Draw 6.00<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\nThe second of the Round-of-16 fixtures sees one of the pre-tournament favourites in Argentina take on Australia at Ahmad bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After a poor start, at least in terms of the result, the Argentines bounced back nicely, beating both Mexico and Poland by two goals to nil. The men in those famous blue and white stripes once again look like a team capable of going deep into the competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the Australians, this will be something of an unexpected bonus. Sure, every team wants to compete, and it\u2019s certainly every team\u2019s goal to advance from the group stages, but the men from down under probably didn\u2019t expect to get this far, especially as the lowest-ranked team in their group. However, they\u2019ve fought incredibly hard at this tournament and have played some decent stuff with the ball, so they\u2019re worthy of their place in the final 16, which cannot be denied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unfortunately for the Socceroos, they\u2019re up against a team with far more in terms of quality, especially in the final third, and that\u2019s an issue. Yes, they were resolute, rigid and disciplined against both the Danish and the Tunisians, but neither of those opponents offered much offensively, nor did they really have anyone capable of creating regular scoring chances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Argentinians have perhaps the most creative player the game has ever seen in Lionel Messi, who, during the last two games, has looked as determined as ever to get his hands on football\u2019s ultimate prize. They also have a whole host of attacking players that can do lots of damage, while their back-line gives little away, too, as both Mexico and Poland found out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At odds<\/a> of 2.40, \u2018Argentina to Win & Under 3.5 Goals\u2019 stand out as a viable option. We know that the Australians aren\u2019t going to come out and play here. We know that Grahan Arnold\u2019s men lack the offensive quality and the attacking cohesion to go toe-to-toe with La Selecci\u00f3n, so it\u2019s almost certainly going to be helmets on and 11 men behind the ball sort of stuff from the Socceroos.<\/p>\n\n\n\nMessi & Co. will be prepared for a pick-the-lock sort of job here, and they\u2019ll know that they\u2019ll have to be patient. Ultimately, they\u2019ve shown, especially against Mexico, that they can win in a low-key fashion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They\u2019re strong at the back and can take their time, so we shouldn’t expect them to come out and batter Australia by four, five or six just because they have better-attacking players. Another hard-working victory from the Argentines is expected, and bettors can profit by taking a punt on a combination of an Argentina win and less than four match goals being scored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n