FRANCE
LIKELY TEAM (4-2-3-1): Lloris, Pavard, Umtiti, Varane, Hernandez, Kante, Pogba, Mbappe, Griezmann, Matuidi, Giroud
- France have never lost in the round of 16 since its inception in 1986
- France have only concede 5 shots on target throughout the group stages
Didier Deschamps is clearly a man without a plan. Akin to Sven- Goran Eriksson's stint in charge of England's golden generation the French public fear a similar outcome. Deschamps has been largely criticised for his inability to generate any sort of cohesion in the French attack which definitely at the moment resembles players worth less than the sum of their parts. France have also suffered from their slow build up play and lack of invention in midfield; Nabil Fekir recently linked with Liverpool has been rumoured to start tomorrow's game. Djibril Sidibe and Benjamin Mendy who both deputised against Denmark in Monday's slugfest failed to impress and are expected to make way for the impressive Benjamin Pavard and versatile Lucas Hernandez.
I expect Blaise Matuidi to start on the left side of an unorthodox midfield in a role he played against Peru to foil the marauding Luis Advincula, only this time he will be charged with containing Lionel Messi who will regularly interchange with Enzo Perez as seen versus Nigeria. This role will allow us to see more of Pogba who at times looks trapped in the rigid French midfield while this also enables Griezmann a little more freedom.
Nabil Fekir, Thomas Lemar and Ousmanne Dembele have all yet to show what they are capable of but could prove key in deciding the final result. Deschamps and co will be hoping to emulate Germany in 2014 who stuttered through their group stage before building momentum in the knockout rounds to lift the prestigious trophy.
ARGENTINA
LIKELY TEAM (4-2-2-MESSI-1): Armani, Mercado, Otamendi, Rojo, Tagliafico, Macherano, Banega, Perez, Messi, Di Maria, Higuain
- Lionel Messi has failed to ever score in the knockout rounds of a World Cup (666 minutes), however he was the last Argentine player to score against France (in February 2009)
Ten minutes to go versus Nigeria our fears were confirmed Lionel Messi is indeed both the star player and manager of this team ably (?) assisted by holding midfielder Javier Macherano. Jorge Sampaoli was caught on camera to have mouthed "Lo pongo el Kun?" which directly translates to "Shall I put on Kun?" which refers to the substitution of star player Sergio Aguero. This is Messi's team without question. Argentina will be hoping to elicit an emotional response from last Tuesday's late victory versus Nigeria and put the obvious tensions between management and squad aside for a further 90 minutes.
A team which former star player Jorge Valdano described as "having more balls than talent" does although have a certain Lionel Messi and how they get the best out of him this Saturday will go along way to deciding the outcome of the game. Against Iceland and Nigeria they have used Messi's favoured 4-2-3-1 formation with most recently Enzo Perez operating on the right flank who was largely talked through Tuesday's game and interchanged fluidly at times with Messi freeing him up on several occasions. Sampaoli's favoured 3-4-3 formation flopped massively versus Croatia and the diminutive Argentine coaches' philosophy certainly seems to be more theory than evolution at this stage.
Ever Banega is expected to dictate the tempo from the center of the park thereby allowing Messi to operate further forward while 31 year old goalkeeper Franco Armani of River Plate who ironically was in the process of obtaining Colombian citizenship to participate for the yellow submarines at this World Cup is expected to maintain his place instead of part time clown, part time Chelsea and Argentina goalkeeper Willy Cabellero. A large contingent of the Argentina squad including Messi, Higuain, Aguero, Di Maria, Rojo and Biglia are expected to call it a day following this tournament's climax so "La Albiceleste" will not want to exit this Saturday on a whim.
WHERE GAME WILL BE WON
Two star studded benches, numerous attacking talents, Nabil Fekir, Ousmanne Dembele, Thomas Lemar all have the ability to change the outcome of a game while Argentina boast Christian Pavon who has impressed when called upon and is expected to make the switch to Europe following this tournament's climax. Paulo Dybala and Sergio Aguero need no introduction.
PREDICTION
Tense, tight battle where Ngolo Kante stifles Messi, Javier Mascherano provides us with another performance not dissimilar to Russell Crowe in Gladiator and a late Antoine Griezmann goal seals "Les Bleus" passage to the quarter finals.
France 1 - 0 Argentina