Argentina's Messi celebrates scoring a goal against Bosnia during their 2014 World Cup Group F soccer match at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro
Argentina's Lionel Messi celebrates scoring a goal against Bosnia during their 2014 World Cup Group F soccer match at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro June 15, 2014. REUTERS/Michael Dalder

Final Score

Argentina 1 Iran 0

Overview

The twenty seventh match of the FIFA World Cup 2014 is going to be held between Argentina and Iran. The Group F match should be interesting as Argentina will try to secure its place in the "group of 16" by winning this match. Iran, with one point, will settle anything more useful than a loss.

Teams

Argentina: Argentina started cautiously as expected. Its victory against Bosnia-Herzegovina was not extravagant but secure. Alejandro Sabella knew the critical importance of winning the first match of the tournament. The most significant point of the match was that Lionel Messi, the Argentine football icon who is often criticised for his lack of brilliance in world cups, scored after 8 years in a world cup. Messi's goal was the most striking moment of the match. He can only get better as the tournament progresses. However, he apparently lacked support. Sergio Agüero failed to take advantage of a few chances Messi manufactured. Gonzalo Higuaín looked far from his best. Argentina has to play better as a team to perform better.

Iran: Iran had the first draw of the tournament against Nigeria. The match was also the first one when no goal was scored. Coach Carlos Queiroz said after the match that his team had played pragmatic football. Realising that it might not be able to score and win against the African team, it decided to stay back and defend. While Iran became successful in securing a point with such a strategy, it may continue the same tactics against Argentina as well. If it manages to secure a draw against the group favourite, it will have a great chance of going to the next round. However, Iran must understand that Argentina's capabilities are far greater than Nigeria's.

Head to Head

These two teams played only once against each other before. The match ended in a draw. Both scored 1 goal each.

Key Players

Argentina: Lionel Messi and Sergio Agüero

Iran: Iran: Reza Ghoochannejhad and Javad Nekounam

Date, Time & Venue

Brazil's time zone is UTC/GMT -3. The match starts at 1 pm (local time) on June 21, which means it is 2 am on June 22 in New South Wales, Australia. The match will be held at Estadio das Dunas in Natal.

Prediction

Iran's defensive tactics will not work against Argentina which will be desperate to find its best rhythm. Messi will score again, maybe more than once. Argentina will win 3-0.

Group Predictions

Group A, Group B, Group C, Group D, Group E, Group F, Group G & Group H

Reference: FIFA

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au