France vs Argentina FIFA World Cup 2018 – Lineups, Predictions & Stats Preview 30 June 2018
While France guaranteed their place in the last 16 by finishing as Group C winners, Argentina had to wait until their last game to earn their place in the knockout stages. The two teams will battle out for a place in the quarter finals when they meet on 30 June 2018 at the Kazan Arena in Kazan.
France Probable Lineups and Stats
While France have yet to produce a performance that matches their billing as one of the favourites to win the tournament, they still managed to win the group by 7 points out of the possible 9. They beat Australia 2-1, Peru 1-0, and drew their final match against Denmark by a goalless draw. Since they had already qualified, Didier Deschamps rested six players, with midfielders Blaise Matuidi, Paul Pogba and Corentin Tolisso, all a booking away from being banned for the next match. This was the first time in their history that France have gone unbeaten in their group stages in two consecutive world cups. If France are to win the game against Argentina, they will need their star men to come alive and rise to the occasion. Those expected to start are Lloris, Umtiti, Varane, Pavard, Sidibe, Pogba, Kante, Tolisso, Griezmann, Giroud and Mbappe.
Argentina Probable Lineups and Stats
Argentina will be counting their lucky stars as they made what can be considered as a great escape to qualify for the knockout stages. The runners-up of the previous World Cup edition made a horrid start to the tournament by drawing 1-1 with less-fancied Iceland team and were thrashed 3-0 by Croatia who ended as eventual group winners. This left Argentina needing to win their final game against Nigeria and hope the other result went their way. They managed to win 2-1 and thus progressed as runners-up. While they have no major injury worries, they coaching staff will be scratching their head on how they can get their tactics to work and how they can the best out of their star players. Argentina will be knowing that they cannot afford to blunder if they are to progress further in this tournament. Those expected to start are Armani, Rojo, Otamendi, Mercado, Taglifico, Pavon, Banega, Mascherano, Di Maria, Higuain and Messi.
France v Argentina – Head to Head
In the recently released rankings by FIFA, Argentina are ranked 5th, while France are in 7th. Both teams have met 4 times before, with Argentina winning in all the games they have met. Their first meeting at a World Cup event was in the 1930 tournament held in Uruguay, where Argentina won 1-0. They also met in the 1978 World Cup hosted by Argentina, and the hosts won that game 2-1 on their way to winning the tournament.
Expert Tip
Our tip for this game is a 1:0 win for Les Blues. The key players for France, Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe and Paul Pogba will do their best to show the world that they are truly world class players and will leave no chance for Argentina to proceed and win the so dreamt of World Cup title.
Interesting Facts and Information
BEST WORLD CUP BOOKMAKERS
