Argentina did not overwhelm in their opening match against Bosnia and Herzegovina but they did get all three points. Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella started with a defensive 5-3-2 formation but took the shackles off in the second half, bringing on Gonzalo Higuain to complete a 3-man attack. There is obviously room for improvement for the South Americans as the stats say they had only four shots on target to Bosnia’s seven and could only force two corners to Bosnia’ six. The task against Iran is going to be very different from the Bosnia match as the Asians are expected to sit deep in the hope of containing Lionel Messi and co. Sabella is expected to respond to this by attacking them from the first minute with Barcelona star Lionel Messi, Manchester City talisman Sergio Aguero, Real Madrid winger Angel Di Maria and Napoli’s Gonzalo Higuain all expected to start. Four years ago in South Africa, Argentina won their group with all nine points. After beating Nigeria 1-0, the Albiceleste went on to demolish South Korea 4-1 courtesy of a Gonzalo Higuain hattrick and rounded off with a 2-0 victory over Greece in Polokwane. They managed to defeat Mexico in the Round of 16 before they were humiliated 4-0 by European heavyweights Germany.
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For Iran, they finally have their first World Cup clean sheet after 10 matches and 4 tournaments. They managed this against Nigeria by staying strong and disciplined to grind out a 0-0 draw against the African Champions. Rated the top team in Asia, the Iranians had only 37 percent of the ball against Nigeria but was still able to shut out their strikers. It remains to be seen if such tactics can work against such opposition as Argentina and their ‘Fab Four’ of Messi, Aguero, Higuain and Di Maria. Offensively, Iran don’t bring much to the table as they only managed 3 shorts on target in their opening match. Iran have never made it out of the group stage and in Germany 2006, they finished bottom of the group with 1 point. After losing 3-1 to Mexico, they lost 2-0 to Portugal before managing a 1-1 draw against Angola. With fixtures against Argentina and Bosnia to come, one wonders if they can beat this tally.
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TEAM NEWS
Unlike against Bosnia and Herzegovina, Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella is expected to play a 4-3-3 formation from the start this time around with Napoli striker Gonzalo Higuain set to start. Higuain will come in place of third centre back Hugo Campagnaro. Other than tha,t it is not expected that Sabella would tinker with his formation.
Iran coach Carlos Queiroz has no injury or suspension concerns and is expected to stick with his 4-2-3-1 formation that bore fruits against Nigeria with Reza Ghoochannejhad expected to lead the line and Ashkan Dejagah on the wings.
Probable Line ups
Argentina (4-3-3): Romero; Rojo, Fernandez, Garay, Zabaleta; Mascherano, Rodriguez, Di Maria; Aguero, Messi, Higuain
Iran (4-2-3-1): Haghghi; Heydari, Hajsafi, Hosseini, Pooladi; Sadeghi, Nekounam; Timotian, Montazeri, Dejagah; Ghoochannejhad
PREDICTION
Argentina will endlessly attack the Iranian wall of defense and they will breach it. The number of times they manage to do so, however, is open for debate.
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