The Argentines, led by Leo Messi, arrive in Russia to correct what they missed four years ago in Brazil, when they stopped on the last step on their way to the world's top. In order to follow the same path in this World Cup, however, they will first have to overcome the dangerous group D, in which the Croats, one of the favorites from the shadows, their old acquaintances the Nigerians, as well as the Icelanders, debutants at the World Cup, are still dangerous.
ARGENTINA - MESSI WILL HAVE TO BE ALONE
"I hope that football will give me back what it owes me," said recently Leo Messi, one of the best soccer players of today, one of the best of all time.
In order to place such a maestro in the ranks of Pele, Maradona... - he must win the World Cup, it is almost an acclimatized attitude of the world, and especially the Argentine football public, which does not even want to compare Messi with the greatest, until he achieves great success with the national team .
And Messi's pursuit of the title of representative world champion is almost desperate - four years ago in Brazil, it ended on the last step, losing to Germany in the final with a goal conceded in the second overtime.
"I don't believe that pain from Brazil will disappear for the rest of my life. But I have to live with it," said the Barcelona player.
Lionel Andres Messi, born on June 24, 1987 in Rosario, will celebrate his 31st birthday during the first stage of the World Cup, two days before the match of the 3rd round with Nigeria.
Many believe that this is his last big chance to win the World Cup, to officially become the greatest. In four years, in Qatar, he will be 35.
And can Messi do it alone? This question has been asked for months in Argentina, where TV channels, radio stations, newspapers and portals talk almost 24 hours a day about the national team, analyze the work of coach Jorge Sampaoli.
The army of fans of the country where football is more than a religion came to the painful realization that the game of the "gauchos" depends only and exclusively on Messi's inspiration. That when he is not doing well, when he is tired, or when he is well guarded - there is almost no way to break through the opponent's defense, although the "gauchos" still have good footballers, even stars in the team, such as Aguero, Di Maria, Dybala, Higuain ...
In the qualifiers, when it got thick, Messi had to finish the job himself, he scored all three goals in the decisive match against Ecuador, and will he be able to do it against Germany, Brazil, Spain?
Whether Sampaoli ("that's a fool", said Maradona) found alternative ways to break through the opponent's defense in a short time, maybe the games in the group, a strong group with Croatia, Nigeria and Iceland, will show. Because what Argentina is like without Messi was seen recently in a friendly match against Spain (1:6).
"The danger for any team is that there is someone playing in it who is so dominant that it is impossible to do without him, or who is drastically better than the others", says the analysis of "The Guardian" under the title "Argentina could experience a breakdown in Russia ". Some in Argentina see it differently:
"If Messi is in the mood, we will win the World Cup," said Juan Roman Riquelme.
From whatever angle you look at things, everything revolves around him...
CROATIA - LAND MINE FOR FAVORITES
Croatia has long gained a certain reputation in world football, and it all started with winning third place at the World Cup in France in 1998, when the famous generation with Davor Šuker, Robert Prosinečki, Slaven Bilić, Dražen Ladić, Robert Jarni..., with a bit of luck, could to go to the end.
From 1998 to today, the Croats have only missed the World Cup in South Africa eight years ago, and in Russia they have only one goal and obligation - to pass the group, which they have not done once in these 20 years.
The "Vatreni", therefore, have yet to prove themselves at the world championships, but the planet sees them as a landmine for the favorites. How could they not, when they have players like Luka Modrić, Marij Mandžukić, Ivan Perišić, Marcelo Brozović, Mateo Kovačić, Andrej Kramarić...
The strength of Croatia must first scare the Argentinians in the group, who belong to the role of favorites. No one doubts that the team of Zlatko Dalić, former footballer of Budućnosti, has the quality to upset Lionel Messi and his friends...
"For all these years, we have learned that there is no need to be afraid of any team in the world. Argentina? I think we can match them, but it's not all about that game," said Modrić.
Croats reached the World Cup through a play-off and two matches with Greece, and the qualifications themselves were problematic and stressful with Anto Čačić on the bench.
Dalić, who built his coaching career in Arab clubs, came as a savior towards the very end of the qualifiers, first he beat Ukraine in Kiev, and then against the Greeks he showed that Croatia has a serious specialist.
In Brazil four years ago, Croatia defeated only Cameroon, lost to Brazil, and then to Mexico in a key match for passage to the round of XNUMX. At that moment, the public characterized the performance of the national team at the WC as a failure.
The biggest star of the national team is Modrić, one of the best midfielders on the planet, but his popularity in his homeland is questionable, to put it mildly, after Zimus testified in court in favor of Dinamo Zagreb's first man Zdravko Mamić.
NIGERIA - PHYSICAL STRENGTH OF THE "SUPER EAGLES"
Nigeria is one of the symbols of African football - no other national team from the Black Continent has reached the finals of the World Cup so many times (six).
However, at the World Cup in Russia, the "Super Eagles" will try to achieve what Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 1998 and Ghana in 2010 did - to reach the quarter-finals.
The best football, remember, Nigerians played in 1994 in America and in 1998 in France, led by legends, Jay-Jay Okocha, Amokachi, Amunike, Finidi, Kanu and others, but both times they were stopped in the round of XNUMX.
A quarter of a century later, the "super eagles" may not have such stars in the team, but they have a physically powerful and tactically well-rounded selection that may be the biggest asset of the African continent at the upcoming World Cup.
The German coach on the bench, Gernot Roch, radically improved the team's game, in which he "pumped" young and fresh forces, led by Alex Iwobi from Arsenal, Victor Moses from Chelsea, as well as another former player of the "Blues", John Obi Mikel, the captain national team, who now plays in China.
Before the arrival of Roh, the former coach of Bordeaux, one of the most experienced Europeans in African football (he led Gabon, Nigeria and Burkina Faso), the Nigerians did not qualify for the African Cup of Nations twice in a row, which resonated as a scandal, although they played in the last World Cup in Brazil (and there they were eliminated in the round of XNUMX, by France).
Under the leadership of Roh, the Nigerians lost only one game, and the recent victory in a friendly match against Argentina in Krasnodar (4:2), further ignited the pre-World Cup atmosphere in this Central African country.
It will be the most difficult for the Nigerians to pass the "group of death", with Argentina, Croatia and Iceland. If they pass, who knows - maybe they will reach or surpass the results of Ghana, Senegal and Cameroon in the past...
ISLAND - A FISHERMAN'S FAIRY TALE IN RUSSIA
Iceland is a national team that has been living as if in a fairy tale for the last two years. Until 2016, there wasn't much to write about "fishermen" and football, and now it's about the selection that represents all the small football nations on the planet.
The Icelanders made their first appearance at a major competition at Euro 2016, where they performed a small miracle by reaching the round of 5, and then eliminating England. They proudly left the EP when France met them in the quarter-finals and easily defeated them 2:XNUMX...
Who thought it was an Icelandic flash with the help of over 30 fans at almost every match, was wrong - confirmation that the small Nordic country is doing things the right way already came in the World Cup qualifiers.
"Our greatest quality is modesty and the incredible character that the team possesses," said coach Heimir Halgrimson.
Halgrimson, a dentist by profession, succeeded Lars Lagerbek on the bench after the Euros (until then he was in his professional staff) and just continued what the experienced Swede had started.
There is euphoria in Iceland, so much so that even 20 percent of the country's population of only 334 inhabitants (the smallest country that has ever participated in the World Cup) applied for tickets to the World Cup in Russia.
Iceland didn't do very well in the draw. His first rival in group D is Argentina, and he will also meet with Nigeria and Croatia, before which he won first place in the qualifiers.
When it comes to the Icelanders' first star, there is no doubt - that role is reserved for Gylfi Sigurdsson, Everton's midfielder, who has been named the nation's best player for five years in a row.
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