In Qatar, Lionel Messi will have one last chance to bring home the only trophy he lacks, the World Cup. The Argentinians come up against Mexico for their second match of the competition.
✔ 1×2 Prediction: Argentina – Mexico
Having easily qualified for the 2022 World Cup behind Brazil, Argentina is led by its elders, like Messi and Di Maria, but also by a new generation, symbolised most notably by Lautaro Martinez. The Argentinians should prevail by a small margin, faced with a Mexican team who are always difficult to handle and quick on the counterattack.
✔ Exact Score Prediction: Argentina vs Mexico
Superior, at least at an individual level, Argentina should prevail, but the score will certainly be close. What’s more, the Argentinians will have to be wary of the collective force of Mexico and its rapid attackers, like Hirving Lozano.
Victory for Argentina
If they can bring their individual talents together, the Argentinians should bring home the win, but the encounter will likely be close. We favour a score of 2-1 or 1-0, here.
Draw
A draw is not to be ruled out, since Mexico always shows up for the World Cup. Nevertheless, the Mexicans will have to outdo themselves in order to thwart the Argentinians. With that said, a score of 0-0 or 1-1 is possible.
Victory for Mexico
A win against Argentina would be quite a performance for Mexico, who haven’t won against the Argentinians since 2004 in the Copa America. Even a score of 0-1 or 1-2 would be very good.
✔ Half-time/Full-time prediction: Draw 1st half; Argentina 2nd half
The gap between the two sides being narrow, they may well be able to neutralise one another in the first half. But the Argentinian attackers, thanks to their captain, Léo Messi, should speed things up in the second half to make a difference.
✔ Scorer Predictions: Argentina vs Mexico
In his last World Cup, Lionel Messi will have it in mind to be the deciding factor in carrying his team to great heights. Lautaro Martinez is the incarnation of the new generation of Argentina, already having 19 goals in only 38 appearances. On the Mexican side, Wolverhampton attacker Raul Jiménez is now undoubtedly the centre forward of choice for Mexico. He could prove to be dangerous against quite a slow Argentinian defence.
✔ Double Chance Scoring predictions: Angel Di Maria / Irving Lozano
This encounter is the main clash in group C and will of course be a determining factor in who qualifies for the last 16. Therefore, the attackers must not be found lacking. Owing to his technique and experience, Angel Di Maria could well show up, just like Irving Lozano, a standout in the 2018 World Cup, who has taken things to the next level since his arrival at Naples in 2019.
📄 Match Analysis: Argentina vs Mexico
Pre-bet Analysis
As usual, Argentina easily made it out of the qualifiers of the South American zone. In effect, the Argentinians finished 2nd, behind Brazil, with 9 points more than 3rd place Uruguay. Unbeaten, the Argentinians have never been scared during the qualifiers.
This is not the case for Mexico, who had to wait until the last day of the qualifiers to confirm their place in Qatar. In the end, Mexico finished 2nd, behind Canada who had the same number of points, and in front of the United States and Costa Rica, both on 3 points.
Team Form
Winners of last year’s Copa America, Argentina is sitting on an impressive record of 33 consecutive matches without defeat. This is the best form out of all the teams. The record is currently held by Italy, with 35 matches.
The Mexican team hasn’t lost since last November, bringing them to 7 matches without defeat. But the team is now looking less in charge of the CONCACAF zone after defeats against Canada (1-2) and the United States (0-1) last year.
