CNN
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All eyes will probably be on Lionel Messi and his Argentina facet on Saturday as they give the impression of being flip round a dreadful begin to the World Cup.
La Albiceleste have been humiliated after they threw away the result in lose 2-1 to Saudi Arabia of their opening Group G match on the World Cup.
The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner, who has but to raise the World Cup trophy, didn’t conceal from the embarrassment of Argentina’s defeat.
When requested in regards to the group’s morale Messi replied: “Useless.”
It’s not the primary time that Argentina have misplaced their opening sport unexpectedly.
In 1990, Argentina was on the receiving finish of the one of many biggest shocks in World Cup historical past, shedding to Cameroon.
Nevertheless Argentina recovered to succeed in the ultimate, earlier than shedding to West Germany.
If Argentina is to emulate that 1990 run, La Albiceleste must get previous a cussed Mexico, led by World Cup icon Guillermo Ochoa.
The Mexican keeper rose to fame during the last two World Cups, profitable the Man of the Match award twice in 2014 together with his very good shot-stopping.
Ochoa added to his mythic standing this match when he saved a penalty from Robert Lewandowski in Mexico’s 0-0 draw with Poland.
As a result of Mexico and Poland drew, it isn’t fairly do-or-die but for Messi and Argentina, however they can’t afford to lose once more in the event that they need to progress from the group.
Having overwhelmed Argentina, Saudi Arabia has grow to be the story of the match.
The Inexperienced Falcons triggered the most important upset within the historical past of the World Cup by beating Argentina and after footage emerged of coach Hervé Renard’s impassioned half-time speech, they’ve grow to be a shock fan-favorite on the competitors.
The Saudis beat the most important group within the group, however the job is definitely not achieved.
With out injured midfielder Yasser Al-Shahrani their job will probably be a lot tougher in opposition to a Poland facet understanding it wants to choose up factors, particularly with a fixture in opposition to Argentina nonetheless to return
Poland themselves are determined to make it out of the group, not least as a result of that hasn’t occurred since 1986.
Nobody needs that greater than Robert Lewandowski. The striker will go down as one of many biggest goalscorers of his era and is already each Poland’s most capped participant and high scorer with 76 objectives.
Nevertheless, the Barcelona ahead has remarkably by no means scored a World Cup objective. He performed in all three video games in Russia 2018 however struggled because the group ended backside of their group.
He had an ideal likelihood to attain in Poland’s opening Group G sport in opposition to Mexico, however did not convert his penalty.
France tackle Euro 2020 semifinalist Denmark in probably the most intriguing encounter of the day.
After a sluggish begin in opposition to Australia, France moved by way of the gears to thrash the Socceroos as Olivier Giroud equaled Thierry Henry’s document because the all-time high scorer for Le Bleu.
Questions hung over France earlier than its marketing campaign resulting from quite a lot of with accidents, however Les Bleus rapidly dispelled any anxiousness as Kylian Mbappé and co. have been at their terrific finest.
Denmark gained’t be a pushover, having already overwhelmed France residence and away in 2022.
The Danes, led by a fit-again Christian Eriksen, are touted by many as “darkish horses” for the World Cup. However the group struggled in opposition to Tunisia regardless of coming inches broad from profitable when Andreas Cornelius managed to overlook the ball when he had a tap-in.
Saturday’s first match is between Tunisia and Australia.
The Socceroos received off to a terrific begin in opposition to France taking the lead, earlier than falling aside in opposition to the world champion.
And they’ll again themselves to get a win in opposition to Tunisia in a match the place each groups want victory in the event that they need to make it out of the group.
Tunisia vs. Australia: 5 a.m. ET
Poland vs. Saudi Arabia: 8 a.m. ET
France vs. Denmark: 11 a.m. ET
Argentina vs. Mexico: 2 p.m. ET
US: Fox Sports activities
UK: BBC or ITV
Australia: SBS
Brazil: SportTV
Germany: ARD, ZDF, Deutsche Telekom
Canada: Bell Media
South Africa: SABC
