The World Cup is just four months away. With each passing week, we'll preview two of the 32 competitors leading up to the biggest tournament on the planet.
Argentina enters the tournament as major favorites to win it all. But will the South American giants finally end decades of futility in Brazil?
History
Argentina finished as the runner-up in the first-ever World Cup but faltered in each of its following four appearances; its best run in that span was a quarterfinals loss against England in 1966. In 1980 the team failed to qualify but in 1974 the team finished eighth. The run of futility ended in 1978 when the team hosted the tournament and won thanks to a star performance from Mario Kempes.
That tournament was followed up by an embarrassing performance in Spain in 1982. However, Argentina managed a win in Mexico four years later thanks to Diego Maradona's controversial heroics. Maradona nearly led his team to a second straight tournament victory but Argentina came up short in the final against Italy. After that Argentina started a run of disappointing tournaments. The team finished 10th in 1994, sixth in 1998 and even failed to get out of the group stage in 2002. In 2006 the team finished in sixth but was eliminated by Germany in a hotly contested quarterfinals match. Four years later, Lionel Messi looked poised to lead the team deep into the tournament but Argentina was forced to face Germany in the quarterfinals yet again; this time the Germans destroyed Argentina 4-0.
How They Got Here
Argentina finished atop the CONMEBOL qualifiers with 32 points in 16 matches; the team won nine games, tied five and lost only two while scoring 35 goals and conceding only 15. Messi led the team with 10 goals and was followed closely by Gonzalo Higuain who scored nine times. Sergio Aguero scored five while Angel di Maria, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Maxi Rodriguez each scored three goals in the qualifiers.
Star Players
Messi, Aguero, Higuain, Di Maria and Lavezzi are the undisputed superstars of this team. Carlos Tevez may be added to that list but his call-up is a long shot.
Messi is the undisputed superstar on this team and at age 26 this tournament may make or break his legacy as the best player of all time. He is already in the same conversation as Maradona and Pele, but both of those players have World Cup victories to their names; Messi did not score a single goal in the 2010 tournament and was seen as a major disappointment. This is Messi's big chance to right those wrongs and he has arguably the best supporting cast of forwards that he could ask for. Higuain and Aguero will likely lead the line while Di Maria will either play on a wing or in the middle.
The big problem with Argentina is that its top players are all in the offensive half of the pitch. Four years ago when Germany took them down 4-0 it was clear that Argentina had a rather weak defense that was only waiting for an elite side to dismantle. It is hard to say that the defense is any better in this tournament.
Chance of Advancing Past the Group Stage
There is no doubt that Argentina will win Group F. In fact, a draw in any one of its three games would be a shocker. Iran, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Nigeria are not teams that should present problems for Messi and company; Nigeria is the best of the lot but they are prone to failure in big competitions like this.
Can They Win the Tournament?
In theory Argentina should. Aside from Brazil, no other South American side has the weapons to win this tournament and we all know that European nations have never won in South America. In fact, European nations had never won outside of Europe until Spain broke the trend in 2010. Will they win away from Europe in two straight competitions? Highly unlikely. If Messi gets hot and Argentina's defense gets organized it is hard to imagine this team not winning the tournament.
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