WORLD CUP 2018 – 16TH JUNE
Looks like we're being spoiled with 4 games today!
FRANCE VS AUSTRALIA
Match kicks off at 11:00 (BST) on BBC 1. Coverage starts at 10:30 (BST). Commentary from Steve Bower and Mark Lawrenson.
France currently ranked 7th in the world are many peoples favourites to win the whole thing. They should be able to negotiate their group fairly easy. That said some of their recent performances have been underwhelming, drawing in a friendly to the USA and a draw to Luxembourg in qualifying. However they have a strong squad with top class players in every position and of course we have our own City interest with Benjamin Mendy. That said, most of us will struggle to root for them because of one player.
Australia are the highest-ranking Asian side at 36th in the world and are getting used to being at the World Cup with this their 4th straight appearance at the finals. However they finished behind Japan and Saudi Arabia (& we know how good they looked) in qualifying which led to them needing to win playoff games against Syria and then Honduras to get here. They have a few familiar faces; Aaron Mooy will probably be their star player and many of us already know about Matthew Ryan, Jedinak, Cahill, Rogic and Leckie.
I’m expecting France to win this one comfortably but of the favourites to win the World Cup they are the most inconsistent, so I also wouldn't be surprised if they turned in the odd shocking performance.
ARGENTINA VS ICELAND
Match kicks off at 14:00 (BST) on ITV 1. Coverage begins at 13:30 (BST). Mark Pougatch is joined by Gary Neville, Henrik Larsson and Patrice Evra with Sam Matterface and Glenn Hoddle on commentary.
Argentina are back on the big stage once again after their disappointment of getting beat in the final last time around. Their world ranking of 5th is a lot higher than their performances have suggested. They were poor in qualifying, needing to win the final qualification game in Ecuador to guarantee qualification, they did thanks to a superb hat-trick from Messi, who will surely have to be at his best to get them near the final again. However, since then they have been smashed by Spain 6-1. The question over Argentina will be their structure and fluidity and whether they can get it right, they have terrific attacking options and just need to find a style that suits them. City interest in this one too with Otamendi and Aguero, who look set to start this one.
Iceland are probably at their highest peak in history right now, coming off a superb performance at Euro 2016. They are ranked 22nd in the world but their performances suggest they are even better than that sometimes, which is superb for a country with a population of 400,000. They got through qualifying by besting Croatia, Turkey and Ukraine. People will be familiar with their players after the Euro’s with Everton’s Sigurdsson and Burnley’s Gudmundsson set to feature. Also look out for that bloody long throw that caught England out.
This will be harder than people think for Argentina. Hope Aguero gets on the scoresheet after being told he will start.
PERU VS DENMARK
Match kicks off at 17:00 (BST) on BBC 1. Coverage starts at 16:30 (BST) with commentary from Simon Brotherton and Kevin Kilbane.
This is Peru’s first appearance at the World Cup since 1982 and only their 5th appearance since their debut at the inaugural tournament. They are ranked 11th in the world and got through a tricky and tight South American qualifying besting Chile on goal difference for that final spot, so they are not to be underestimated. Their whole build up to the world cup has been based around captain and star player Paolo Guerrero who was banned by Fifa for taking some form of cocaine back in November. Fifa originally banned him for 6 months but in May, CAS upheld the verdict of WADA banning him for 14 months, however, 17 days later a Swiss tribunal got the ban reduced to 6 months dating back from December making him available for the World Cup.
Denmark enter this tournament after missing the last one in Brazil. They are ranked 12th in the world, have an exciting squad and surely will be aiming to try an escape this tricky group in one of the top 2 spots. They have many familiar faces; Schmeichel, Lossl, Christiansen, Zanka plus a few from abroad, Poulsen, Dolberg, Jorgensen, Delaney but their star man is without doubt Christian Eriksen, who some are suggesting could have a tournament similar to James Rodriguez had in Brazil 4 years ago. In qualifying they ended up 2nd behind Poland, which put them in a playoff with Ireland. After a draw in the 1st leg, Eriksen took over in the 2nd leg, scoring a hat-trick and sending them to the World Cup.
I like Denmark in this one, they have a solid squad that could get out of this group.
CROATIA VS NIGERIA
Match kicks off at 20:00 (BST) on ITV 1. Coverage starts at 19:30 (BST). Mark Pougatch is joined by Roy Keane, Slaven Bilic and Lee Dixon, commentary from Jon Champion and Ally McCoist.
The clash of the kits.
Croatia go into this tournament by way of beating Greece in the European playoffs. They were slightly underwhelming in qualifying finishing 2nd behind Iceland but they have a strong squad and are in a group where many would fancy them to qualify alongside Argentina. Modric, Kovacic and Rakitic will be able to match most midfields they come up against and elsewhere they do have talent with Perisic, Mandzukic and Vrsaljko. They are ranked 20th in the world and may be dark horses to progress to the latter knockout rounds for a few people.
Nigeria are the lowest ranked African side at the World Cup at 48th in the world but they go into this tournament with many of their fans optimistic. They have a young squad and many familiar faces; Moses, Ndidi, Obi Mikel, Ighalo, Musa, Iheanacho and Iwobi. They bested Zambia, Cameroon and Algeria in qualifying but have struggled in recent friendlies; however, their 2nd half performance against England showed they are capable of causing problems.
I think Croatia should be capable of beating Nigeria.
