Argentina vs Croatia 0-3, as it happened...

21 giu 2018

Argentina will soon be taking on Croatia in what should be a very interesting game indeed. Sampaoli's team need a win today but it won't be easy as Croatia have a ton of talent. Gonzalo Higuain and Paulo Dybala will once again start on the bench (like Biglia too) as Aguero will get the start alongside Lionel Messi. You can follow the game with us here on Calciomercato.com.

MATCH PREVIEW:

- This will be the fifth meeting between Argentina and Croatia, with the South Americans winning twice to Croatia’s one (D1).
- Just one of the previous four meetings between Argentina and Croatia was at a World Cup, with Argentina winning 1-0 in a group stage game in 1998, courtesy of Mauricio Pineda’s strike.
- Croatia have lost all four of their World Cup meetings with South American sides, once in each of the four tournaments they’ve played in.
- Lionel Messi has scored in each of his two previous appearances against Croatia, including his first ever goal for Argentina (March 2006).
- Argentina forward Lionel Messi attempted 11 shots in his first game at the 2018 World Cup finals; the most he has attempted in a single match at a World Cup tournament – he failed to score, however.
- Lionel Messi has now failed to score with 21 successive shots in World Cup finals tournaments for Argentina, since last scoring versus Nigeria on June 25th 2014.
- Argentina started their 2018 World Cup campaign with a 1-1 draw against Iceland – they haven’t failed to win either of their opening two Group Stage games at a World Cup since 1974.
- Croatia won their opening game against Nigeria – they’ve not won back-to-back World Cup games since the 1998 tournament.
- Croatia have scored in each of their last five World Cup games, their longest such streak in the competition.
- Croatia defender Vedran Corluka has made 99 appearances for his country. If he plays in this game he’ll be the second member of their 2018 World Cup squad to earn 100 caps for Croatia (after Luka Modric).

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