Argentina vs Iceland Soccer Preview
Argentina and Iceland are the teams that are opening match of Group D at Moscow’s Spartak Stadium. Argentina is a two-time world champion and 2014 runners-up while on the other hand, Iceland is making their first World Cup appearance in Russia. They are the smallest of all 32 nations by population with just under 335.000 inhabitants.
Despite Argentina’s attacking line up led by Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero and Angel Di Maria and their vast experience they still struggled in qualifying. Thanks to Messi’s hat-trick in their last qualifier against Ecuador they secured their ticket to Europe.
Iceland celebrated another major success by reaching their first Cup, besides the primary, reaching the quarter-finals of UEFA EURO 2016. Their campaign was remarkable for its efficiency, with Iceland needing 16 goals to qualify – fewer than any other group winner.
Did you know that it was also June 16th when Lionel Messi made his debut on the World Cup in 2006 in a 6-0 win over Serbia and Montenegro? He scored the first of five goals he has scored in the competition.
Possible line-ups:
Argentina: Lionel Messi, Angel Di Maria, Sergio Aguero, Wilfredo Caballero; Eduardo Salvio, Nicolas Otamendi, Javier Mascherano, Lucas Biglia, Maximiliano Meza, Marcos Rojo, Nicolas Tagliafico.
Iceland: Ragnar Sigurdsson, Kari Arnason, Birkir Saevarsson, Birkir Bjarnason, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Johann Gudmundsson, Jon Bodvarsson, Hannes Halldorsson, Hordur Magnusson, Emil Hallfredsson, Aron Gunnarsson.