Argentina V Iceland
Pregame bets:
(Synopsis in red)
Now I know that traditionally Argentina always start a tournament very slowly, but I cant help but feel that Messi will want to equal what his arch rival Ronaldo did last night, or at least try to better it. I also dont rate Iceland at all. Yeah for sure they stole everyone’s hearts in the Euros, but that hides the fact that they play puke football, and dont really have any technically gifted players on the team. Sorry Icelandic fans on my frankness! So for these reasons I can only see an Argentina win, and a good win at that.
€2.00 Single
Argentina v Iceland – Correct Score 3-1 10/1
And if Argentina are to score three goals, then surely Messi will be on the end of one or two of them. Also if Ronaldo can score a free kick, I’d bet Messi will copy him today, and even hotter prospect when you consider that Messi usually gets the better return from scoring on free kicks than Ronaldo’s one out of 50 efforts in international football!
€3.00 Single
Argentina v Iceland – To Score a Direct Free Kick L Messi 8/1
€20.00 Single
Argentina v Iceland – Anytime Goalscorer Lionel Messi 1/1
Full betting review here>https://www.thisdrinkinglife.com/top-bets-of-the-world-cup-2018/
Well balls to that, unlucky, ffs Messi, what you trying to do to me!!!
Beers: Group D of Beer World Cup:
For today’s match off, we have Quilmes Export Beer, Argentina’s light and blue against Einstök, an interesting beer from Iceland.
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Einstock win it for me, as their beer had load of character, was tasty, and despite it a little hoppy was fine to drink and I enjoyed slow tasting it. Quilmes was decent for a lager, but one nil to Iceland here.
PreGame:
Iceland were the darling of the last European Championships, getting further than anyone expected, playing with a lot of passion and their supporters were a great addition to the tournament. Yeah Iceland were great fun.
I have to be honest, I dont think they actually played much decent football at that tournament, a lot of it was smash and grab stuff. But to be fair to the Icelanders, it wasn’t a tournament with a lot of quality on show. We did learn though, that this team can compete and can beat the top teams. And they will never give up, playing right to the 90th minute and beyond. Which goes to show you that a team which such a strong work ethic always have a chance. I guess that’s why we love watching them.
They have a tough group opener in Argentina up first. The only thing with Argentina is that they are notorious slow starters and Iceland might just catch them cold on the first day.
But up against Messi I am not so sure they will be able to keep him quiet for a full 90 minutes. Argentina rely on the small man a lot, a bit like Portugal with Ronaldo, and when he is motoring along he raises the team spirit as well.
Upfront they have Sergio Aguero, who is carrying a niggly injury, but can be sublime on his today, and Gonzalo Higuain, who is a always a crock of shit. Make of that what you want, but this more than likely will be Messi’s last World Cup so I am expecting him to put on an early show. A lot of these Icelandic players wont have had the chance to play against someone as good as Lionel and that will be seen today where I am expecting a few goals for Argentina, all provided by the wee man in the middle!
A more detailed review on Argentina here and on Iceland here
Well that’s something you dont see too often, Messi missing from 12 yards, wow. It was an unlucky penalty for Iceland to give away, more clumsy than intent from the defender, but truth be told Argentina didn’t deserve the win. They started off great and full of heart, but in the end they found the Icelandic defenders just too strong to get past, and with Messi double marked, a draw was all they could muster.
Nice goal from Aguero, great footwork to get the space to shoot. Expecting the flood works to open after that, but no Iceland just go and equalise. The usual Iceland goal, hit it forward with marauding runs, create havoc and mass chaos in the defence, and sweep up the loose ball into the net. A bit like the Viking attack of years yonder. With this they can afford to give away 70% possession as long as their defence holds strong, and it usually does.
On the other hand, Jesus though, that Argentinian defence is pretty weak, all over the place. They wont be winning any World Cups playing like that.
To be fair to the goalkeeper he saved well, but with Ronaldo shitting goals last night, and Messi can’t even score a simple peno, one nil to the Ronnie me thinks! This result throws it all up for Argentina now, as Croatia will be a sterner test for them , while Iceland got the draw they needed and will give them a great chance to get out of the group, well done.
Music to get you in the mood
Sigur Ros – Olsen Olsen (Iceland) V Gotan Project – Diferente
Nigeria are a team that generally starts slow. Up against a very strong Croatia team they might get punished for this. Modric will run the show from midfield and, with a team of decent strikers, I expect Croatia to just nudge this game, possibly score in the last ten minutes or so to nick it. 
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Nigeria are a team I always enjoy watching in the World Cup. Every time they produce a few stand out games at the games. They are always a big psychical team but with bags of technical ability. And with this in mind I fully expect them to give Croatia one hell of a battle. 
These days Real Madrid star, Luka Modrić is the player every one looks out for, but if you scan through their squad you can see they have many players who ply their trade in the top leagues of Europe. Their midfield is particularly strong, with Modrić as mentioned, but also Ivan Rakitić of Barca, and Marcelo Brozović from Inter and with Mario Mandžukić still banging the goals in for club and country, they can beat anybody on their day. 
This has a draw all over it, really it does. I would be well surprised if it is anything but a tie. If there are goals then I’d expect Ronnie to be on the score sheet too, that is the basic law of averages, better than that law in fact!
Spain seemed to have settled back to their old routine, of winning games and playing nice football, so this shock decision might unhinge all their good work of the last few years. You would imagine that top players wouldn’t be affected, but it is an excuse for not playing well that could be used. Will be hard for Hierro, who has steeped in at short notice, to stamp his authority in less than a 2 days! 
On the other side, Iniesta and Isco were beginning to dominate the game for Spain, and the tide turned when Diego Costa scored a great goal to equalise, despite being shadowed by two Portuguese defenders he still manged to get his shot away, and leaving the child Pepe lying on the ground like a buffoon. Class.
It was all Spain, but then Portugal got a free kick and you just sensed that this was going to be Ronaldo’s night. Now we all know that his record of taking free kicks is rubbish at tournaments, but we also sense that he knows what he is doing. I, myself, was thinking at the time, surely he must be scoring them in training, to keep taking them all the time even when he fucks them up. But he is a confident fucker, and sure enough he managed to get it up and over the wall, to get his hat-trick and Portugal’s third. What a great way to finish a great game. 
I think this might be a close game but you know what……I actually fancy Iran to sneak this one. They do have that Alireza Jahanbakhsh fella who was top scorer in Holland and with the recent controversy over their kit and football boots or rather their lack of, it might bring them closer together as a group. I am also thinking Carlos Queiroz might have a few tricks of his sleeve as well. So for all those reasons and that I dont know much about Morocco I will lump on Iran to win. Risky but fuck it, lets do it. 
Carlos Queiroz will have them well set up, and I am sure they will be tough to break down, attacking on the counter, and up front they have a guy who has scored a load of goals in Europe this season, Alireza Jahanbakhsh. Today is do or die for Iran, as Spain will be up next.
Beer was first introduced into Morocco by those pesky french, and even though it is a Muslim country in which it is against the religion to consume alcohol, the nation of Morocco is not as strict about alcohol as other Islamic states. Instead, it allows the sale of alcohol to non-Muslims where you can find alcohol in the larger cities and coastal towns served usually in bars and cafes, and the very odd tourist pub.
On pour it looks ok, it has a nice golden colour with a white head that is decent sized and frothy. Some carbonation is going on. Overall it is an ok looking beer.
For Egypt and the whole footballing world, today a big question will be answered, will Mo Salah be fit in time to take the field against Uruguay?
Lets hope he can play for even some minutes in today’s game, even though I wonder would Héctor Cúper risk playing him against what are traditionally a very aggressive and tough tackling team in Uruguay. It really is a difficult decision for the coach, but after Russia coming out of the blocks on fire yesterday Egypt need some sort of result today to get off the mark.
That aggression is also matched up front with Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani both noted for their physicality which I would imagine will cause all sorts of problems for the relatively weak Egyptian defence today. I can see at least one of them getting on the score sheet. I fear that Uruguay will overpower Egypt today, and wouldn’t be surprised to see them score a bagful of goals.