2022 World Cup: Argentina vs. Saudi Arabia Preview, Odds, Prediction

The Argentinian team meets Saudi Arabia this Tuesday, and the Gauchos come into this one as a massive favorite. Besides Brazil and France, Messi and the crew are the top favorites for winning the World Cup title, according to the bookmakers and the fans. There won’t be another chance for Messi to reach the silverware, because we hardly believe that the No.10 will last for four more years, even though many of us would like to see that.

Preview

Argentina (-550) closed its preparations for the World Cup by smashing the United Arab Emirates last Wednesday, 0-5, extending their winning streak to five games. This team is without a loss for more than three years, and in the meantime, they’ve won the Copa America title in Brazil.

The Gauchos haven’t been in the media focus like some other units, which could be beneficial due to a weaker pressure than they experienced in the past. We know that the media headlines and euphoria back home were always one of the worst enemies of the Argentinian unit.

The defense of this unit is superb, having eight clean sheets in the previous 10 events, while on the other side, the attack scored two or more goals in at least seven of the recent ten contests. Messi and Di Maria lead the way, but Lautaro, Dybala, and others also contribute.

Saudi Arabia (+1800) was first in their World Cup qualifiers group, which allowed them to compete on the biggest stage. Herve Renard leads this unit, and it is fair to admit that he did a pretty good job, winning seven of ten games with only one loss.

The style of play he uses is defensive-minded, but there isn’t a better option for the Saudis because their players don’t have some amazing quality that would help them beat the rivals. Solid transition is their biggest weapon besides the defense, which isn’t that great but still provides some results.

The previous six meetings this team had were all with under 2.5 goals, while one in the past ten also ended with more than two goals. As you can see, their games aren’t very interesting and exciting, but as we said already, Arabia didn’t have too many options with the current roster.

Head to Head Games

We saw these two nations meeting on a couple of occasions, the most recently in 2012, in a friendly game when there weren’t any goals involved. Prior to that event, Argentina and Saudi Arabia met at the 1992 FIFA Confederations Cup, and the Gauchos triumphed back then, 3-1.

Prediction

Some say Argentina won’t be too explosive in this event, saving its power for the latter challenges. After seeing the Gauchos dismantling UAE, we believe they will be in the same mode against Saudi Arabia as well, and even if the lineup is mixed in the second half, the replacements will hold the high pace and tempo too. That’s why we pick Argentina -1.5 as the safest option, with the odds on that set at -195, which is not bad. Those willing to take risk, go with Argentina scoring at least two goals inside the opening 45 minutes.

Pick: Argentina -1.5 -195