‘Group D’ Consists of Argentina along with Croatia, Nigeria and Iceland. We take a closer look at all four teams and their chances in the World Cup.
Argentina can be favourites on paper but have been struggling in the last 2 years. The group is certainly one of most competitive in the World Cup with likes of Nigeria,Coratia and Iceland alongside Argentina fighting to go through to the next round.
Argentina
Argentina had a very tough qualification round, if not for the brilliance of their star Lionel Messi in their final qualification game they would have missed out from the World Cup. They are managed by Jorge Sampaoli who won the Copa America with Argentina.
Despite having one of greatest attacks in the world Argentina have struggled defensively and have lost against Nigeria and Spain in a very poor fashion in the last year. Sampaoli is yet to work his magic with Argentina and given his track record and good preparation time one can expect them to come out with all guns blazing in the World Cup.
Croatia
Croatia had to struggle to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. They sacked their manager and Zlatko Dalić took the mantle. He steadied the ship and ensured world cup qualification.
This might well be the last chance at World Cup glory for the likes of Luka Mordic, Ivan Rakitic and Mario Mandzukic, Croatia’s success will certainly depend on their form.
Nigeria
Nigeria will be playing their 6th World at Russia. They had a pretty good qualifiers and even defeated Argentina comfortably in a friendly back in November. They have a squad with experienced veterans and some good young players.
Under Geront Rohr Nigeria are playing some good attacking football. The group looks pretty competitive and Nigeria will hope they make it to the round of 16 for second consecutive time.
Iceland
Iceland’s qualification to the World Cup is one of biggest stories in the sporting World. The country with a population of less than 400,000 has been making some giant strides under manager Heimir Hallgrímsson. They managed to reach the quarter finals of Euro 2016 defeating the likes of England. It was only the start of revolution in Icelandic football the tiny nation managed to qualify to the World Cup quite comfortably despite being pitted against Croatia in their group. They will expect to continue their fairy tale in the World Cup.
