Group D: ARG | ISL | CRO | NGA

Keep all Group D posts here

Argentina should get through but the second spot is up for grabs.

I dunno. I have a feeling Argentina are gonna implode.

Agreed. If you're looking for a big nation to completely fudge it up in this World Cup, I'd say the Argies are the odds-on favourites for that.

Taking over the fudge-up baton from England then?

he was talking about BIG nations!

Yeah I like the Croat's in this group. Nigeria have been pretty average since qualifying, Iceland I think the fairytale was done at the Euro's and the Argies look great in the front 3rd but average everywhere else and probably worse than average in goal. 3 Keepers have 9 caps between them and two are well over 30 so two number 2's and a younger keeper.

Croatia's spine is strong Lovern (Liverpool) and Vida (Besiktas) as CB's, Brozovic (Inter), Rakitic (Barca) and Modric (Real) running midfield plus Juve striker Mandzukic and Inter's Ivan Perisic upfront they're solid. Lot's of experience around that too with the likes of Athletico Madrid right back Vrsaljko and Kovacic (Real) off the bench

Croatia were cool a couple of years ago at the Euros, will be a good chance of having another good tournament. 

Brozovic is far from a certainty to start, which is kind of crazy to me, as that midfield line-up (Brozovic and Modric with Rakitic in front) is by far the best balanced that Croatia can put out on the field. Dalic though seems to prefer Badelj, but even he may not start the Nigeria game if the rumoured starting line-up is true (and which has me quietly sharkting my pants).

I have Nigeria as one of the teams. I am unsure if the other is Croatia or Argentina but feel stronger about Croatia getting through than Argentina.

Croatia played decently, maybe lacked a bit of penetration in front of goal. Definitely have the talent to do well if it all clicks though.

Yeah i agree: think they're a bit of a dark horse. Same as ever with Croatia though: won't be a question of technique or talent, but of temperament...

Iceland getting the draw was fun to watch. Their counter attack really is explosive at times. Penalty Argentina got wasn't a penalty, but they weren't awarded one they should have been. Messi hasn't been going great with penalties recently, they should've had a different penalty taker.

Croatia were decent but not getting me overly excited yet. A bit lucky with the two goals, it was definitely a penalty, but more due to stupidity of defender than any good attacking play by Croatia. Not the best Nigerian team I've ever seen. 

The starting line-up with four forwads didn't really work, for a number of reasons. Lucky to get the first goal. Once Brozovic came on on the second half it got a lot easier, but by that stage the game was already won, or very close to it. Another goal would at the end would've been nice for GD, but still a two goal win to open with, especially considering the other result in the group, is a pretty good start.

So folks, are Argentina not doing enough for Messi or is Messi not doing enough for Argentina?

I wouldn't write off Messi or Argentina just yet, but there's things you can do when you have Barcelona players around you that you can't do when you have other teams around you.

There's no doubt Messi is a super special talent. But it doesn't surprise me to see that he hasn't hit his hits outside of Nou Camp

Kalinic has been sent home for refusing to come on as a sub vs Nigeria. Way to blow it bro.

https://en.as.com/en/2018/06/18/football/152931010...

Clearly both.

Argentina aren't that good, and also Messi just isn't the sort of player that wins int single handed.

I'm very sure I was a Messi fan before you, but it's clear he's no Maradona, he is a near perfect player in a great team like Barca, but with Argentina, he is too easily marked out of the game, as shown by World Cups and Copa Americas for over a decade.

That's a bit harsh, he has played in three major finals with Argentina. If he'd one at least one of those, and especially the World Cup, the narrative would be completely different. And of course, he can win games single-handed - his hat-trick in the last qualifying game in Ecuador, where they had to win and were down inside the first five minutes testifies to that. 

Argentina's problem is that they have 5-6 terrific players, but they're all forwards, so you can probably only play 3 of them at most at any given time. The rest of the team is average at best, and it creates a huge disconnect when it comes to trying to put together a decent performance on the pitch.

This is good read about Messi/Argentina. He does not run or walk a lot (less then a goalkeeper) is slow but still has a lot shots on goals and runs in the final thirds:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jun/20/lionel-messi-sun-king-argentina-blind-world-cup

Hope that Conger has a better experience than O'Leary after he refereed a Nigeria game in the World Cup.

Conger is a very poor ref.

Well I hope he proves you wrong there.

Well who put money on Croatia 3 nil

Surprised at the scoreline but not at Argentina's overall performance at the WC. Had them down as the first giant to fall.

Call me clairvoyant, Part Two

Yeah you got that one right.

Agreed, I thought at the time a lot of the criticism of O'Leary was incredibly unfair.

I don't have to do a refs course to have an opinion on whether a ref is good or poor. That is my opinion, which is also the same as a friend of mine that is a ref in the northern league.

Just catching up on results and WOW Croatia totally took Argentine to the cleaners!

Loving it!

Being a referee basher is such an easy path ay. I am not a referee but I thought Conger and his crew had a very good game including courage to change decision after VAR review. Interesting to note no protests from the Nigerians when he finally gave the penalty. Conger by some distance not the worst referee we have seen in the last week or so. Hope he gets more

OK, not very poor. Just not very good.

Am I a horrible person for wanting Argentina to crash and burn in the group stage?

To be fair, they already looked poor in qualifying except for Messi's heroics late in the CONMEBOL campaign. 

Anybody else thinks their goalkeeper (Caballero) is just diabolical.  Their lack of balance between good forwards and a poor goalie reminds me of Brazil of old, except Messi is no Pele.

2 do or die games  

Iceland did well

Argentina better find some footballers quick

Never doubted them for a second!

Senegal Africa's last hope now.

I suspect Argentina will be the only team to go through with 4 points. Hopefully they crash & burn against France