Good luck, Cape Verde. As if a first-ever knockout fixture, against the world champions, and a 63-place gap in the live FIFA World Rankings weren’t enough, Argentina will play in Miami for the first time in the
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Cape Verde’s path to this point is fairytale stuff, albeit with a captain-sized asterisk, and a win in the round of 32 would surely the biggest shock in World Cup history.
The Blue Sharks are here on merit. They finished second in Group H, four points behind Spain but one ahead of both Uruguay and Saudi Arabia. Those two are already back at home, while the Verdeans – responsible for Spain’s two dropped points, no less – are still standing.
Bubista’s boys have scored only twice and conceded only twice. Keeping the world champions out is surely an impossible feat over 90 minutes at a feverish Miami Stadium.
Lionel Scaloni’s Argentina are climbing the favourites rankings as the World Cup progresses. A second successive final against France looks a distinct possibility even with more than two weeks of the competition to go.
Argentina won all three group stage games and the only goal they conceded came after they were already locked in at the top of Group H. Julian Alvarez and Lautaro Martinez will compete to partner Messi up top, while Rodrigo De Paul will continue as the Flea’s minder-in-chief.
This is the first meeting between these teams and the chances of a mismatch are high. Then again, we’d have said that before the Spain match too.
FourFourTwo’s prediction
Argentina 4-0 Cape Verde
FourFourTwo predicts that Kylian Mbappe breathing down Messi’s neck will spell bad news for the debutants.
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