After a shaky start to the 2022 World Cup, Argentina are now officially on a roll. The Albiceleste flirted with disaster when they went down to an historic defeat at the hands of Saudi Arabia in their first match in Qatar but managed to react in time and marched into the last 16 at the top of Group C with consecutive 2-0 victories over Mexico and Poland.

In that last match in particular the nation finally showed the aggressive attacking football which had led them to 34 unbeaten matches in a row prior to the shock opener, and they even recovered from Wojciech Szczesny’s fine penalty save to deny Lionel Messi to take all three points.

The strength in depth available to coach Lionel Scaloni’s has proved a definite plus: relatively unheralded squad members like Alexis Mac Allister, Enzo Fernandez and Julian Alvarez have all displaced more established faces in the starting line-up and been crucial so far in Qatar, with the trio joining Messi in scoring the goals which saw them through safely in the last two matches.

Australia will be delighted to have made it this far in the competition. Graham Arnold’s players have dug deep and achieved what they set out to do; long after the golden generation of Australian football have departed.

There is a great unity about the Aussie squad, and they will take encouragement from what the Saudi’s were able to do against Argentina at the start of the tournament. The Aussies should be able to make it difficult for the Argentines in the early stages of the match. Scaloni’s side are yet to start a match in full flow, and it may take some time for them to get up to speed. I expect Argentina to win by a couple of goals once they build up a head of steam, but the Arnold’s men will fight for every ball.