World Cup: Group D: Argentina vs. Iceland, 6/16/2018

[Live in the Now]

Argentina

Coach: Jorge Sampaoli

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	GK	Nahuel Guzmán	10 February 1986 (aged 32)	6	0	UANL
2	DF	Gabriel Mercado	18 March 1987 (aged 31)	20	3	Sevilla
3	DF	Nicolás Tagliafico	31 August 1992 (aged 25)	4	0	Ajax
4	DF	Cristian Ansaldi	20 September 1986 (aged 31)	5	0	Torino
5	MF	Lucas Biglia	30 January 1986 (aged 32)	57	1	Milan
6	DF	Federico Fazio	17 March 1987 (aged 31)	9	1	Roma
7	MF	Éver Banega	29 June 1988 (aged 29)	62	6	Sevilla
8	DF	Marcos Acuña	28 October 1991 (aged 26)	10	0	Sporting CP
9	FW	Gonzalo Higuaín	10 December 1987 (aged 30)	71	31	Juventus
10	FW	Lionel Messi (captain)	24 June 1987 (aged 30)	124	64	Barcelona
11	MF	Ángel Di María	14 February 1988 (aged 30)	94	19	Paris Saint-Germain
12	GK	Franco Armani	16 October 1986 (aged 31)	0	0	River Plate
13	MF	Maximiliano Meza	15 December 1992 (aged 25)	2	0	Independiente
14	DF	Javier Mascherano	8 June 1984 (aged 34)	143	3	Hebei China Fortune
15	MF	Manuel Lanzini	15 February 1993 (aged 25)	4	1	West Ham United
16	DF	Marcos Rojo	20 March 1990 (aged 28)	56	2	Manchester United
17	DF	Nicolás Otamendi	12 February 1988 (aged 30)	54	4	Manchester City
18	DF	Eduardo Salvio	13 July 1990 (aged 27)	9	0	Benfica
19	FW	Sergio Agüero	2 June 1988 (aged 30)	85	37	Manchester City
20	MF	Giovani Lo Celso	9 April 1996 (aged 22)	5	0	Paris Saint-Germain
21	FW	Paulo Dybala	15 November 1993 (aged 24)	12	0	Juventus
22	MF	Cristian Pavón	21 January 1996 (aged 22)	5	0	Boca Juniors
23	GK	Willy Caballero	28 September 1981 (aged 36)	3	0	Chelsea

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Iceland

Coach: Heimir Hallgrímsson

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	GK	Hannes Þór Halldórsson	27 April 1984 (aged 34)	49	0	Randers
2	DF	Birkir Már Sævarsson	11 November 1984 (aged 33)	79	1	Valur
3	MF	Samúel Friðjónsson	22 February 1996 (aged 22)	4	0	Vålerenga
4	MF	Albert Guðmundsson	15 June 1997 (aged 20)	5	3	PSV Eindhoven
5	DF	Sverrir Ingi Ingason	5 August 1993 (aged 24)	20	3	Rostov
6	DF	Ragnar Sigurðsson	19 June 1986 (aged 31)	77	3	Rostov
7	MF	Jóhann Berg Guðmundsson	27 October 1990 (aged 27)	67	7	Burnley
8	MF	Birkir Bjarnason	27 May 1988 (aged 30)	67	9	Aston Villa
9	FW	Björn Bergmann Sigurðarson	26 February 1991 (aged 27)	12	1	Rostov
10	MF	Gylfi Sigurðsson	8 September 1989 (aged 28)	57	19	Everton
11	FW	Alfreð Finnbogason	1 February 1989 (aged 29)	47	13	FC Augsburg
12	GK	Frederik Schram	19 January 1995 (aged 23)	4	0	Roskilde
13	GK	Rúnar Alex Rúnarsson	18 February 1995 (aged 23)	3	0	Nordsjælland
14	DF	Kári Árnason	13 October 1982 (aged 35)	67	5	Aberdeen
15	DF	Hólmar Örn Eyjólfsson	6 August 1990 (aged 27)	10	1	Levski Sofia
16	MF	Ólafur Ingi Skúlason	1 April 1983 (aged 35)	36	1	Kardemir Karabükspor
17	MF	Aron Gunnarsson (captain)	22 April 1989 (aged 29)	77	2	Cardiff City
18	DF	Hörður Björgvin Magnússon	11 February 1993 (aged 25)	16	2	Bristol City
19	MF	Rúrik Gíslason	25 February 1988 (aged 30)	47	3	SV Sandhausen
20	MF	Emil Hallfreðsson	29 June 1984 (aged 33)	64	1	Udinese
21	MF	Arnór Ingvi Traustason	30 April 1993 (aged 25)	19	5	Malmö FF
22	FW	Jón Daði Böðvarsson	25 May 1992 (aged 26)	38	2	Reading
23	DF	Ari Freyr Skúlason	14 May 1987 (aged 31)	56	0	Lokeren

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Everyone's favorite underdogs get a very harsh greeting to their first World Cup. There have been bigger upsets before, but I don't think they have a hope in hell of getting one here.

Click to read more...

 

[Savant]

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

Yup, it's been rumoured last couple of days. This would be a disaster, Lo Celso has been a godsend. Biglia should NOT be on the team let alone starting. ffs

 

[cgf]

I hope that Sampaoli has the bravado to change things up quickly when that lineup doesn't work well against that Iceland's defensive organization & tenacity...and he doesn't just wait for a moment of Messi-magic to win it for you. The group stages are a bit about experimentation for the strongest nations. So as long as he stumbles into a Masch-Lo Celso - di Maria midfield trio, with Messi & his protege floating off of Aguero or Higuain in the attack...or even having Messi playing off of an Aguero-Higuain front two...by the knockouts, that's ultimately what matters.

Aguero|Higuain*
Messi - Pavon*
di Maria - Lo Celso
Mascherano
Tagliafico - Rojo - Otamendi - Salvio

*Dybala
---------------------------
Aguero* - Higuain*
Messi
di Maria - Lo Celso
Mascherano
Tagliafico - Rojo - Otamendi - Salvio

*Dybala​

Same way I'm more worried about Jogi switching to a 3-1-4-2/3-4-1-2 or a 4-3-1-2 by the QFs, than I am Jogi screwing around in the group stages.

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

I hope that Sampaoli has the bravado to change things up quickly when that lineup doesn't work well against that Iceland's defensive organization & tenacity...and he doesn't just wait for a moment of Messi-magic to win it for you. The group stages are a bit about experimentation for the strongest nations. So as long as he stumbles into a Masch-Lo Celso - di Maria midfield trio, with Messi & his protege floating off of Aguero or Higuain in the attack...or even having Messi playing off of an Aguero-Higuain front two...by the knockouts, that's ultimately what matters.

Same way I'm more worried about Jogi switching to a 3-1-4-2/3-4-1-2 or a 4-3-1-2 by the QFs, than I am Jogi screwing around in the group stages.

Lo Celso looking like a placeholder for the mighty Biglia until he got healthy. Trained with the squad today and the practice formations remained the same since Biglia got "healthy" he will start vs Iceland lol. What a joke.

Let's see if Sampa is worth the hype and fixes his early mistake ala Sabella. I doubt it though. I mean Lo Celso has been a revelation and is still couldn't displace Biglia.

Dybala should start too don't care where but he's too talented to use this rarely. He way down the pecking order so, I doubt he gets a significant look this late. He'll probably only get minutes when Sampa is desperate and Argentina is on the verge of an elimination. Making it too late for him to do anything.

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

Caballero; Salvio, Fazio, Otamendi, Tagliafico; Biglia, Mascherano; Meza, Messi, Di María; Agüero.

That's the confirmed lineup for tomorrow when the World Cup actually starts. Gutted for Lo Celso stupid move Sampa hopefully he pulls a Sabella. Once, its kick off though nothing but support from my end. GO BIGLIA!

 

[cgf]

Lo Celso looking like a placeholder for the mighty Biglia until he got healthy. Trained with the squad today and the practice formations remained the same since Biglia got "healthy" he will start vs Iceland lol. What a joke.

Let's see if Sampa is worth the hype and fixes his early mistake ala Sabella. I doubt it though. I mean Lo Celso has been a revelation and is still couldn't displace Biglia.

Dybala should start too don't care where but he's too talented to use this rarely. He way down the pecking order so, I doubt he gets a significant look this late. He'll probably only get minutes when Sampa is desperate and Argentina is on the verge of an elimination. Making it too late for him to do anything.

Jogi talked about not wanting a player who's unhappy on the bench when making his cuts, so maybe Biglia is getting the first game to prove that Lo Celso deserves the second? Vets tend to get salt about sitting for kids when they're used to being starters. So sometimes you have to give them some PT in the group stages to keep everything copacetic in the knockouts.

 

[Luigi Habs]

You guys are shitting on Biglia over Lo Celso but not on Meza starting over the likes of Dybala or Pavon?

I wanted Sampaoli to train Argentina for years, but not sure what's going on with him. His biggest failure is that he could not integrate Dybala and Messi into the same starting lineup. Although I don't see it too difficult, either go with a 3-4-2-1 or 4-3-2-1 with both behind Aguero,

The 2 midfielders I'm positive Sampaoli will quickly adjust to Mascherano-Lo Celso duo.

Ronaldo's hattrick is good news for Messi and Argentina. He'll be fired up for tomorrow's game. Expecting a hattrick.

 

[Cassano]

Why not move Messi to CAM

 

[DatsyukOwns]

Does this game start at 5 or 6 am pacific time?

I thought it was 6 but fox was saying 5. Maybe that was pre coverage though?

 

[Live in the Now]

6 AM. Way too early for me.

 

[Artorius Horus T]

Iceland's luck comes to an end at international level, Argentina will (and everyone else in this group) silence
the nuts-o Iceland cheer for good. Iceland will lose all of their 3 group stage games without scoring a goal.

Argentina 6
Iceland O

 

[Moncherry]

It's remarkable how Finnish posters are uniformly terrible across the site no matter what the topic is.

 

[Adele Dazeem]

I expect a thrashing from Argentina/

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

You guys are ****ting on Biglia over Lo Celso but not on Meza starting over the likes of Dybala or Pavon?

I wanted Sampaoli to train Argentina for years, but not sure what's going on with him. His biggest failure is that he could not integrate Dybala and Messi into the same starting lineup. Although I don't see it too difficult, either go with a 3-4-2-1 or 4-3-2-1 with both behind Aguero,

The 2 midfielders I'm positive Sampaoli will quickly adjust to Mascherano-Lo Celso duo.

Ronaldo's hattrick is good news for Messi and Argentina. He'll be fired up for tomorrow's game. Expecting a hattrick.

The thing is Dybala not being used was to be expected all things considered. Friendlies and qualifiers. I'm just happy he's there when Argentina are on the brink of an elimination. My only hope is that he's used in his right spot as a 9. He can save them if he gets the chance to.

Lo Celso on the other hand was spectacular and shows really promise. It looked like Sampa trusted him in his new role but that was all a mirage I guess. Biglia offers nothing. He's worthless on the ball and too slow. He should not be on the team. Meza can provide something honestly.

Also sidenote, f*** ROjo he's soo bad... also shouldn't be on the team but somehow starts. When you brought in Fazio?

Iceland's luck comes to an end at international level, Argentina will (and everyone else in this group) silence
the nuts-o Iceland cheer for good. Iceland will lose all of their 3 group stage games without scoring a goal.

Argentina 6
Iceland O

LMAO

While, I appreciated and love the optimism... But they willl struggle to score. It will be deep into 2nd half before they find the back of the net. winning this game 1-0 or maybe 2-1.

I expect a thrashing from Argentina/

Prepare to be surprised.

 

[Name Nameless]

Iceland is a country with 350000 inhabitants. It's against the laws of nature they find a good enough team to qualify for a tournament. In their first and so far last tournament, the UEFA Euro in 2016, they even made a big splash.

I don't see them continuing to impress.

When I've said that, I remind you guys they are Norwegian vikings. Against a latin american team team in the world-cup that should be an advantage. My country, Norway, has (in the past. Yadda yadda) played Mexico, in the world-cup, and won. Brazil, and won. (Norway, of course, only loses to Italy in the world cup - when we on a rare occasion get there.)

Let's see if Iceland wants to copy that. With Italy not qualified, it should be an excellent plan.

Yeah, I don't think they can do it. They really don't have the material.

 

[LemmyUlanov55]

Prepare to be surprised.

Yup, Iceland's not worse than at the Euro in '16..

 

[robertmac43]

Excited for Iceland to have all their dreams popped. Far too many "Iceland fans" around my parts for my liking

 

[koyvoo]

Iceland, from qualifying for the Euros, to the Euro run, to topping their very difficult World Cup qualifying group must be taken seriously. And the fact that teams will no longer be caught by surprise by their ability will be an interesting thing to look out for.

 

[The Hound]

These Iceland jerseys are nice

 

[The Moose]

What a miss from Iceland!

 

[Make]

Holy crap at the Argentine D. Pace finally picking up a bit.

 

[robertmac43]

These Iceland jerseys are nice

The Argentina ones are also fire. Both killed it this tourney

 

[Suiteness]

Jesus, Argentina with some Saudi like defending.

 

[The Hound]

The Argentina ones are also fire. Both killed it this tourney

Agreed, I love the traditional white and light blue Argentina ones a lot more though.