";s:4:"text";s:5003:"The player who has most seized this World Cup, and thereby most seized attention. It took less than eight minutes, however, for Argentina to take a huge step towards the semifinal and it was Messi, twisting and turning in midfield, who was the architect. The matches had been scheduled to take place in October and November 2020. Get your popcorn ready, ladies and gentlemen. In fact, it was arguably Enyeama’s supreme late save against Bosnia and Herzegovina that brought Nigeria so far, given the ultimately slim margin with which they won that game 1-0 and then qualified. Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella makes two changes in defence and one in midfield, Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile. Substitutes: Rodriguez, Capagnaro, Orion, Perez, Palacio, Gago, Andujar, Fernandez, Alvarez, Fernandez. A semifinal against the winner of Netherlands-Costa Rica.
That’s not good for the Argentines. It was not just about the goals he scored that brought such momentous results against Italy and Greece. One of those changes is enforced as left back Marcos Roja picked up a yellow card in the game that means he will have to serve a one game suspension - Monterrey's Jose Maria Basanta will replace the Liverpool target. With more clear-cut chances, they might be able to break through. That’s quite an array of attacking talent they could potentially introduce in the second half. Argentina vs Belgium preview - Can Angel Di Maria satisfy Argentina's cravings? Rodriguez has set quite a pace.
Many Argentines may actually identify more with him than with Messi. Fellaini has pushed way up the field, and they’ll be aiming every cross for his or Lukaku’s head. Algeria were one of the most progressive teams of the opening four games, and Slimani their brightest player. Slimani looks ready for one of Europe’s primary leagues. But winning it will require help from Ángel di María, who scored the game-winner in the last round, as well as Gonzalo Higuaín and Ezequiel Lavezzi. He is 24, still based at home with Feyenoord, and is one of their many defenders that has impressed in this tournament with his maturity. One such move put Ezequiel Lavezzi clear on the right and only Vincent Kompany's alert intervention prevented a goal. Sergio Aguero is still missing because of a thigh problem. They’ve got to be careful about giving up a second goal, but they do look lively on offense. LIVE BLOG: Follow all the action as it happens, You may not agree with our views, or other users’, but please respond to them respectfully, Swearing, personal abuse, racism, sexism, homophobia and other discriminatory or inciteful language is not acceptable, Do not impersonate other users or reveal private information about third parties, We reserve the right to delete inappropriate posts and ban offending users without notification. Belgium's best chance of the first half came just before the break when another Vertonghen cross this time found De Bruyne but his diving header bounced wide.