Argentina vs Belgium Prediction - Will La Albiceleste Be Able To Overcome This Solid Belgian Side?

Next Saturday, the former World Champions Argentina will take on Belgium at the Estádio Nacional in Brasilia on what will be the third match of the World Cup Quarter-Finals.

Argentina are yet to convince pundits and supporters of their real power in this tournament. After a quality campaign at the World Cup qualification round, the Argentineans keep struggling to make a stand at this competition as it was blatantly obvious during their last match against Switzerland. Last Tuesday, La Albiceleste needed extra-time to overcome a well organized Swiss side, who might consider themselves fairly unlucky after having only conceded a goal on the dying moments of the match.

Alejandro Sabella’s boys looked lost for large periods of the match and they seemed to be constantly waiting for Leo Messi to solve their problems. Barcelona’s number 10 and Maradona’s heir at the Argentinean team tried several times to unlock the Swiss defence line on his own but he failed to succeed, especially because of the rigid marking of the opponent’s back lines. Sabella, on the other hand, also looked pretty lost as he only implemented some changes in the team on the 74’ minute, bringing Palacio in for the place of Lavezzi.

For the match against Belgium, the Albiceleste manager will not be able to rely on the contribution of Marcos Rojo, who is currently suspended, thus he will need to find a proper solution for the left side of the team’s defence line.

As for Belgium, the match against Argentina will represent their second best performance at a World Cup tournament so far, after in 1986, in Mexico, they reached the semi-finals, where they were, interestingly enough, defeated by Argentina.

Belgium have been having a consistent tournament so far, regardless of the fact of their first three performances on the group stage were far from entertaining. Last Tuesday, nevertheless, Belgium pulled rank and they put up a fantastic performance against the USA on what probably was one of the most spectacular matches of the tournament so far.

For the match against Argentina, the European Red Devils’ manager, Marc Wilmots, will still not be able to count on the contribution of Vanden Borre, who is currently sidelined due to injury, but on the other hand, he will have the midfielder Steven Defour at his disposal, who missed the team’s last match due to suspension.

Regardless of their fairly unconvincing performances, Argentina are favourites for the match, mostly because of their international experience; nevertheless, if Belgium manage to replicate their last display, they might have a word to say at the end of the match.

Argentina

Stats: W-5 L-0 D-0

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Belgium

Stats: W-5 L-0 D-0

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Possible Line-ups

Argentina (4-3-3) - Romero - Zabaleta - Campagnaro - Garay - Fernández - Gago - Mascherano - Di Maria - Messi - Lavezzi - Higuaín

Belgium (4-3-3) - Courtois - Alderweireld - Kompany - Van Buyten - Vertonghen - Witsel - De Bruyne - Fellaini - Hazard - Mertens - Lukaku

Prediction: Argentina 2 Belgium 1