Argentina might seem very short at these odds but this is a team that has lost just four times in their last 50 games and has conceded just one goal (which was in injury time in the last knockout game) in its four matches in the competition so far.

Although Canada had some promising moments in their first encounter, the Argentines looked fairly comfortable throughout, and with the promise of another final appearance, we can’t see Canada being able to sustain an Argentinian onslaught for 90 minutes unless they have a huge slice of fortune and the Argentines have an incredible off night.

One way or another, Maxime Crepeau, in between the Canadian goalposts, will need the game of his life. He made six saves and prevented 0.95 goals in his group game against the Argentines. In a pre-tournament friendly against France, he also made four saves.

The goalkeeper picked up the man-of-the-match award in both of his games against Peru (with two saves) and Chile (with four saves) and is a huge reason why Canada have made it this far.

With the jeopardy of the knockout situation and the urgency of winning the game in 90 minutes to avoid penalties, expect him to be very busy in this game and to pull off enough heroics for this to land fairly comfortably.

Argentina have won more corners than their opponents in all of their group games. Last time out against Ecuador, they did lose the corner battle but in their first game with Canada, they took seven corners to Canada’s four.

Canada have only won the corner battle in one of their four games so far, and that was in a game where Chile (their opponents) were reduced to ten men after 27 minutes. In their last friendly before the tournament, they also lost out on corners seven to one against France. I expect Canada to weather an initial Argentinian storm, with corners racking up in Argentina’s favour.

Argentina’s fiery midfielder averages 1.18 fouls committed per game and picked up two fouls against Canada in the opening group game. He is generally involved in a fair few scraps, also being fouled on average 2.48 times every 90 minutes over the past few international seasons.

The Canadians possess speed on the break and Argentina committed 15 fouls against them in their opening game. If the game becomes a grind for the Argentinians, tactical fouling might persist long into the tie, which sees this become an attractive play at the odds.

Messi hasn’t been at his bleating best this tournament and still hasn’t found the net, he was also rested for one of the group games with a slight knock. However, on the creative front, he is still absolutely integral to Argentina’s chance creation. He has one assist so far, in the game against Canada, but this only tells part of the story, as he has actually set up seven key chances for teammates, along with James Rodriguez, one of the highest totals in the tournament and incidentally more than any player at Euro 2024 as well.

With Canada likely to double up on him and restrict his space, we envisage lots of opportunities for him to set up his teammates.

The very Scottish-named Argentinian midfielder has been a dynamic presence for the Argentine side and his work on and off the ball has certainly been noticed.

He was fouled three times in the quarter-final against Ecuador and twice in the opening game encounter against the Canadians. He averages 1.76 fouls drawn per game across the past few international seasons and can hit big numbers, including five against Brazil last year.

The Canadians have also been fouling at high volume, with 13 against Venezuela, 15 against Chile and 14 against Peru. They only managed nine against Argentina in their first group game but there is potential for them to foul even more with the jeopardy of this being another knockout game.