World Cup: Group D Preview

MATCHES

Saturday, June 16 - 9:00 a.m: Argentina v. Iceland
Saturday, June 16 - 3:00 p.m: Croatia v. Nigeria
Thursday, June 21 - 2:00 p.m: Argentina v. Croatia
Friday, June 22 - 11:00 a.m: Nigeria v. Niceland
Tuesday, June 26 - 2:00 p.m: Nigeria v. Argentina
Tuesday, June 26 - 2:00 p.m: Iceland v. Croatia

Argentina boast one of the most talented attacking units in the game, headlined by Lionel Messi, arguably the best player on the planet. Joining Messi, who won La Liga's Golden Boot this year, on the attacking depth chart is Juventus' Paulo Dybala, who finished with the third-most goals in Serie A this season, Gonzalo Higuain, who was fifth two seasons ago and set the Serie A goal-scoring record the season prior, and Manchester City's Sergio Aguero, scorer of 91 Premier League goals over the past four seasons. In fact, it's so deep that Mauro Icardi, who co-led Serie A with 29 goals this season, didn't even make the 23-man roster. The defense isn't nearly as elite but is still a solid unit, and their midfield is improved, though the weakest part of the lineup. If there's one thing that could have Argentina looking a bit rusty to start the World Cup it's that their only pre-tournament friendly was canceled due to security concerns, which means they haven't played a competitive (or at least as competitive as a friendly can be) match since they beat Haiti 4-0 on May 29, a match that came just two days after they lost 6-1 to Spain (Messi didn't play in that one). National teams don't train together much during the year, and any competitive football they can get as a group is beneficial, so the lack of match-time leading up to the tournament could be an issue. Nevertheless, Argentina are still the overwhelming favorites to win the group, and they have the seventh-best odds to win the World Cup. It won't be an easy task, as Croatia, Iceland and Nigeria are all good squads who could win on any given day, making the battle for second place a hotly contested one.

Speaking of Nigeria, they beat Argentina 4-2 in a friendly back in November, though that includes the seemingly usual caveat that Messi didn't play. Their attack has a few interesting pieces, including Kelechi Iheanacho and Alex Iwobi, though their most consistent player is Victor Moses, who plays a more attacking role for Nigeria than he does for Chelsea. You could say a similar thing about Wilfried Ndidi, though with a fairly inexperienced back line, he may not be able to move up as much as he did during qualifying. The win over Argentina was nice, but it looks a ways off now, as Nigeria have lost four of their last five friendlies while drawing Congo. It's not the ideal way to go into the World Cup, but maybe their sweet kits will help them.

Croatia have the second-best odds to advance out of the group, and with good measure, as they boast a number of elite players who can match up against any team in the world on their day. Their strength can be found in the midfield, with Real Madrid's Luka Modric and Barcelona's Ivan Rakitic getting a little more attacking freedom than what they get with their clubs. Add in Inter Milan's Ivan Perisic and Juventus' Mario Mandzukic and there is significant quality that will be tough for every other team in the group to contain. Their defense has some question marks, and Premier League watchers only have to know that Liverpool's Dejan Lovren is one of their starting centerbacks to know the severity of that situation. If Argentina struggle at all, Croatia could be there with a great chance to top the group.

And, finally, we have Iceland, who beat Croatia during qualifying and could be the toughest group-bottom team in the entire tournament. Iceland were the darlings of the 2016 Euros, reaching the quarter-final after beating England in the round of 16. Premier League players Gylfi Sigurdsson and Johann Berg Gudmundsson are the ones they'll mostly rely on, though neither dominate the team like Christian Eriksen for Denmark or Mohamed Salah for Egypt. Iceland are making their first World Cup appearance, and while we'll be constantly reminded of their magical run in 2016, this group is likely to be too much to handle.

OFFICIAL ROSTERS

ODDS REPORT

Odds via bet365.com

PLAYER GOAL ODDS

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Argentina:Lionel Messi is the obvious choice for Argentina, but he can't do it all himself. Or can he? The biggest issue with Argentina is that they are very deep in the attack, but no one seems to have been able to get Messi and Paulo Dybala to play well together. They are absolutely the most talented players on the pitch, but playing similar positions doesn't do them any favors. Instead, fantasy players could focus on Angel Di Maria or Ever Banega for set pieces (not including direct free kicks, which will surely go to Messi), though because the squad is deep, there's always rotation risk throughout the tournament. That obviously makes it easier for daily fantasy soccer players, but those choosing guys for tournament-long formats will have to hope that Di Maria doesn't get supplanted by Manuel Lanzini or Marcos Acuna, while Banega will have to deal with Lucas Biglia and Giovani Lo Celso looking over his shoulder.

Editor's note: Manuel Lanzini suffered a torn ACL in training after this preview was published. He was replaced on the roster by Enzo Perez.

Croatia: As mentioned above, Croatia have a number of very strong players, but Luka Modric is the one likely to be standing over dead balls and moving the attack forward. With weapons all around him, Modric is more slated to pick up assists than goals, but that is certainly not a bad thing regarding his fantasy upside. Two guys who occasionally get lost in the shuffle are Marcelo Brozovic and Sime Vrsaljko, but they are solid contributors in their own right and could be solid pivots off the more well-known options (just note that Vrsaljko is a right-back).

Iceland: While Iceland Gylfi Sigurdsson isn't the same as Premier League Gylfi Sigurdsson, he's still a big piece for the country of 300,000 people. He'll probably be on most set pieces, though the monopoly is unlikely, and it's also worth noting that he hasn't played a competitive match since March because of a knee injury. If he's unable to crack the starting XI early in the tournament, Johann Berg Gudmundsson should be the easy pivot.

Nigeria:Victor Moses is a solid wingback for Chelsea, and one that fantasy players have become accustomed to playing but never being overly excited about it. However, the excitement should come at the World Cup, as Moses plays a major role in the Nigerians' attack, taking plenty of shots and standing over set pieces for crosses. There are a few other players with worthy upsides, but Moses is the consistent one who should be the first point of focus.

EXPECTED CORNER TAKERS

Argentina: Angel Di Maria, Lionel Messi, Ever Banega, Manuel Lanzini
Croatia: Luka Modric, Ivan Perisic, Marcelo Brozovic
Iceland: Gylfi Sigurdsson, Johann Berg Gudmundsson, Birkir Bjarnason
Nigeria: Victor Moses, John Obi Mikel

EXPECTED PENALTY TAKERS

Argentina: Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero
Croatia: Luka Modric, Ivan Rakitic
Iceland: Gylfi Sigurdsson, Albert Gudmundsson, Alfred Finnbogason
Nigeria: Victor Moses, Kelechi Iheanacho

ROUND OF 16 OPPONENTS

• Winner of Group D plays the runner-up in Group C (Australia, Denmark, France, Peru)
• Runner-up of Group D plays winner of Group C