Argentina v Iceland

Saturday 16th June – 2pm

Match Odds: Argentina 4/11, Draw 4/1, Australia 14/1

Confirmed Penalty Takers: Argentina – Lionel Messi, Iceland – Gylfi Sigurdsson

Will they, won’t they? That’s the question everyone is asking about whether Argentina are planning on turning up for this World Cup. They left it extremely late to qualify, had a string of different coaches through the process, and still continue to resemble a side without quite enough supporting cast to allow their stars to prosper as we all hope they will. Then again, they do have the finest player to have ever walked on the planet among their number. Lionel Messi is simply a footballing god. Please don't miss any of his matches. It would be like being around in 58' and missing Pele, or not bothering to watch Maradona in 86'.

There are enough doubts swilling around to make backing them difficult at just 4/11. Firstly, they lost 6-1 to Spain and 4-2 to Nigeria in friendlies over the past year. Then we have the struggle to qualify and the unsettled team. Then finally we have Iceland – a better side than most might think, full of power and capable of playing a mature game. Three successive friendly defeats however may have knocked confidence.

Rather than calling a match that looks very difficult to find any value, we’re going to go with what we do know.

Lionel Messi is on offer at 4/5 to find the net at anytime. His record of 64 goals in 124 games for Argentina is great of course, but his more recent record blows it out of the water with 45 goals in his last 57 matches. He looks good value at approaching even money here. We looked high and low at the carded market to find an exposed Icelandic defender, but without the confidence in precisely what the starting XI will be on the day, we’ll leave that for now.

2pts Lionel Messi to score at anytime at 4/5

#Football