Argentina v Iceland

As expected, sportsbooks offer Argentina as the favourites to win their first match of the tournament, even though they almost didn’t make it.

Argentina and Iceland have never played actually each other, and while Argentina really need a win from this fixture, Iceland will be more than happy to walk away with a draw and 1 point.

Having been drawn in one of the toughest qualifying groups in the competition, a win for either team will be crucial to their finishing position ahead of the Round of 16.

Argentina come into the World Cup as one of the sportsbooks favourites, however Sampaoli’s squad have managed to stay just out of reach of major success in recent years.

They lost the final of the 2014 World Cup to Germany, and also two consecutive Copa Americas in 2015 and 2016, when they lost both times to Chile.

Sampaoli may have a strong squad, with some fantastic attacking players, but a 6-1 loss to Spain in their last outing wasn’t the result they hoped for, and highlights the fact that while Argentina are great in attack, they may not have the best defence.

In saying that, sportsbooks expect Argentina to easily beat Iceland, and although Iceland may hope for a win given Argentina aren’t at their strongest, it will be a big ask for Hallgrimsson’s men to take 3 points off the South Americans.

Iceland are making their first ever appearance in the World Cup, and after reaching the Quarter-Finals in Euro 2016, Hallgrimsson is feeling confident that they can yet again make it past the group stages in a major competition.

Unfortunately Iceland lost their latest round of friendlies against Mexico and Peru, but hopefully this won’t put too much of a dent in their confidence ahead of their opening fixture.

Although sportsbooks have Iceland as the underdogs, they've a talented squad that play well together, and could easily upset Sampaoli’s men if they perform on the day.

This is a difficult group for Iceland, and a tough opening match, but they're an interesting team, and could actually beat Argentina if they plas as well as they did at Euro 2016.