Perhaps no group will be more exciting to watch in Russia than Group D. Featuring Argentina’s remarkable attack, Croatia’s lockdown midfield, Iceland’s masterful tactics and Nigeria’s Premier League-tested squad, Group D is set to feature an abundance of goals and skill.

Argentina

Argentina’s attack is much more than just Lionel Messi.

There should be no doubt Argentina finishes top two in this group with their goalscoring prowess in Messi, Sergio Aguero, Paulo Dybala and Gonzalo Higuain. Additionally, Angel Di Maria is a wizard with the ball at his feet in the attacking midfield position.

Argentina can easily be argued as the most dangerous attacking team in the world. How far they go will depend more on the play of their defensive-midfielders, defenders and goalkeeping.

Midfielders Lucas Biglia and Ever Banega have been mainstays at big clubs such AC Milan, Lazio and Sevilla throughout their careers and must be on top form if Argentina are to make a run to the finals for the second-straight World Cup.

In goal will not be Sergio Romero, a mainstay for the Argentines in goal over the past handful of years, rather likely Willy Caballero due to Romero’s knee injury. Caballero backed-up Thibaut Courtois in goal for Chelsea during the 2017-18 season, performing pretty well but in very limited time (just three Premier League matches). His lack of big-game experience should be a real question mark for this team.

Defensively, Argentina is respectable with Marcos Rojo of Manchester United and Nicolas Otamendi of Manchester City leading the group, in addition to the aging, but versatile Javier Mascherano. However, Mascherano played in China this past season, and the rest of Argentina’s backline is very untested internationally. Right back Gabriel Mercado will be relied upon much more than he has before for Argentina.

Argentina may drop points somewhere along the way in this tough group, but will advance from the group and find themselves in the knockout stage for the fourth straight world cup.

Key player: Willy Caballero

Croatia

It seems we’ve been waiting for this fantastic Croatia team to breakout in a major tournament forever, because we have. They have yet to advance past the round of 16 at a World Cup or UEFA Euro Championship since 2008, despite world class players such as Luka Modric, Ivan Rakitic, Mario Mandzukic, Daniel Subasic and others in the prime of their careers since then.

We know Modric and Rakitic in particular will be stellar controlling play in the midfield, likely dominating possession in all three matches.

Defensively, Ivan Strinic, Dejan Lovren and Sime Vrsaljko all finished their club campaigns on top form in 2018 and are expected to lead a solid group in front of Subasic in net.

Inconsistency has been a problem for Croatia, who fell to Iceland in qualifying, drew a poor Finland side and narrowly beat Kosovo 1-0. They also dropped their opening friendly of 2018 to Peru back in March.

On the other hand, they recently won in Mexico, 1-0, beat Kosovo 6-0 and defeated Spain 2-1 back at Euro 2016 in group stage.

Two players to keep an eye on are Mateo Kovacic and Mario Mandzukic. Kovacic has seen major minutes at Real Madrid and is likely on his way to another big club this summer in search of even more playing time, and Mandzukic is set to leave for China from Juventus this summer. The former will be asked to keep up with Modric and Rakitic in controlling the midfield, while Mandzukic must keep his temper at relative ease and avoid silly mental decisions.

If everything comes together, a deep run is very possible for Croatia, but they can’t slip up or an early exit in Group D is just as possible.

Key player: Mateo Kovacic

Iceland

Iceland’s story is remarkable – a country of about 400,000 people qualifying over teams such as Italy, USA and Netherlands. It wasn’t luck, though. This is a dangerous team because of their ability to stay true to their game-plan and organization on the field, which confuses opponents.

On the heels of a run to the quarterfinals at Euro 2016, which included a historic win over England, Iceland will find it tougher in Russia with two of the world’s best teams in their group.

Iceland are led by Gylfi Sigurdsson and Aron Gunnarsson in the midfield as both the talent and vocal leaders of the team, two experienced Premier League veterans. Johann Berg Gudmundsson of Burnley has emerged as one of the more underrated EPL midfielders as well.

The crisis for Iceland may be their lack of goalscoring prowess aside from striker Alfred Finnbogason. Their other three forwards have combined for just six career international goals. Defensively, Iceland have continuously shown that despite a lack of stardom, they are strong due to manager Heimer Hallgrimsson’s tactics of building a wall in front of goal and letting opponents keep possession around midfield. Thus, goalscoring will likely be the root of Iceland’s concerns in Russia.

Expect Iceland to compete in all three group stage matches, but simply not having enough individual talent on the ball to secure more than three or four points, making it unlikely they advance.

Key player: Alfred Finnbogason

Nigeria

Nigeria and its fire kits will travel to Russia with nothing to lose, as heavy underdogs to advance from Group D. Considering Nigeria managed to reach the knockout stage at the 2014 World Cup, it can’t be ruled out, but will certainly be tougher this time around with a much more difficult group.

Since their friendly win over Poland in March, Nigeria have lost three of four warm-ups for the World Cup to England, Serbia and Czech Republic, also drawing a poor Congo team.

There are familiar names looking up and down the Nigeria squad, but none of those names come in form of defenders or goalkeepers. In the midfield, Nigeria have Arsenal’s Alex Iwobi, Chelsea’s Victor Moses, Leicester City’s Wilfried Ndidi and former Chelsea-man John Obi Mikel.

Nigeria is bringing two forwards to Russia – Ahmed Musa and Kelechi Iheanacho – who can score goals at a nice clip.

However, Nigeria’s defense is young and untested compared to most World Cup squads. It’s hard to imagine this team capable of stopping Argentina on the counter attack, Croatia’s world class midfield or Iceland’s rock-solid tactics. Unfortunately, an early exit is likely for this Nigeria side.

Key player: Alex Iwobi

Group Prediction:

1. Argentina (2-1-0) 7 PTS

2. Croatia (1-2-0) 5 PTS

3. Iceland (0-2-1) 2 PT

4. Nigeria (0-1-2) 1 PT

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