Poland vs Argentina

A look into the matches of the group stage in Spain; Argentina face Hungary tonight

A year after announcing its arrival at this tournament, Argentina will be looking to build on the foundations laid over their home games with two draws against Portugal and Italy. The biggest challenge for coach Lionel Scaloni is a team he has not faced since his stint in charge with England where they lost 2-0 but did get one point off Italy twice. But that may not matter when you take into account his reputation for building a dynamic squad full of young talents who can make an impact. And for good reason as despite conceding just four goals against Porto to date. The return of strikers Mario Mandrillo and Gabriel Magalhaes last season was encouraging for fans but perhaps even more so for those back at Camp Nou who have had to settle for three points from a possible six. It doesn’t come much better than that on the international stage.

Argentina start the game against Hungarian side Ferencvaros with Christian Cuellar leading the line, a man who played all his career in Europe and now owns experience of playing with Luis Suarez. His work ethic, composure and willingness to battle for the ball will be an asset against another talented Argentine side which has already shown itself capable of mounting attacks out of possession. For most defenders though it will be a case of chasing down balls like Jules Kounde of Barcelona. Another big challenge in Budapest against such players will be putting up pressure on Messi but with a high shot accuracy rate and ability to play through the midfield then there will be no stopping him. That could prove tricky though especially to do so without conceding too many opportunities for others in attack while also making sure he doesn't go under pressure himself. At 26-years old there are still hopes of reaching another level at club level.

Argentina's starting XI: Gianluca Scamacca; Lucas Martinez, Nicolas Tagliafico, Pablo Matera, Leandro Paredes; Alberto Gonzalez Silva, Cristian Balbi, Yeray Mendy, Julian Alvarez (sub), Juan Manuel Gavilan

Argentina vs Hungary World Cup Group Stage Results

Match Details

Date : Thursday May 30th, Saturday June 1st, Friday June 3rd, 4pm. [Poland v Argentina]

Timezone : GMT+2

Channel : ESPNU (H/T Univision)

Live Streams / TV coverage : BT Sport website and app

Host venue : Estadio Wanda Metropolitano, Santiago Bernabéu

TV Coverage : Channel 9 (English); TUDN (Spanish)

Stadium / stadium : Estadio de La Bombonera, Montevideo

Predicted Lineups: Goalkeepers: Matei Bovo, Mariano Montiel, Martín Caballero. Defenders: Jordi Alba, Diego Simeone (sub); Alejandro Garnacho, Martin Blanco, David Luiz. Midfielders: Dani Olmo, Javier Mascherano (sub); Marcos Acuna, Dario Berardi, Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Rodolfo Dybala. Attacking midfielders: Lautaro Gallwey, Ángel Di María, Oscar Mingueza (sub), Gonzalo Zabaleta. Forward: Paulo Dybala, Angel Di Maria, Roberto Firmino

Match Recap

Argentina started the first half strongly after coming out onto the pitch with 10 men and were awarded a penalty. They held onto the spot kick which proved enough for them to put themselves firmly in front but at what cost? Two early counterattacks saw them reduced to ten men after Jorge Valdano was sent off. However, it wasn't until the second half that things went haywire. Despite having plenty of space behind them they failed to find any form of inspiration in their own box due to poor distribution and lack of energy. In the end Argentina were forced to settle for a 0-0 draw as Uruguay came close to scoring late on and Germany were able to score their first goal thanks to some smart interplay going both ways for Emil Forsberg.