Argentina faces Iceland in its first match of the World Cup on Saturday at 10 a.m. and coach Jorge Sampaoli has revealed the eleven players who will participate in Argentina’s World Cup bid.
The players will be Wilfredo Caballero, Eduardo Salvio, Nicolás Otamendi, Marcos Rojo, Nicolás Tagliafico, Lucas Biglia, Javier Mascherano, Maximiliano Meza, Ángel Di María, Lionel Messi and Sergio Agüero.
For Caballero, Salvio, Tagliafico and Meza it will be their first time playing in a World Cup.
Iceland will be the smallest nation to ever play in a World Cup when they compete tomorrow in Moscow, and tomorrow’s match will also be the first time the two nations meet each other on the football pitch.
Heimir Hallgrimsson, Iceland’s manager, was reported on the BBC as calling this the biggest match in Icelandic football history.
“Regarding Messi, I don’t have a magic formula,” he added. “Everybody has tried everything against him and he always manages to score. He is one of the best players in the world. We will play against him like everything we do, we’ll do it together. We’ll help each other and try to do it as a team.”
In the past, Argentina have struggled without Messi on their team, and during a friendly match in March Spain beat them soundly with 6-1.
The other two teams in Group D are Croatia and Nigeria, who are playing on Saturday evening in Kaliningrad.
