. I think they would never reveal themselves. I mean to predict a draw is still fairly understandable due to multiple reasons like our goal scoring records and so on ( which i believe sampaoli has rectified ) but to predict a loss is a travesty of prediction . Even a brazillian supporter wouldn’t honestly have such ridiculous thoughts.
        They should be immediately blocked from this site to avoid emitting negative vibes here during the course of the tournament.

  31. I have been watching Meza, Pavon, Dy bala, Lo celso you doesn’t understand this guys are great players when you on a team with Messi for you to be shine you have to out doing Messi, for you guys keeping on complaining about the defense in the last 4 game WCQ Argentina only conceded 2 goals, Russia lost all the friendly games while Saudi Arabia played a great Germany 2-1, SA vs Italy 2-1, Argentina will beat Spain any day in a World Cup.

    • Bro.. Argentina is going to world cup final.argentina will beat spain easily. in big team like sapain france locelso will definitely play.sampa is tactician.defensive team like Iceland sampa use salvio.againts big team salvia will out..or bigilia will b out..locelso is key player for main matches

    • Guys calm down everything is going to be fine, We love Argentina for a reason, the reason is bc they always show up big so why everybody is so nervous now? Believe in the team don’t listen to negative report, the game plays on the field not on paper. Let’s go Argentina🙏🏼🇦🇷⚽️🏆.

    • Pavon, Lo Celso and Dybala are not starters. So coming on on the 85th min won’t make much a difference after you have Di maria’s running party arrive to an end.

  32. My prediction Argentina 2 Iceland 0.first half will be goalless.argentina will struggle to break them down. Will score after 80 minutes and then again in 85 minutes.both Messi and aguero scores

    • Argentina will win by 3-0 or 2-0..first goal will b score by penalty,.this match define the fate of meza..no doubt messi will rise the key factor of game.i hope meza will give atleast one assist.

  33. Guys.. decision making is not easy. Commenting here is much easier. Yes, we need to have a good coach who can take good decisions. We all were happy when we saw Sampaoli selected as our NT coach. Now the same people are criticizing him for his team selection that too based on some rumours. We have to back and support our team, coach , physio .. everyone. let us be real fans.. Supporters.. not coach!

    • Please don’t mistake some abusive trolls with names like argentina ,2018 & all as Argentina fans. They are pure haters of the team. Ignore their filth & move on. If we responding or giving attention to those attention beggars, they will feel like achieving what they want, to spoil the atmosphere here.

    • Sampark is good coach bro..mescharno or bigilia will not play again together in attacking team.iceland is only defensive teams so they play together.next match locelso will take bigilia place.

  35. What suarez and Cavani experience benefited the team? and who’s the goal scorer?
    23 years old Gimenez. Youth is really important in WC. Our young attackers are either bench warmers or are sent home because they are not good enough after being top scorers in their league.

    • You are the most loyal anti-Argentina fan i have ever meet. You always sees grass is greener in neighbor’s ground. You should come out and say out loud that you are Brazil or some other nations fan.

  36. They can’t be a fan of Argentina who predicts Iceland win against Argentina, even if they predicts Brazil, France, Germany, Spain win against Argentina that can be understandable. If they have courage they should comments about their prediction.

  37. Honestly, I want Uruguay to finish second of group A. That way, they will face our possible opponent of the QF: Spain or Portugal.

    Tabarez Uruguay is very smart. they played negative football against us in Argentina that resulted in 0-0. I believe they can beat either Spain or Portugal should they meet. They are also very strong in PK shootout.

  38. It really does sadden me to say but I voted draw because with Rojo as a CB and the 2 hasbeens as the defensive double pivot you can expect the same abysmal results from the WCQ under Bauza (who stuck with the double pivot to no avail).

    • Rojo is terrible , red card waiting to happen , I most scared about rojo .I watching Uruguay game but thinking about rojo defending against Iceland. How can rojo selected against one of serial A best defender this year fazio.

  40. Suarez has an ugly fist touch !! And his finishing had diminished big time ..

    Btw any one watched the ” extraa time ”
    Pre game show the host asked the ex-
    Indian footballer ( dont know his name starts with B ) about suarezes antics the gnawing of chelleni and a intentional hand ball on goal line ..
    Incrediously the guy goes on a rant about south americans being brought up like that and when they go to europe they transform.for the better .. i cud not beleive my ears …. most of his opnions are cringy

  41. Guys Suarez is horrible. Messi alone won barca la liga and beat and draw against mighty RM. I think Argentina has chance.

  43. Hey maybe the 2 are predicting iceland will win that does not mean they WANT them to win ..

    For what ever reason they have an intution we may slip no need to crucify them and for the ones calling for banning posters who voted for iceland winning the admin has created an option # icleland win # why whould they ban anyone based on that .. get a grip people !!
    Btw for those of you going on a witch hunt for the 2 that voted # iceland win# i have never participated in these poll on mundo since 2011..
    But i have an opnion which is messi to score a hat trick and subbed off at 75min dybala replaces him and scores .. cabellero with a clean sheet ..

  46. I’m an hardcore fan of Argentina. To all who call for banning those guys predicted Iceland victory,!! true while its a portal exclusively for Argentina football, let everyone express their opinion, whether it’s pro or against Argentina. Its DEMOCRACY, respect every opinion unless its abusive. Regards
    VAMOS somos Argentina.

  47. Watching Uruguay vs Egypt. Media was saying Uruguay would be WC winner but in reality, they are playing bad. Same goes for Egypt. I think friendlies were wrongly judged.

    • Uruguay the type of team that peaks in the right time. They never win by a big margin even against weak teams, but suddenly you see them advancing because they play collective football. Stop the arrogance now, and look at our problems first, no system, bad player selection, oldest squad in the tournament, and not enough time preparing for this world cup.

      You also neglect the coach factor which is 50% of the team, Uruguay has been with the same coach for decades, and we have a different coach every 3 months. That counts.

  48. Guys, there is something called democracy! If you are calling for vote then there must be democracy! Let’s not be so mean. If someone feel Iceland has a chance then he must be honest. I think that’s the case here.

  49. I am not greedy. I would think we win albeit some improvement each game. So a 1-0 will do nicely for me as long as it flows well. We have a good set of players and good coach. We just need to be calm and build up slowly and surely.
    Also please address the troll issue. i know its WC time and many part time fans et al come here and that is fine. I have been reading this site for 6 yrs now and man this time its grating on my nerves. I miss actual detailed posts with information rather than butthurt opinions of trolls.

    • I agree with you on that! I miss those intricate details on tactics, formations of the opposition and all minute updates from players toplaying styles. Trolls are getting out of hand and its annoying to go through all their rants. :/

  50. Yes admin there are impostors in this website who are Brazilian fans dressed like Argentina fans and are abusing folks and so forth and saying all kinds of things to make an unpleasant environment. Please take necessary action !!!

    • Roy is not an idiot guy like yourself. Roy believes that different point of views what keeps this site open to long discussions. He also believes that being pragmatic, realistic, and logical is above being a blinded fan who swings by emotions and weeps when the team falls early in the competition.

      This forum has a strategy of endorsing all sort of members and with no prejudice against anyone from anywhere in the world. Now shut the fuck up and go watch football. I also recommend for you to watch nice tempo football from some top favorites this world cup like France and Brazil so you can see things from a different perspective and change from being completely idiot to somewhat jackass.

  52. What kind of actual Argentina fans would say Iceland will win? Also simple request to admin, please ban Brazil fans like Argentina2018 from this site. I usually do not comment(just read them) but it is getting out of control. Ban those trolls.

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