Argentina faces Croatia on Thursday in Nizhny Novgorod with first place in Group D up for grabs ahead of Iceland and Nigeria on Friday. It's an early, massive match at the World Cup. Croatia is coming off a 2-0 win over Nigeria while Argentina couldn't find its scoring boots in a 1-1 draw with Iceland.
Expect Croatia to stick with a similar lineup to the first match, though it may field a more defensive-oriented lineup with with Mateo Kovacic in the middle. As for Argentina, the squad should look much different. In training, Jorge Sampaoli has replaced Angel Di Maria with Cristian Pavon, Marcos Acuna could join the lineup and it looks like the team won't go with a defensive midfield duo. It could be Enzo Perez or Maxi Meza to add a tad more balance in the midfield.
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Three huge points are at stake and the pressure is on the South Americans. A win for Croatia would practically mean it would advance to the knockout stage.
Here's how you can watch the match and more.
How to watch
When: Thursday at 2 p.m. ET
Where: Nizhny Novgorod Stadium
TV: Fox and Telemundo
Stream: https://soccer.liveustv.org/ [1]
Follow: CBS Sports App
Prediction
Argentina finds its form in attack and gets a much-needed three points with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Pavon scoring. Argentina 2, Croatia 1.
Argentina vs. Croatia score, live updates
If the live blog doesn't load properly, click here. [1]
Liens:
[1] https://soccer.liveustv.org/