Fifa World Cup 2018 group of death: This is the toughest draw

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James Benge1 December 2017

England manager Gareth Southgate will likely feel quite pleased with how this afternoon’s World Cup draw went but his counterparts in Argentina, Iceland, Croatia and Nigeria won’t be dancing on the ceiling.

On first impressions it appears that Group D could be the ‘group of death’ that every World Cup is obliged to have, pitting as it does two strong European teams, a Nigeria side that cantered through a tough qualifying group and Lionel Messi et al.

Though Argentina will probably start Group D as the strong favourites they’ve made life hard for themselves in recent months, as have a Croatia side packed full of talent. As for Iceland… well every England fan knows what they can be like.

Standard Sport profiles the sides below…

Argentina

AFP/Getty Images

The 2014 runners-up wheezed their way to Russia, requiring a hat-trick from Messi in their final qualifier to secure their spot in the draw. The Barcelona star will turn 31 during the group stage so this is likely the last World Cup in which we will see Messi at the peak of his powers.

Of course there can be more to Argentina than Messi; Jorge Sampaoli has perhaps the world’s most formidable frontline with Paulo Dybala, Sergio Aguero, Mauro Icardi and Gonzalo Higuain among those who could lead the line.

Whether they can fulfil the promise all that talent holds remains to be seen.

Iceland

Haraldur Gudjonsson/AFP/Getty Images

Remember Euro 2016? Well they’re back, but at least at a safe distance to England. A country of just 330,000 people is the smallest ever at the World Cup, indeed Moscow’s population is 40 times that of Iceland.

That does not stop them having a mighty impact, as they showed at Euro 2016 and in qualification, where they beat Croatia, Ukraine and Turkey to top the group. A determined, talented side with quality, they will certainly be hoping Gylfi Sigurdsson is back to his best with Everton by the time the summer rolls around.

Croatia

Getty Images

Another talented squad who left it late to book their passage to Russia, sacking their manager Ante Cacic after they failed to top the group. Zlatko Dadic guided Croatia to a 4-1 aggregate play-off win over Greece.

Luka Modric is the star man in a midfield that includes Ivan Perisic and Ivan Rakitic whilst Mario Mandzukic can largely be relied on for goals. But can they replicate their club form on the biggest stage?

Nigeria

AFP/Getty Images

The first team to qualify from Africa did so in style, beating Cameroon, Zambia and Algeria in style. Nigeria finished second behind Argentina in 2014 and beat the group leaders in Moscow last month.

With Alex Iwobi, Kelechi Iheanacho and Victor Moses among the bright young things in Gernot Rohr’s squad there is certainly reason to believe Nigeria could at least match their best finish in the World Cup by reaching the round of 16.

GROUP D
Argentina
Iceland
Croatia
Nigeria

Fixtures

Saturday, June 16

Argentina vs Iceland (Moscow)

Croatia vs Nigeria (Kaliningrad)

Thursday, June 21

Argentina vs Croatia (Nizhny Novgorod)

Friday, June 22

Nigeria vs Iceland (Volgograd)

Tuesday, June 26

Nigeria vs Argentina (Saint Petersburg)

Iceland vs Croatia (Rostov)

Predict

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