Who will win this group?

The place you two are advancing to is the airport, to go back home.

 

Yes. And even then Nigeria finished in last place.

 

Very much so with Enyeama and Ikeme both out.

 

So I am right. Everybody except Russia will be advancing to the airport eventually. The question is in what order? Argentina are a great team, but they are not Brazil or Germany. They can be got.

 

A possible scenario:

Argentina 1 Iceland 1
Nigeria 2 Croatia 1

Nigeria 0 Iceland 1
Argentina 0 Croatia 1

Croatia 1 Iceland 2
Argentina 1 Nigeria 1


Iceland 7 pts +2 GD
Nigeria 4 pts 0 GD
Croatia 3 pts -1 GD
Argentina 2 pts -1 GD

 

I don't know who will advance but i feel it good...the feeling our time came again to do damages in this world cup.

 

We were worse in 2010 wcq and with Maradona as the coach and yet we still went to the WC and smashed all the minor opponents. Really, those predictions with Argentina in last place are ridiculous.

 

Possible. How many times can he do that though? I feel Argentina will be vulnerable to the counter. The smart way to play them is to play positionally disciplined soccer, let them attack, soak up the pressure and use wing play to hit them fast on the counter.

All of the teams in this group, while they each have their own weaknesses, are perfectly capable of doing that.

 

I actually think that 2:4 friendly loss against Argentina could really turn out to be a blessing for Argentina as Sampaoli has now to take his lessions out of that game. If he does his homeworks properly Nigeria can't use the surprising factor anymore. The Nigerians need to be aware of that. The World Cup clash will be very different. I think this might work against Nigeria.

 

Ugh Seriously can we just stop with this game: Argentina 2-4 Nigeria????

For Goodness sake it was a friendly and people on here are treating it like it was a knockout game or something. What about all the friendlies Germany lost in the past years? Friendlies do not say a thing, and not to mention Nigeria has beaten Argentina 4-1 in a friendly in 2011. Enough guys seriously. Do not count that game or really any friendlies at all. They are false.

 

Nigeria beat an Argentine C team in that match you refer to. I believe this was the first time we have beat their first team.

I think friendlies offer a lot more insight than you would like to acknowledge.

But I agree with the other poster that Argentina losing that match helps them, and the element of surprise is gone, but Nigeria will be highly motivated regardless.

Much really depends on how many points either side has going into that final match. That to me is of much more importance than the final game of the group.

We will not want to lose again to the Argentines, regardless of if we have already qualified, already been eliminated, or need a result in the final game.

What I will say is that this game should theoretically be more competative than either of the previous encounters, because other than possibly 1994, the difference in quality between the two sides is smaller than the previous encounters in 2002, 2010, and 2014. And even all those affairs were really close.

The current Nigeria team is much better than we were in 2002, 2010, 2014.

On the other hand Argentina is really struggling for their usual standards.

 

Ya, but that 2010 group was really weak. Greece was terrible. Croatia in 2018 is much stronger than Greece of 2010. Iceland is almost certainly stronger than was the 2010 South Korean team. And by all accounts, this is a far better Nigerian team than that 2010 mess, who couldn't even beat Greece.

 

Jeez, I already told you. Argentina played with a back 3, without ANY defensive midfielder, without anything resembling a wing back in midfield and without freaking Messi, who is like half of team (and without other 3, 4 starters). Do you really think Argentina will play like that at the World Cup?

You didn't play your real tactics and starting XI either, therefore, the friendly has no meaning at all.

 

South Korea was very good at WC10, and I feel that this Iceland team benefits from the underdog sentiment. We'll see how they fare at the actual tournament, don't be surprised if they finish with zero points.

I think their chiropractors will become rich after the twists and turns the NT players suffer at the feet of Messi, DiMaria, Dybala, Moses, Iwobi, Rakitic, Modric.

 

Ya ya. Iceland may be underdogs, but they are underdogs with a resume. They have already gotten the better of England at Euro 2016, drew with Portugal there, and finished ahead of Croatia (not to mention Turkey, Ukraine and Holland) in qualifying. They are for real, and will be tough to beat for anyone, including all of the other teams in Group D.

 

If Sampaoli can get Messi and Aguero to play at their very best I don't see any team stopping them.
(That is a big "if" though.)

 

? 2 players above all won't win anything if the goal keeper backline and midfields are not at the level to go to the top.

Messi doesn't have the likes of busquets iniesta pique ter stegen umtiti jordi alba etc behind him in Argentina.

When you see what De Gea did for Man Utd 2 days ago it is as important to have one of the best gk in the world for a national team.

 

You are right. Other players have to step up too. But they can be difference makers obviously. (As shown at Barca and Man City. )
The thing is no manager has been able to inspire them to play well together consistently at the National team level yet. If Sampaoli can be the first it will pay immediately dividends.

 

Barcelona and Man City have much better players overall around them. We are talking about clubs that build their teams with billions euros...

Even with all the will in the world romero will never be de gea or ter stegen....

 

Let's not make it seem like Argentina lacks talent. The talent from top to bottom of the roster is arguably top 5 of this tournament. And arguably the best in this group.

 

The Group. Potentially the tournament if they get really hot but this thread is pertaining to the Group.

 

You were not talking about the group but about winning the tournament.
And this time it is played in europe. We will see.

 

Ok when you say "any team" i thought about the whole competition.
Any way we will see in 4 months i am not impressed and feel the same about my team...if modric rakitic mandzukic perisic play at their standard level and others step up we can beat anyone...argentina spain etc included.