by Tom Allen
Surely this can't be anything other than a thoroughly entertaining 90 minutes
of World Cup football but it is a match I expect Argentina to win comfortably
and they should have no trouble reaching the last eight.
By the time Diego Maradona gives his team talk on Sunday evening, his players
will know which of Germany or England are potential quarterfinal opponents but I
suspect they will care not and the Argies are expected to triumph in style.
Having breezed past South Korea, Nigeria and Greece, conceding just one goal
along the way, Argentina are now considered among the tournament favourites with
Brazil and Spain and that looks right to me.
Much of the talk heading into these finals regarded Maradona's apparent
aloofness but he his simply an inspiration to his players and that has been
evident on the pitch in abundance.
It is Gonzalo Higuain that leads the goal scoring charts for the South
Americans but, unsurprisingly, it is Lionel Messi that has been the star of the
show and the Barcelona man is tipped to shine once again versus Mexico.
Javier Aguirre's side impressed themselves during qualification but while
they found a way past the French defence twice in Group A, I remain unconvinced
about Mexico as an attacking force.
Seemingly without a first choice striker, Mexico play plenty of attractive
football without hurting their opponents but Argentina are as ruthless as they
come and it could be a long afternoon for the 1986 hosts.
Argentina are around 1/2 shots to triumph in 90 minutes but, while I expect
them to achieve that with the minimum of fuss, there is value to be had
elsewhere.
Mexico's ineptness in attack for the majority of this tournament leads me to
believe that they'll have trouble breaking down a pretty resolute Argentine
backline and the 5/6 about Maradona's boys keeping a clean sheet appeals.
Despite fitness concerns over Walter Samuel, Argentina seemingly have
terrific strength in depth in all areas and shutting out their opponents should
not prove a problem.
1pt Back Argentina Clean Sheet (vs. Mexico) @ 5/6 (Blue
Square)
